2/4: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

On the 12th Day of my 34 Days of Oscar, I saw the movie "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close". This movie is nominated for 2 Academy Awards, Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Max Von Sydow.

"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" stars Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock as the parents of Oskar, played by Thomas Horn. Oskar has a lot in common with his father and spends most of his time solving complex games that his dad creates. When 9/11 happens, Oskar's dad is one of the people who were trapped in the World Trade Center. After his father's death, he finds a key in his dad's closet and attempts to solve

this one last game and find where it fits. He eventually enlists the help of his grandma's mute renter, played by Max Von Sydow to help. After 9/11, there is a lot that Oskar fears in this world, and The Renter helps his face those fears (like going on the subway). While Oscar is getting closer to his new friend, The Renter, he is getting further and further away from his Mom, who he feels he has nothing in common with. The overall storyline is about a child coping with the death of a love one.

Max Von Sydow is nominated this year for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the mysterious Renter in this film.

Throughout the entire film, he has to act only with his expressions and with what he writes down on his little notepad. His character refuses to give out personal information, as he believes it is nobodies business but his own. Von Sydow's performance is one of my favorite performances of the year, in any category. The sadness he carries behind his eyes is intriguing and really makes you want to know more of his story. In most years, this performance would be a shoo-in for the Supporting Actor award but it's a tightly contested category this year and anyone can win it.

"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" is also nominated this year for Best Picture. It has a lot of what you look for in a Best Picture winner, but unfortunately it also has one strike against it: Thomas Horn's performance as Oskar. It is probably the fault of the script as much as casting Horn as Oskar that hurts this film. Oskar is not a really likable kid.

He yells, he lies and he in insensitive and that's just to his mom. It is acknowledged that he might have a personality disorder, but that doesn't stop him from being annoying. If they would have hired a child actor with actual acting experience, this might have been avoided (then again, maybe not). "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" is a difficult movie to watch. Even without the 9/11 storyline, it is still about a 9yr old boy who loses his father and has to deal with all the feelings surrounding that.

I give "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" 3 out of 5 stars. I thought Max Von Sydow gave a spectacular acting performance, worthy of his nomination. Hanks and Bullock were great as the parents and the various supporting actors did great too. Only issue I had was with Thomas Horn. Unfortunately he is in almost every single scene, so my admiration for this movie is tempered slightly. I would recommend this movie, but with a slight warning. The subject matter is very difficult to watch at times and sometimes so is the kid.