Susan Granger’s review of “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” (Warner Bros.)
While political thrillers and graphic documentaries abound, Stephen Daldry’s precariously balanced melodrama is one of the first to delve into the painful, personal tragedy of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and how they affected American families who lost loved ones.
Adroitly adapted by Eric Roth (“Forrest Gump,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) from Jonathan Safran Foer’s 2005 best-seller and stylishly directed by Stephen Daldry (“Billy Elliott,” “The Hours,” “The Reader”), it differs from Oliver Stone’s “World Trade Center,” about first responders trapped in the rubble, and Paul Greengrass’s “United 93,” about the flight that passengers aborted over Pennsylvania, in that it revolves around how an isolated young boy’s imagination eventually allows him to come to terms with a traumatic loss for which there is no rational explanation.
Curious, sensitive 11 year-old Oskar Schell’s (Thomas Horn) equilibrium was shattered when his beloved father (Tom Hanks), died on September 11th, “the worst day,” as he refers to it. Withdrawn from his anxious, widowed mother (Sandra Bullock), Oskar may have Asperger’s syndrome although, as he reports, “tests were inconclusive.” But when Oskar finds a key in a hidden envelope that’s labeled “Black,” he’s obsessive about finding the lock it fits, which involves interviewing every New Yorker with the last name Black.
While pursuing this mysterious, citywide quest, grieving, neurotic Oskar interacts with an eclectic assortment of people, including his resilient German grandmother (Zoe Caldwell), her mute Renter (Max von Sydow) whose palms are designated YES and NO, Stan the Doorman (John Goodman) and
an estranged couple (Viola Davis, Jeffrey Wright).
Predictably, there’s controversy whether images of people who leapt out of tower windows should be shown in a fictional film. It’s terrifying, it’s horrible, but it’s not an abstraction. It was reality. What’s almost unreal is how acting novice Thomas Horn got the part: he won $31,800 on “Jeopardy Kids Week,” catching the attention of producer Scott Rubin.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” is an extraordinary, life-affirming 8, packing a wrenching emotional wallop.
