Movie #60 127 Hours (forgot to post this one)

I try my hardest to hate Danny Boyle.  This has not always been the case.  The first film of his that I saw was Trainspotting and with any hyperbole it changed my life.  Pulp Fiction was the film that turned me into a hardcore cinephile, but Trainspotting introduced me to foreign films and the use of a unique visual style to aid in story telling.  After seeing Trainspotting the next Boyle film I saw was 28 Days Later.  I was never much of a horror fan nor a zombie movie freak, but I love this movie and Cilian Murphy's acting in it.  I then decided to go back and watch everything Mr Boyle has done.

The next movie of his I saw was Shallow Grave.  A low budget thriller with a off beat comic feel to it.  I adore this film and think it is his most under rated movie.  I caught up then with some minor Boyle like The Beach, Millions and A Life Less Ordinary.  I was about to write Boyle off as a flash in the pan director with a few brilliant ideas, but not enough staying power.  Then I saw Sunshine.  I was BLOWN AWAY!  This film was a revolution to me.  Almost everything about it carries a fresh, inspired vibe (something that is very difficult to do in a genre like sci-fi).  I think this might have been where the attempted hatred started.

I wanted to hate someone that can bounce from genre to genre and bring such a novice's perspective to it.  It was almost like he had never seen a sci-fi film so he wasn't bound by their inherent trappings.  However he still managed to maintain the heart and intellectualism of these genre films that only a devout fan can understand.  I wanted to hate him for his talent.

Then came Slumdog.  An epic road map of a movie.  Story line's crossing back and forth, bouncing around through it's time-line.  It is an ode to Bollywood told at a kinetic pace that just drips with scarine and melodrama.  And that is when it happened.  That was the moment that I felt justified for my feeling of distrust.  I finally felt manipulated by a Boyle film.  I think it is unavoidable with Slumdog.  The whole film felt forced and unnatural. It was Boyle falling off of a pedestal that I placed him on.  It was a return to the minor Boyle films where he was trying out new things but in this case he had mastered the techniques.  He just needed someone to tell him that there is a thing called excess and it can be a killer for a movie like Slumdog.
That brings us to 127 Hours.  Or at least about 4 months ago when I first saw the trailer for the film.  The trailer bumped with the sounds of "Never Hear surf Music Again" by Free Blood.  A song that is used fantastically in the movie.  Great soundtracks are another stable of Boyle's films.  The Trainspotting CD was in constant rotation in my car for about 2 years.  The trailer showed of Boyle's rapid fast paced editing style.  There were split screens and screens split 3 ways.  It was rapid fire images in your face.  All this about a man who is trapped in a canyon by a boulder, alone for 5 days.

I thought to myself "Is Boyle going to impose his style on such a simple story"? I really wanted to skip this movie after seeing the trailer.  Then I started to read the reviews.  James Franco plays the extreme hiker in the film (that is based on a true story) and he was getting wildly positive reviews.  Then there were comments about how this was a return to gutsy film making by Boyle.  A second trailer was released where there was a shot of Franco pinned by the rock yelling for help and the camera goes from an extreme close up and pulls back all the way to out to hundreds of yards above the canyon.  That single shot alone showed me what I needed to see.  Boyle was going to use his camera and all of its movements to accentuate his protagonists isolation, not exploit it.  Boy did he ever!


Well,  that was the longest intro I think I have written so far.  This film has easily fallen in my Top 10 for the year.  Everything that I dislike about Sulmdog was rectified by 127 Hours.  It is such a visceral film.  The film made me appreciate the warmth of sunlight.  It made me thirsy like I haven't been in a long time.  It made me want to call my mother and tell her I love her.  In short 127 Hours is mainly a single person story and the majority of it takes place in a single location.  Where a movie like Buried (movie blog #36) was a cinematic experience in which the director challenged himself to find creative was to shoot within a 6X4 foot box, 127 Hours uses flashback and other cinematic tricks in order to tell the story of what it is like to be trapped.

James Franco is great in the lead role.  He gives off a vibe of arrogance and empathy.  A very difficult assignment and he nailed it.  It is probably my favorite Male Lead Performance for the year.  The cinematography and setting is brilliant.  Boyle uses his camera in every method, single and shot to pull the viewer in.  I give 127 Hours a 4.5/5 stars.  Check out the Trailer Park to see for yourself.