With his 12-year-old daughter in mind, Scorsese translates Brian Selznick’s children’s book into an initiation into the art of cinema. He does this both in a literal and a metaphorical sense: with an evocation of the both glorious and tragic career of Georges Méliès as well as a playful conceptualisation of filmic parameters such as the notion of time, mechanised movement and the illusion of depth.
Leafing through an old note-pad leads to the discovery of a flip book, and a panoramic view over Paris suddenly becomes one big festival of light. While conceiving a homage to analogue film, Scorsese manifests himself a master of digital cinema.
And yet the actors always remain his central concern. The film also contains some hints of a larger historical perspective. One of the most stunning and memorable archival documents is the tinted footage of traumatised soldiers returning from the front in the First World War.
- Director
- Martin Scorsese
- Country of production
- USA
- Year
- 2011
- Festival Edition
- IFFR 2012
- Length
- 126'
- Medium
- DCP
- Language
- English
- Producers
- Graham King, Martin Scorsese
- Production Companies
- GK Films, Paramount Pictures
- Sales
- Paramount Pictures
- Screenplay
- John Logan, based on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
- Cinematography
- Robert Richardson
- Editor
- Thelma Schoonmaker
- Production Design
- Dante Ferretti
- Sound Design
- John Midgley
- Music
- Howard Shore
- Cast
- Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley
- Local Distributor
- Universal Pictures International Netherlands BV
- Website
- http://gk-films.com/films/hugo