Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

A nine-year-old child named Oskar Schell has lost his father in the 9/11 tragedy. Two years after that tragic event, he discovers a mysterious key among his father’s belongings. Thinking it might provide some connection to his father, he takes it upon himself to discover what it opens. Oskar is not your typical nine year old boy. He’s precocious bordering on abrasive. Oskar is an incredibly intense youngster and at times his personality can get a bit grating. He speaks in short clipped sentences spitting his declarations out in rapid fire with all the authority of an adult. He brings a tambourine along wherever he goes and shakes it when he gets nervous. Although never mentioned in the original novel, he has symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome, an autistic disorder highlighted by awkward social interaction.

There is an inherent problem that cannot be avoided with using 9/11 as the backdrop for any drama . The wounds of that national disaster still feel fresh as if they had happened only recently. Any movie trying to address that grief is sure to be criticized (often unfairly) for being exploitative. Indeed, Jonathon Foer’s 2005 novel was also greeted with mediocre to bad reviews when first published for this reason. Harry Siegel, writing in New York Press, titled his article “Extremely Cloying & Incredibly False” based on the book‘s manipulative charms. Now director Stephen Daldry has fashioned a movie from the bestseller and the reviews, despite an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, have been decidedly less than positive. However the tale could have used any unprovoked attack on a group of people. Most of the events have really nothing to do with 9/11 at all, but rather Oskar’s mission to discover the history behind this unexplained key. It sends him on an emotionally affecting investigation of the city’s inhabitants. He travels from person to person interviewing these strangers to gather information. His ritual trek becomes his all consuming passion to come to terms with the death of his father.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close ultimately matures into a sincerely touching film. At the center of this tearjerker is young actor Thomas Horn. Much like our central character, Oskar Schell, our first time actor is a curious subject. In 2010, Horn won on Jeopardy!, during Kids Week, earning $31,800. Producer Scott Rudin was in the midst of preparing an adaptation of Jonathon Foer’s 2005 book. He was so impressed by the little boy, it led to an audition as Oskar Shell, the brainy but socially isolated, protagonist. Obviously Thomas Horn is a similarly bright fellow. Undoubtedly his work draws much from his own identity. He’s remarkably sincere, yet the performance has been polarizing. It somewhat relies on your ability to accept Oskar’s idiosyncrasies as a disorder and not as a thoroughly irritating personality. At first I too found him annoying, but as time wore on, something else happened. I became fascinated by this little boy and his earnest desire to hang on to the memory of his father. I found the child’s exploration filled with emotional truth and humanity.

Extremely Loud is a picture of undeniable heart and it honestly moved me. Oskar’s hike through the streets of New York City is quite stirring. It starts out as a seed of an idea, but the concept develops into a full fledged scavenger hunt, much like the interactions he used to have with his father when he was alive. It takes time, but the purpose slowly germinates until before you know it, it has developed into a quietly poignant emotional journey. His interactions form the basis of the story with actors Max von Sydow, Viola Davis and Jeffrey Wright logging the most screen time. They’re interesting as well, but the biggest surprise is that Sandra Bullock provides the film’s best scenes. By the end, I was overcome by emotion. There’s one particular moment of such pure virtue, it made the film for me.

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