EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE (WB, 2011) D: Stephen Daldry, w/ Thomas Horn, Max von Sydow. Rating: NNNN Blu-ray package: NNN Rating: NNNN
The mere thought of a fiction based on the 9/11 disaster is enough to raise queasy forebodings of some schlockmeister milking fake sentiment from real tragedy. Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close doesn’t do that.
Yes, our 10-year-old hero’s beloved father died in the Twin Towers, and that’s a key story element, but it’s not there for easy tears and is well used to launch the real story: young Oskar’s attempt to find the lock that fits the key he found among his father’s belongings.
Oskar’s quest takes him all over the city, driving the narrative and infusing it with some humour as the over-rational, anxiety-ridden and grief-stricken kid struggles to overcome his own limitations. Thomas Horn makes him very believable and not at all cute.
Max von Sydow, who almost steals the show as Oskar’s silent companion, gets the lion’s share of the extras in a half-hour on-set doc put together by his son. Along with the making-of doc, it constitutes a good look at director Stephen Daldry’s methods.
EXTRAS Making-of doc, Thomas Horn doc, Max von Sydow doc. English, French, Spanish audio and subtitles.
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