Making a film involving Sept. 11 is not an impossible task, but it is a difficult one. It has to be handled with care and subtlety, honoring that day while still examining the meaning of it. In "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," however, I felt the handling of the tragedy often was too heavy-handed and clumsy, and that would ultimately be the film's downfall.
"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" tells the story of a young boy named Oskar (Thomas Horn) who is trying to cope with the death of his father (Tom Hanks), who died during the attacks. The film begins with the burial of Oskar's father and then cuts back and forth between the present and the events of Sept. 11. The main action of the film takes place after Oskar discovers a key in his dad's closet. The key is an envelope marked "Black," and Oskar sets out, talking to anyone in New York with the last name "Black" in an attempt to find which lock the key fits in.
I don't believe merely including Sept. 11 lessens the film; in fact there have been several films dealing with the topic that have been very effective. "United 93" was an incredible film of how that day affected everyone and displayed how even in the wake of terrible tragedy, the beauty of humanity still exists.
This was something missing from "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close." We end the movie with Oskar having met all of these people and seen their unique qualities, but what does he learn? It appears the message is that lives go on despite the tragedy, but the problem is nobody's life — outside of Oskar and his mother — is affected by Sept. 11.
This is where the biggest problem of the film is realized: if you remove Sept. 11 from the story, nothing changes. Instead of "a boy moves on from the death of his father during Sept. 11," we have "a boy moves on from his father's death." This may seem crass, but there are no other connections in the film's plot to Sept. 11, just the fact Oskar's father died when one of the towers collapsed.
It is the unfortunate nature of having an event as important as Sept. 11 in your film that you have to make some sort of deep connection with that event. The scars of that day run too deep and the event is too big to be relegated as a backdrop to a story of a child trying to overcome his father's death.
It is no small irony that much of my review has been dedicated to analyzing the use of Sept. 11 in "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close." There were, however, several more issues contributing to the overall poor quality of this film. The pacing, for example, was all over the place, which muddled the tone of the film.
While I was sitting in the theater, my fellow audience members often seemed confused about whether they should be laughing or crying. Given the polarizing tone and poor editing, it is easy to comprehend their confusion. Too often we are given a lighthearted scene with Oskar and his dad immediately followed by a scene of Oskar fighting with his mom (Sandra Bullock). This juxtaposition can be used sometimes, but when every scene involves us jumping between two completely opposite emotions, the audience becomes confused and exhausted trying to keep up.
There are some elements of this film I enjoyed. Max van Sydow was very good, though I do think (spoilers) the lack of any change in his character by the end of the film is a giant flaw. His character has taken a vow of silence after watching his parents die, and like Max, has spent a long time searching for meaning. However, by the end of the film, he has still not spoken, leaving us to wonder what the message in that is supposed to be?
I also thought a montage where Oskar reviews all of the things that terrify him was a very strong sequence. This was the one moment where I thought the film pushed on effects of Sept. 11 in an authentic way, highlighting our anxieties and fears stemming from that one day. If the film had leaned on more moments such as this, I think it would have been much more effective.
Unfortunately van Sydow's character ultimately became a metaphor for my feelings toward the film. Just as he remains stoic and unmoved at the end of the story, I sat in the theater, unaffected and dissuaded by a film that should have instead moved and inspired.
"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" receives a 3/10.
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