In Theaters: Hugo -

By Tommy Bond, Film Critic

Ahhh. Where do I begin?

Martin Scorsese, the famed director of such gritty works as Goodfellas, The Departed,Mean Streets, and Casino has directed a children’s film. And it’s in 3D. Is he okay?

I found out that he has, in fact, never been better. Hugo might just be Martin Scorsese’s most personal work, and it is definitely one of his most deeply felt films that I have ever seen. There is such a rich emotion that pours out of every inch of this movie, at twenty-four frames per magical second. Like Midnight in Paris (and Hugo does in fact take place in the city of lights), this movie casts a spell that swirls around you, wraps you up, and pulls you along through a world full of adventure, aworld that is normally never seen, a world behind a beautiful, giant red curtain: the world of the cinema.

Oooooh, so now you film geeks out there are beginning to see why Marty took on this project, right? Mr. Scorsese is one of the world’s most passionate film preservationists, and I’m quite sure that he will die before he is done championing the rebirth and salvation of so many great works that are being threatened by deterioration in the chambers of film libraries. And that is, in a sense, what this film is about.

Hugo is about many things, really. It is about aboy, Hugo (a fiery Asa Butterfield), and a girl, Isabelle (the impressive Chloe Grace Moretz), both parentless, who find adventure in a busy train station that is watched over by an eccentric war veteran (an outstanding performance from Sacha Baron Cohen) and his trusty dog. It is about them finding purpose as they search for the pieces to complete an automaton robot that may hold the key to a great mystery left behind by Hugo’s father. It is about the magic of the city, and the magic of people. It is about the girl’s grandfather, Georges Melies (an Oscar-worthy Sir Ben Kingsley), the masterful filmmaker and magician, and how he rediscovers hope and faith with a little help from two bright-eyed kiddos, and a rusty old friend from the past. We see clips from the great films of old, those super short documentaries that gave birth to film as we know it. They were the works of pioneers, of innovators, of artists, of…magicians. This film is a wonderful tale, a humble homage to those first great works, and an impassioned call to preserve films, to watch films, to experience the magic that they can bring to your eyes, and to your heart.

The images here are rich oranges and blues, reminiscent of the earliest attempts at color. The picture was bright, and the 3D was perhaps the most splendid I have ever seen. So, it’s true, a film CAN be a great work of art and still utilize 3D in an engaging and inventive fashion. I stand corrected.

The film opens with a marvelously constructed tracking shot, introducing us to all the characters, sweeping us through the inner-workings of giant clocks, above the heads of the train station’s patrons, and under their feet as well. After ten minutes we finally get our title: Hugo. Classic Marty.

And as usual, Masterful Marty.

Amen.