127 Hours (2010)

OVERALL RATING: 9.00/10

A truly engrossing and visceral cinematic experience can be marred by any number of things. It can be marred by a couple, whom having already opted to sit in the front row, leaving fifteen minutes in, when their alcohol runs out. It can be marred by a lady off in the back of the theater incessantly offering unnecessary narration. Or it can be marred by the most untimely of intrusions - a fellow audience member's stomach rumbling, during the film's most critical and emotional sequence, at about a three on the Richter scale. Did all three of these things happen this past Saturday as I traveled out to see 127 Hours? Yes. Did they remove me entirely from the experience? Deprive me of the chance to truly appreciate Danny Boyle's directing or James Franco's acting? No. I am pleased to say, that when push came to shove, Boyle and Franco trumped them all.

Danny Boyle's 2010 cinematic look at one man's effort to overcome adversity is one of the most gripping visual experiences of the year. With countering fixed shots on Aron Rolston with the binding rock, and sweeping shots of the beautiful Colorado landscape, Boyle forces upon the viewer concurrent feelings of claustrophobia and isolation. Never assuming, always intruding, the feelings come to a boiling point as the viewer must wrestle the thin line between reality and hallucination. A world were fantasy is your only freedom, and in reality exists your only escape.

Navigating these frames of mind is James Franco as our protagonist, Aron Ralston. Forced with ever changing, often conflicting emotions, Franco is perfect as the audience's mediator into the mindset of Ralston. A man of high energy, quick thinking, and offbeat charm, suddenly forced into a situation where none of those values matter. Franco's darting eyes, constant upbeat tone, and even keel, offers the viewer an element of depth without needing to spell out every moment. As Ralston's mind begins to fade in and out of reality, Franco is there to maintain the illusion of being level-headed, keeping what could be seen as hokey firmly grounded in the realm of visual character study.

Sometimes even the simplest memories can save you

Danny Boyle brilliantly paces 127 Hours at 94 minutes. The film never drags, seemingly always on the move even though its main character is static. In part this is a testament to Boyle's brilliance in the use of music and sporadic high-pace cutting. Another contributing factor lay at the brilliant hands of A.R. Rahman for creating such fluid and beautiful music. Though the real hero of this is the know-how of Boyle and co-writer Simon Beaufoy for siphoning out any scene that delivers nothing for the viewer, leaving only a series of equally intense and insightful moments for the to become wrapped up in.

The best example of this lies in the infamous 'cutting' scene. While most other directors would make a huge deal about it with blaring music, a series of slow motion cuts, and an elongated build up - Boyle plays it straight. A few shots are there for reaction and surrounding, but it's the raw intensity of the moment Boyle seeks to capture. Audiences squirm and faint not because of the heightened violence of it, but because in that moment we feel what Ralston feels, what Franco delivers, and what Boyle captures. The entire film is the build up, when it comes time for the scene Boyle and company dive head first.

During the beginning, Boyle's multi-panel shots, and hard cuts, forced me out of scenes just as I was becoming enveloped in them. I felt as if the movie was making me to fight my way to be apart of it. As the film progresses Boyle becomes more aware of the intimacy in a shot as constricting as a head, the top of a boulder, and a wall. This, in turn, allows the audience to tap into the inner compassion they possess for witnessing the struggle of another human being. Much in the same way United 93 grabbed emotional cords despite pre-knowledge of the inevitable ending, 127 Hours consumes the audience into its world, blocking out our desire to concentrate on what we know, and instead live only in what we see - the defining marker of any great film.

Film Credits:
Directed By: Danny Boyle
Written By: Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
Based on the Autobiography By: Aron Ralston

So, what did you think of 127 Hours? Do you think it has viable Oscar chances? Or are you afraid of the inevitable arm scene to give it a go?