The SFX Top 25 Films Of The Year

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3 Hugo

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Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ben Kinglsey

Without a doubt, the best directed movie of the year. People who think that good directing is just about flashy camerawork and recurring themes should watch this and take note. If you didn’t know it was Scorsese, you would be hard-pressed to guess it was him behind the camera. Because what a good director does is tell the story the way it needs to be told, and that’s exactly what Scorsese does here, with a charming, emotional tale of an orphan living in the bowels of a Parisian railway station, secretly keeping the clocks ticking while trying to mend an automaton which may have a message to reveal from his dead father.

Scorsese goes into Jean-Pierre Jeunet to create a film that feels as authentically full of gallic whimsy as Amé lie , full of larger than life characters and a fairy tale version of the French capital that as loving and hyperreal as Mary Poppins ’ London. On one level, it’s an enchanting children’s film full of intrigue and adventure. On another it’s a deep and complex love poem to film-making itself, featuring an emotional twist about cinema history that’s full of loss and hope.

It’s also the first live action film that uses 3D as a genuine film-making tool to help tell the story rather than just to create eye-popping visuals. A moment when young Hugo (played with amazing depth by the piercingly-eyed Asa Butterfield) opens a handkerchief to discover the burnt remains of his father’s precious notebook inside, and the ashes fall out of the screen towards you, used 3D to dramatically enhance the emotional kick of the scene. It’s fitting that Scorsese makes a film about film-making pioneers and he pioneers news ways of using the latest technology himself.

Hugo is also impeccably cast. Former Hit Girl Moretz proves once again that she has Oscar potential and, blimey, Sir Ben Kingsley actually acts for the first time in years.

Best Moment: The moment where the automaton’s message is revealed (we won’t tell you what it is for spoilers).

Dave Golder
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