"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" very moving

I knew that I was going into a very emotional movie. Having the 9/11 attacks as a backdrop and a child’s journey coping would ensure some heartache.

“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” made me tear up and laugh. It also disturbed me at times. But overall, I really liked it.

The story is basically of a precocious yet awkward boy, Oskar Schell (played by Thomas Horn, who loves playing reconnaissance missions and oxymoron wars with his father (Tom Hanks). The missions in particular would force Oskar to think and do, but also approach people, something he fears. Then Oskar’s life changes. His father dies on 9/11, trapped on the 105th floor of one of the Twin Towers. Oskar can’t make sense of it. He questions a funeral without a body. His relationship with his mother (Sandra Bullock) deteriorates. Fast-forward a year, Oskar discovers a key in his father’s closet that he feels is a clue to staying connected with his dad. It’s only clue is an envelop with “Black” on it. So he decides to create one last reconnaissance mission, a crazy search of people with the last name Black so that he can figure where this mysterious key fits.

A subplot features an older man (Max von Sydow) who is staying with Oskar’s grandma. He’s known only as “the Renter” and doesn’t speak. Oskar is not to know this man, but they end up on the journey together to figure out where the mystery key fits.

Oskar does some disturbing things, such as pinching himself and hiding the answering machine (a key plot point). He at one point mentions he was tested for Asperger’s, a form of high-functioning autism, but that it was inconclusive. He needs his tambourine for comfort and fears crossing bridges and using public transportation. He’s obviously different, which may make you forgive him for some of his inappropriate outbursts and actions. I did. Oskar uses some colorful language for a boy so young, takes off on a seemingly dangerous journey meeting strangers and argues with his mother. I don’t recall them saying his age in the movie. He looks like he could be 11 or 12. In the Jonathan Safran Foer book, which the movie is based, Oskar is 9.

Still, I’m glad that I brought my kids with me to view this PG-13 movie. My kids are 11 and 15, but I did worry about how they would interpret the film. They were so little when the 9/11 attacks occurred, so we sheltered them for quite some time. I worried that some 9/11 images, including people falling out of buildings and video of the buildings collapsing, would scare them. It didn’t. They’ve seen enough documentaries now that they are older.

The movie generated a good discussion on our way home. We talked about coping with loss and searching for answers when there may not be one. We’ve been coping with a hospitalized grandparent, so there were some parallels. We spoke of whether Oskar’s behavior was appropriate. We know several kids with autism. And we spoke about 9/11, again.

Both my kids gave the movie 4 stars. I give it an A-/B+. I felt the story was interesting and wasn’t packaged as a totally happy ending, and the acting was excellent.

Download screening passes to "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

I got a link to share with my mom friends. It allows you to download some screening passes for "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" on gofobo.com. The screening is at 7 p.m. on Jan. 18 at the Harkins Scottsdale 101, 7000 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix, AZ 85054. Easy access to the theater from Loop 101, exiting on Scottsdale Road.

I got a chance to preview it last month, and I want to tell you about it but I agreed to hold my review until opening day, Jan. 20. For now, check out the trailer.


The movie synopisis, from gofobo: "Adapted from the acclaimed bestseller by Jonathan Safran Foer, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” is a story that unfolds from inside the young mind of Oskar Schell, an inventive eleven year-old New Yorker whose discovery of a key in his deceased father’s belongings sets him off on an urgent search across the city for the lock it will open. A year after his father died in the World Trade Center on what Oskar calls “The Worst Day,” he is determined to keep his vital connection to the man who playfully cajoled him into confronting his wildest fears. Now, as Oskar crosses the five New York boroughs in quest of the missing lock – encountering an eclectic assortment of people who are each survivors in their own way – he begins to uncover unseen links to the father he misses, to the mother who seems so far away from him and to the whole noisy, dangerous, discombobulating world around him."

The movie is PG-13 for for emotional thematic material, some disturbing images, and language. BTW, once these screening tickets are gone, they are gone. Also, check out all the rules for the passes. I suggest you arrive early. Promoters tend to overbook theater to ensure a full house.

Cheers!