Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Blu-ray | DVD
Directed by Stephen Daldry
Starring Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Max von Sydow, Jeffrey Wright, Viola Davis
Release Date: March 27, 2012

The opening image of Stephen Daldry‘s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is of an unidentified man free falling from the sky. Instantly we are reminded of Mad Men‘s logo indicating man’s fall from grace and even reminded of Vertigo‘s poster of man’s infatuation with an uncontrollable fear. Each of these instances depicts a man’s descent from a higher place. In Daldry’s opening, the man is falling out of the sky after trying to escape from one of the World Trade Center towers during the 9/11 attacks. The unidentified man is soon revealed as being Tom Hanks, the father of Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn), a boy with an intellect well beyond his years. It doesn’t seem to be of any useful assistance, only increasing his stress and worsening his emotional malady. Perhaps his superior intellect is a curse. He will soon fall out the innocence associated with childhood and begin his journey prematurely to adulthood, where uncontrollable fears and falling from grace reign supreme.