I've been meaning to watch this movie since it got nominated for an Oscar. After seeing it about two weeks ago, I started to wonder...would this movie have made the cut for best picture nomination if they hadn't made the shortlist of nominees up to 10 movies instead of 5?
Writing a piece about a movie after waiting this long wouldn't be as detailed as it would be right after watching it when it's fresh out of the oven! So this is going to be rather brief. The reason why I waited this long is because I saw it around the same time that I decided to apply for journalism again, and yet again I panicked and held back from writing. I pushed myself to write about Gatsby and it didn't turn out to be as good as I had hoped for...but I am trying to get back on track.
I've never been a fan of James Franco's and I don't consider him to be a good actor. From the first time that I ever saw him in a movie (Spider Man), I've felt this way. His acting seems "fake" to me. Kinda like Courteney Cox's in Friends...you know what I mean? She would almost laugh at her own jokes and that's not funny at all. I feel like I remember a quote saying that to be a good comedian you should play the role seriously...or something in this context. My mind associates it with The Pink Panther, so I checked the quotes by Peter Sellers and Steve Martin but I couldn't find anything. Maybe my mind is just making stuff up! But in any case, that's what I feel acting should be. Based on James Franco's Oscar hosting experience, I was more convinced on him not being a good actor. It was disastrous. He was NOT funny AT ALL. He could argue all he wants but he will probably go down as the worst Oscar host in the history.
But seeing this movie, I realized why he had been nominated for best actor. It must be his best work so far...and probably will remain to be for a while unless he decides to change his acting methods. If he was any good in this movie, must've been because of the experience he's gained over the years...otherwise, I feel like acting is not his true calling. Maybe he would be better in pursuing his English degree...but hey...we should be able to do whatever makes us happy right?! So, if acting makes him happy, so be it. He's not a terrible actor, just not the best...and I think he's not as good as he's been praised to be.
Anywho, one of the main reasons why I wanted to watch this movie was its director. Danny Boyle has made one of the movies that has made its way into my all time favorite movies' list, which is of course Slumdog Millionaire.
The other reason for watching this movie which had gotten me hung up on it for quite some time was its story which as you may very well know, was based on a true story. The plot goes as this...a young man, an adventurist if you may, goes on one of his adventures which is to bike in a canyon in Utah (or as IMDb puts it, canyoneering!). When he meets two young girls and takes them to show around the canyon, he tells them "everything moves, but let's hope not today"! I don't know if he'd actually said that in real life, but if he had, that's pretty ironic! After he bids them goodbye and resumes his journey, he slips and falls in a narrow passage where a boulder falls on his arm and gets him trapped in there. With only his camera, a knife, a rope, and a limited supply of food and water in his possession, he sets on a 127-hour battle where he starts to contemplate on life and what he would have done differently if he was able to get out and start all over.
One of the things that Danny Boyle had done in this movie was that since he knew probably everyone knows the story, he had tried to play with your mind. Making a lot of near fall moments where you would think, is this it?! Is this how it's going to happen?! And another reason for having so many shots like this was also to show the personality of the main character and how careless and fearless he was.
Midway through the movie, I was happy that the director had decided not to gross us out by showing horrible scenes (I don't want to give anything away), but he did show it to us eventually which almost made me pass out! The reasoning behind this is probably to depict his suffering and the extent of pain he goes through.
This is one of those movies that some might call unfilmable, and which are really challenging, for the director especially. A best example of these kinds of movies is Castaway which was a one man show, and the movie was standing on the shoulders of Tom Hanks...the same way 127 Hours was on James Franco's. This could be another reason why Franco was nominated. To be able to keep the audience engaged in the movie, requires a lot of passion which will entangle the people watching it. Franco showed us a wide range of feelings: regret, happiness, hope, despair, pain, relief,... all through the camera lens which let me tell you, is not an easy task to overcome at all! He was not the same actor as I the one I knew. It was really touching...the way he was describing his situation to his camera, it was moving.
In a small footnote to the above paragraph, I must say compared to Life of Pi, which was also said to be unfilmable, I found 127 hours more interesting. One reason could be that you want to see which way he would choose: surrender and die, or fight for his life. I remember a few years back I was chatting with one of my friends who'd moved to Europe. He had been feeling lonely and his heart had been broken by a girl, so he felt miserable and decided to take his own life. After slitting his wrist, he had just realized that there is more to life and had called his friend to come and save him and he'd survived. He was telling me later that all the people who take their own lives certainly (in his opinion) regret doing it but there is no one around to save them. He now is married and has an adorable daughter. It is amazing how someone can not only survive such a drastic moment, but more importantly return to normal life. I think nothing can bring you down after going through such a low point in your life.
So you see what I am trying to say by elaborating this point? When getting cornered by life, by its hardships, when faced with death, anyone would choose life. Even if they don't at first, they will choose life when it's too late...unfortunately. Whenever I feel suicidal, I remind myself this story!
The finishing was meh! I was hoping to see more details...after it was finished (again, don't wanna give the story away). It seemed too abrupt.
Overall it was definitely a good movie. But if it was worthy of being nominated? Maybe...but definitely not in a 5-count nomination list.
Huh! Didn't turn out to be a short review after all!
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