3 ½ stars (out of four)
In reviewing Conviction a few weeks ago, I wrote that “some great stories just aren’t cinematic stories.” 127 Hours argues quite convincingly, however, that in the hands of a skilled enough director, any story can become cinematic. At first, the story of Aron Ralston (played in the film by James Franco) would seem to be as inherently un-cinematic as they come. Trapped for 127 hours in the crevice of a Utah canyon with a rock crushing his arm, Ralston fought the elements to survive and wrestled with his personal demons during his isolation. Director Danny Boyle, fresh off an Oscar win for Slumdog Millionaire, takes up the difficult task of transforming this material into something visually interesting and the result is exhilarating.Following Slumdog, audiences should be familiar with the director’s kinetic style. His films are fueled by an inexhaustible energy, incorporating handheld camerawork, split screens and any other device at Boyle’s disposal. One would think that being confined to such a physically small space as he is here would limit his style, but Boyle makes the most of the canyon crevice’s spatial limitations. His camera takes the viewer to the bottom of Ralston’s water bottle, miles up into the sky to provide a literal bird’s-eye view, and even inside the very muscles of Ralston’s injured arm.
Boyle’s stylistic flourishes are not self-indulgent though, but essential to bringing out the humanity of the story. The film visualizes the internal struggle of an isolated man with nothing to listen to but his own thoughts. As Ralston’s mind races, the viewer dives in and out of memories and fantasies. Here we get snippets of backstory. Ralston is confident to the point of arrogant and has pushed away the most important people in his life – his girlfriend, his parents. He’s so cocky that he doesn’t even need to tell anyone where he’s going or what he’s doing the day of the accident. From the bottom of a crevice in the middle of nowhere he replays the accident in his mind and cannot help but see his current situation as the inevitable result of his egotism.
Much credit must also be given here to James Franco, whose performance is a career-best. When presented with a story such as Ralston’s, we often wonder: What would we do if faced with the same situation? Franco understands this and brings us even deeper into the film by making his performance relatable. We see his initial bewilderment and feel his frustration and eventual despair. By the end of the film, Franco has taken us through every step of an emotional catharsis and the experience is a draining one.
Fortunately, that experience is brief and editor Jon Harris keeps the film at a manageable 95 minutes. As editor, Harris maintains complete control over the film’s chaotic style. The combination of handheld cameras and fast-paced editing can often have nauseating results, but Harris knows how to use these techniques to elicit a response from the audience. We only feel claustrophobic or dizzy when he wants us to. And despite the quick cuts in cramped quarters, the audience is always fully aware of what is happening.
Perhaps this is the film’s greatest strength. Danny Boyle has not only succeeded in making a seemingly unfilmable movie, but he somehow made it accessible too. There are a few scenes in 127 Hours not for the feint of heart (Boyle doesn’t shy away from some of the more gruesome moments in Ralston’s story), but the film does a wonderful job of taking an extraordinary experience and putting it into terms we can all understand. More so than Slumdog, 127 Hours puts Danny Boyle on the map of today’s best directors and shows that films can tell any story as long as the filmmakers are up to the challenge.
- Steve Avigliano, 12/07/10
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