In February 2012, at the "Hollywood and Highland Center" (formerly the Kodak Theater), the famous 70-year-old American director Martin Scorsese once again became the focus of attention. His 3D film "Hugo" led the 84th Academy Awards with 11 nominations, and eventually won five important awards such as best cinematography and best art direction, second only to "The Artist", which won best picture, best director and best actor. These two films are undoubtedly the brightest geminis of the night at the Kodak Theatre, and coincidentally both are closely related to the early history of silent film, and more dramatically, Martin Scorsese pays tribute to the French film pioneer Mérières with "Hugo", while French director Michel Hazanavicius in turn uses "The Artist" to lead us through the rise and fall of Hollywood silent films. The former can be called a fantasy visual fairy tale in color 3D, and the latter is a delicate retro black and white silent film, although the form is very different, but the purpose is roughly the same. The two films open a mysterious window to the beginning of the film.
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Stills from Hugo
Hugo is for kids, but it's not exactly for kids. Audiences familiar with director Martin Scorsese know that he is dubbed the "sociologist of cinema", and most of his works tend to dabble in heavy social topics in subject matter.
But for Director Martin himself, there is no age limit for his audience, and he is more concerned about whether he can bring other things to the audience. He once asked himself: Am I just a product of the 50s and 70s? Am I continuing to grow? Is there anything interesting I can tell the audience? This time, the rare Martin took a whole new adventure: using 3D technology he had never used before as a way to reach out to the audience.
Hugo photographer Robert Richardson
The cinematographer of "Hugo" is Robert Richardson, who won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography twice for "The Assassination of Kennedy" and "The Aviator", and "Hugo" made him pick up the little golden man for the third time. Facing 3D technology for the first time, Martin and Richardson, two white-haired old men, both started from scratch. Martin Scorsese believes that 3D is not a gimmick, but a new way of telling stories and a new perspective. The visual experience that ends up on the screen is truly extraordinary. The film's graphics are fantastical, but with a distinctly Scorsese cinematic language style. Even the audience who watched "Hugo" later recalled the film, even if they could not remember the plot of the film, they would have a deep memory of the movie's picture.
Martin Scorsese's motivation for making Hugo stemmed from his personal childhood memories. Martin Scorsese was born in 1942 to an Italian-American family. As a child, Little Martin suffered from asthma and spent most of his time at home, and a small 16-inch television set became the whole of his life. Just as Hugo observes the intricacies of Paris through the cracks of the clock in the film, the small TV screen in his childhood is the window through which Martin Jr. peeks out. Martin's father was an uncompromising big movie fan, and after Martin Jr.'s condition improved slightly, his father took him to the theater frequently, and the shock of the big screen made Martin crazy obsessed with movies. Years later, Martin Scorsese cleverly embedded this past into the movie Hugo. In the film, The father of Hugo, played by Jude Lowe, is an avid fan. After the death of his father, Hugo sneaked into the cinema and immersed himself in the dark screen world, temporarily forgetting his endless thoughts about his father.
Martin Scorsese eventually chose the novel Hugo of Dreams as the basis for the film. Brian Seznik, the author of "Hugo of Dreams", has a long history with movies, and audiences and fans who know about classical Hollywood movies will not be unfamiliar with the surname "Seznik". The Seznik family, the birth of Hollywood's most prominent producers: David Seznik, "Gone with the Wind", "King Kong" and other epoch-making films, are his own masterpieces of film history. From reading the novel in one sitting to finally making it into a movie, Martin spent four years.
Hugo work photos
Born in Paris in 1861, Georges Mérières was originally a well-known magician. When the Lumière brothers' "The Train Comes In" premiered in Paris in 1896, Méliès was one of the audience members, and from then on, he was obsessed with movies. He sold his property and built the world's first studio. In this transparent glass house, he has shot hundreds of short films full of whimsy, the most famous of which is "Journey to the Moon". After a hundred years, the imagination embodied in this science fiction film of less than twelve minutes is still amazing. Unfortunately, bad luck, the outbreak of the First World War, and the evolution of film technology and ideas made him eventually destitute, closed the studio, and became a toy vendor at the Paris railway station. The film of more than five hundred films made in his lifetime was finally dissolved and made into high heels. He himself spent the rest of his life in a nursing home on the outskirts of Paris.
Georges Mélières (1861–1938)
In "Hugo", George Mérie is played by Oscar winner Ben Kingsley. He said in the film that a happy ending exists only in the movie. Just like this line, the film "Hugo" arranges another ending of life for Méliès, giving comfort to the old man.
Mériet played by Ben Kingsley in Hugo
Through the eyes of children, Scorsese wrote a warm love letter for film, a art he loved deeply. And why movies exist, why life needs movies, Scorsese also gave his own answer.
Click [Read the original] to watch this fantasy adventure full of homage!