Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (DVD)

Amazon.com Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close touches the viewer to the very core. In the way that Titanic and The Sweet Hereafter depicted tragedy by pulling back at the pivotal moment, only increasing the heartache portrayed, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close shows the massive losses experienced in New York on September 11, 2001, through the lens of one young boy. Thomas Horn plays Oskar, a boy devoted to his dad (played by Tom Hanks, in flashbacks), who is lost in the attacks on the World Trade Center. The devastation of that day shudders through Oskar's family, including his mother, Linda (Sandra Bullock, in a subdued and affecting turn). Young Oskar is lost in the broken new world, but suddenly finds a purpose: a key left by his father. As Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close progresses, Oskar focuses on the key as a way to connect to his lost father--but finds, instead, connections in the unlikeliest of places. Horn is a wonder in his leading role, and commands attention even as his emotions are scattered. Hanks and Bullock are excellent, as always, though they are more incidental to the film than the viewer might have hoped. Standing out in the cast is Max von Sydow, a mysterious mute whom Oskar meets on the New York subway, and who becomes the most unlikely of guardian angels. Based on Jonathan Safran Foer's best-selling novel, which was able to depict a bit more wry humor to leaven the heartbreak and history lessons, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close nonetheless faces human tragedy straight on, and shows how a broken family can be rebuilt, one small key, one subway ride, one awkward hug at a time. --A.T. Hurley Product Description Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (DVD) Oscar® winners Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock unite for the first time in this moving post-9/11 drama. Based on the bestselling novel by Jonathan Safran Foer (Everything Is Illuminated) and adapted by Academy Award®-winning screenwriter Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), this prestige drama follows a nine-year-old boy (newcomer Thomas Horn) who finds a mysterious key that once belonged to his father, a victim of the September 11th terrorist attacks. With childhood determination and inventiveness, the boy sets out on a quest to find what secrets the key unlocks as well as make sense of the loss of his father. Produced by Scott Rudin (True Grit, The Social Network), this unforgettable film is soulfully directed by Stephen Daldry, the acclaimed filmm