My Score:
IMDb Users:
(2010)
Genre: Biography/Adventure/Drama
Director: Danny Boyle
Writer: Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy, Aron Ralston
Nominee
Synopsis: 127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Over the next five days Ralston examines his life and survives the elements to finally discover he has the courage and the wherewithal to extricate himself by any means necessary, scale a 65 foot wall and hike over eight miles before he is finally rescued. Throughout his journey, Ralston recalls friends, lovers, family, and the two hikers he met before his accident. Will they be the last two people he ever had the chance to meet? (Written by Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Cast:
- James Franco
- Amber Tamblyn
- Kate Mara
jhunterfilmreview: 127 Hours. The latest masterpiece from Oscar winning director, producer and writer, Danny Boyle. Known for his other films like Trainspotting, Sunshine and Slumdog Millionaire, winner of 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director in 2009. 127 Hours, based on the autobiography of real-life mountain-climber, Aron Ralston, who found himself trapped beneath a boulder for more than 5 days in Robbers Roost, Utah, back in 2003. Ralston is played by well-known actor, James Franco (Milk, Spiderman, Pinapple Express), who performs to an outstanding level. Really earning his Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, and possible Oscar nomination (as the nominations are yet to be released...keep an eye out on jhunterfilmreviews). Directors of Photography, Anthony Dod Mantle (Slumdog Millionaire, The Last King of Scotland) and Enqriue Chediak (Repo Men, Charlie St. Cloud), utilised some of the most memorable shots, camera angles and techniques i've ever seen. Brilliant and unusual shots like inside Ralston's water bottle, camel-pack hose, video camera and the most memorable shot for me - inside Ralston's arm, as the blunt knife slowly turns and scrapes the bone. I also noticed that Mantle and Chediak featured a number of scenes where the screen splits into three segments, for example, at the beginning it was used to portray Ralston's long bike ride through the desert landscape. Furthermore, the film is filled with detailed close-ups of Franco to help the viewers feel the tight, cramped space that Ralston was trapped in for those extremely long five days. I loved the ending, not because i'm just like everyone else and love a good happy ending, but because I enjoyed the shots of the real Aron Ralston with his wife and baby son, and the way it's really life-affirming. "At the end, we stagger like Ralston from the dark into the light. We might have both our arms left, but our nerves are just as terrorised." (Calhoun, D. Time Out) The only negative thing I can say about this film, is that it lacked suspense, as the ending is known, however, Boyle really compensates for this. The graphic scene, I must warn you, is exactly that...graphic. At one film festival screening, two people required medical attention, at another an audience member suffered from lightheadedness and was taken out on a gurney, at another one viewer suffered a panic attack and another fainted. So be prepared. Despite this, the film is truely magnificent...
...I give this film 8 stars.
