Wednesday, December 1, 2010

The Invention of Hugo Cabret


It's rare to come across an item that is firmly in a single medium and yet feels so strongly like it represents a different one. There are times that pictures resemble books and there are times when songs resemble portraits. But The Invention of Hugo Cabret, for all intents and purposes, is a gorgeous black and white stop motion movie.

Hugo Cabret is a boy without a home. He doesn't have a family or a school to call his own. He was "adopted" by his uncle to help keep the clocks in his train station running but after his uncle disappears one evening, Hugo is alone. All he has left is a dream his father left him with. A badly damaged automaton poised with a quill in hand, ready to write. Hugo doesn't know what it is that the automaton is ready to spell out, but he knows that he has to find out.

Equal parts magic and technical skill, this story easily captures the imaginations of those who read it. The easiest comparison for this story is to a graphic novel. Writer and artist Brian Selznick weaves gorgeous black and white drawings into the narrative which actively advance the storyline and act as visual cues to where the characters are and what they are up to. The pictures have a sense of urgency to them and as Hugo's life slowly spirals out of control, that urgency becomes palpable.

The story is full of twists and turns and I was never sure where it was going to end up. Hugo's story is fictional but much of tale is based on the real life troubles of Georges Méliès. He was a real person who went from being a magician to an early film maker and then, through tragedy, suffered relapses in his personality that left him toiling at a booth selling toys in a train station. I suppose this puts it in the realm of historical fiction, but considering the emphasis on technological magic, the tale carries a feel of surrealism and mystery along with it.

This wonderful book entrenches itself firmly in so many categories that it is difficult to put into a single genre. Mainly, I would just classify it as beautiful and moving. It was a joy to read and I would recommend it to almost anyone looking for an excellent tale. I would feel comfortable including it in school programs, as a read aloud for a classroom, and as a part of any number of library reading programs. I am excited for anything else that Selznick continues to write.

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