Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Saw this movie in the theatre and thoroughly enjoyed it.Recently saw it again on the movie channel and enjoyed it even more.The young boy was phenomenal,others were very good as well especially Max Von Sydow of course.Don't understand why people put down this movie, must be just complainers! I'll never forget where I was on 9/11 and can't imagine what it must have been like for New Yorkers.This movie shows many different people of the city in many different ways and I believe was very well done. I know the young boy was not a professional actor and its hard to believe he isn't, hopefully he might pursue the craft but I believe he wasn't that interested. Definitely a must see and probably twice to get everything out of it!

Extremely loud and incredibly close. Is a hard movie to watch. And not for the reasons you might think. As the parent of a autistic child. I found Thomas Horn's performance almost uncannily like my son's. The movie has a simple plot. Oskar lost his father in 9/11. He was incredibly devoted to his father. His Father Tom always found things for him to do that got him involved in one way or the other in the real world. His mother wonderfully played by Sandra Bullock stands at the sidelines and let's the father and son Bond. Tom creates a searching game. He gives Oskar a mission and provided the clues. After his father dies. Oskar finds a key in a blue vase,in his father's closet. He takes this to mean it's a quest from his Dad. Struggling with his loss he goes on this quest to find his Dad. What he finds and what he experiences will change his life and his mother's life forever. As well as the people he meets on his quest. Tom Hanks has basically a extended cameo but he turns in a startling job. Hanks does a emotional job that is refreshing and vibrant. As Tom Schell he wants his son to transcend the boundaries of his aspberger's. He want's Oskar to learn how to function in the real world by interacting with people. As a parent of a child with Aspberger's this movie was so hard to watch at times. Simply because I saw my own son reflected in the movie. I enjoyed this movie because it felt so true to life for me. Worth watching if you like this kind of story.

Although the main character is a young boy, it is not a children movie, and cannot be recommended to all families either... This boy has teenage emotions and adult attitudes, and most of his deeds or conceptions cannot be considered as examples for "normal" families. And how to distinct stubbornness from persistence? The plot - having a tragic/sad background - is rather uneven and some unrealistic moments (e.g. mother's assistance in searching), with trivial pre-ending and expected ending. However, the movie contains 2 excellent (Thomas Horn and Max von Sydow) and at least 4 great performances (Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, Viola Davis). Thanks to them, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is pleasant to watch, but I am unable to explain why I had a kind of internal discontent when the credits appeared... Perhaps too vast scrutinizing with general human topics? Still, this movie is for you if you search something different.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a film that haunts you all day after the closing credits. I just watched it this morning, Sept. 11th, 2012--weeping continually, which is not a typical reaction from me. Powerful stuff.

The story is about a child who lost his father in the World Trade Center attacks on that fateful day in our country's history. It is his journey to reconnect with his father's memory by going on a quest to find the lock that fits the key left mysteriously in a vase in his father's closet. Along the way, this shy and sensitive boy Oskar is forced to meet and interact with a range of citizens, and to hear their stories too.

More importantly, it is about connectedness. It is about realizing that you aren't alone in your pain, and learning how to reach out to others for help and comfort. It is about realizing that your alone-ness is an illusion.

I loved, loved, loved the chemistry of the father and son in the flashback scenes, loved the delightful and unconventional expeditions they embarked upon, and enjoyed coming along with Oskar and The Renter to solve the final mystery of the key. I thought that the child actor playing Oskar was wonderful in this breakout role; he carried the movie quite well, almost singlehandedly-- except for those scenes with Max Von Sydow's silent character, The Renter. Of course Von Sydow stole the show, and totally deserved his Academy nomination. In all, the actors were brilliant and compelling to match the heartfelt script.

Yes, there was a certain amount of emotional manipulation involved in this tearjerker (what else could you expect from a Sandra Bullock production nowadays?). I can overlook that and wholeheartedly recommend EL&IC to anybody as possibly the best "9/11" film to date.

This was a very good movie. Its moving and raw at times, a different sort of 911 story, from the view of a child losing a father. On that level it was relatable for me and at times I found it painful to watch the 9 year old boys grief, anger and confusion.

Sandra Bullock is excellent as his mother, watching him from afar as her son searches NY city for the lock matching a mysterious key that once belonged to his father who was killed in the World Trade Center. Thomas Horn does an incredible job as 'Oskar', what a exhausting role for him. He suffers from an (undisclosed) mental illness and his freak out scenes are super well done, intense. I also enjoyed Max von Sydow. Tom Hanks' role is small here, mostly shown through flashbacks.

Ultimately the story will grip your heart, its about healing and how not everything in life can be explained. I think I probably appreciated this movie more because I had read the book first though. This must have been a hard translation to make and I think they did a good job. I liked the changes especially in regards to the mother being more aware. 4/12/15