Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Despite some overdone expositional voice-overs, director Stephen Daldry approaches the film's material with great care and feeling, if not restraint. Whether you like EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE may depend somewhat on how you feel about Jonathan Safran Foer's novel of the same name, on which the movie is based, and about 9/11 itself, which is the backdrop to this wrenching, moving, but at times frustrating film. Some viewers may be put off by the use of 9/11 imagery, convinced that it's manipulative. But others may feel that the sadness depicted here is all too palpable and real and that what Oskar and his mother go through is just one valid and affecting experience that many others had in the wake of "the worst day."

Ultimately, it feels more like the latter than the former. With deep empathy for Oskar's perspective and great care, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close unpacks the baggage that he and his mother carry after the loss of his father, a caring man who understood his son's limitations and wanted to help him push against them. (Tom Hanks plays him winningly). Some may flinch at Oskar's seeming coldness about 9/11, and a plot point concerning the relay of messages hinges on a decision he makes on that day that may prove unpopular. Still, it's important to note that, first, he's a child -- and children can and do make decisions that may not make sense to adults. And second, he appears to have some form of Asperger's or autism, in which case his response makes sense. (Horn, who makes his feature-film debut here, is clearly very talented.) In the end, Daldry has made a film that's extremely moving and incredibly close to feeling quite real.