Tom Hanks gets old and cranky in a heart-wrenching tale of love, loss and aging.
In A Man Called Otto, Anderson (Tom Hanks) is a grumpy widower who is very set in his ways. When a lively young family moves in next door, he meets his match in quick-witted and very pregnant Marisol (Mariana Treviño), leading to an unlikely friendship that will turn his world upside-down.
Living in an unfussy suburban neighbourhood of identical row houses somewhere in the Midwest, the aging man gets easily annoyed by every little misstep of a stranger. His protests are so pronounced they even rival Larry David’s in an average episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Otto, the anti-Forrest Gump, is definitely on the opposite end of the happiness spectrum. A Man Called Otto highlights all the greatest hits of Otto’s life, but it starts at the opposite end of a life lived.
Through flashbacks, we learn why Otto is the way he is, as well as find out more about the love of his life, and exactly why she meant so much to him. Hanks walks a fine line between lovable grouch and eccentric geriatric, with plenty of his trademark heart thrown in for good measure.
There’s no denying the darkness at the root of the story: Otto’s determination to kill himself. His various attempts are shown on screen and you will want to keep that in mind if you’re planning to watch this PG-13 production with your teens. But it’s nevertheless wholesome crowd-pleasing, family viewing.
Empire of Light
Empire of Light is director Sam Mendes’ intimate new character drama, wherein Olivia Colman and Micheal Ward pursue a bittersweet workplace romance in Mendes’s look back at Britain in the early 1980s.
The film takes place in and around an old movie palace in a British seaside town. This cinema, which is called the Empire, is more than a mere setting: it’s the film’s centre of gravity, its soul, its governing metaphor and reason for being.
What Empire of Light really wants to be about are the pleasures of 1980s pop music, fine English poetry and, above all, movies. Mendes doesn’t filter the film’s inherent nostalgia through rose-coloured glasses, although it’s still given the full prestige-drama treatment, courtesy of god-tier cinematographer Roger Deakins shooting it all like a cinephile’s version of heaven.
To be sure, Empire of Light has a sad story to tell, one that touches on mental illness, sexual exploitation, racist violence and other grim facts of life.
A Man Called Otto, rated PG, plays at the Patricia Theatre at 7 pm from February 3 to 7, and at 1 :30 pm on Sunday, February 5. Running time is two hours and six minutes.
Empire of Light, rated PG, plays at the Patricia Theatre, 5848 Ash Avenue, Powell River, BC, on February 8 and 9 at 7 pm, and at 1:30 pm on Thursday, February 9. A matinee screening will take place on February 2, at 1:30 pm. Running time is one hour and 56 minutes.
Gary Shilling is executive director of qathet Film Society.
