Finally in Bumblefuck: 127 Hours comes to Alabama and it only took 127 Days

Finally in Bumblefuck: 127 Hours comes to Alabama and it only took 127 Days

In the last two months of the year, Hollywood releases a cluster of quality films in an attempt to keep them fresh in voter’s minds for Oscar Season. These movies roll out in New York and Los Angeles, then expand to a limited release in a handful of other cities. Some movies like The Fighter and The Black Swan expand quickly to all theaters. A lot of them never come at all. And a few holdouts in limited release take their sweet time before showing their face in Birmingham. These movies have to crawl around the screen of every two dollar shithole in Charlotte before finally thinking they can make an extra dollar in B-ham three months later and after the movie has been spoiled for anyone half interested in seeing it.

However, I’m now pleased to report 127 Hours—after receiving near universal acclaim and a best picture nomination—has been deemed worthy to play between strip malls. But I’m also kind of disappointed in the movie. Is it inevitable to look forward to a movie for three months, hear how great it is during that time, be spoiled the plot of that movie, and then be slightly disappointed in the end result? Probably, but I’ll attempt to explain my disappointment anyway.

What Doesn’t Work: Danny Boyle’s hyper editing and tricks are annoyingly relentless. It almost seems like a director is bored with his own story. It is impossible to fully identify with Aaron’s trapped predicament when the camera is so loose, free, and employing every gimmick in the book. I get that maybe this was done to show how the restless character experiences the world, but it becomes distracting and there isn’t much you can gain emotionally for the character by having the camera whizz around the inside of a straw he’s drinking out of.

Also—and this is kind of unfair to blame the movie for—but the marketing campaign is misleading. Most of the footage used in the trailer and TV ads is from the first ten minutes, and a lot of people had no idea what movie they were buying a ticket for. I knew what it was about (I saw the real life inspiration talk at Auburn University before) but if I were going by trailers alone I might think it was a filmed travel catalogue instead of a brutal survival story. The old lady sitting behind me clearly had no idea what the movie was about and kept saying “Oh Lord, Oh Jesus” every ten minutes like she was having the most terrifying orgasm of her life.

What Does Work: The Last Temptation of Christ style delusions are excellent and put you inside the addled mind of this character. Also James Franco tries his best to shed his quirky aloofness long enough to get us to care about the main character and mostly succeeds.

What I Would Have Done Differently: It is missing that one big scene where Franco really makes the connection between the careless, go-go life he’s been leading and how being trapped under that boulder is a special type of hell for a man like that. I also would have toned down the split screens, camera wooshes, vertical straw shots, studio audience laugh track, and a dozen other gimmicks employed by the director.