Day 40: "All you gotta remember is that everything will be OK."

127 Hours is a really interesting piece of concept filmmaking.  Based on the true story of Aron Ralston (James Franco), a mountaineer and all around outdoorsman, and his harrowing adventure when trapped alone in a canyon for, you gessed it, 127 hours.  Told in a documentary style, the camera follows Aron through every step of his ordeal.  Extremely well crafted, the movie goes back and forth between showing Aron from a point of relative safety, and through the lens of his own video camera, which throughout the movie becomes its own character, telling the tale from an impartial angle.  His video camera serves as both companion and confessional for Aron, giving the audience an occasionally, almost too, intrusive look into this man's pain and suffering.  Ultimately this is a movie about the strength of the human spirit when pushed to it's extreme limits of endurance.  We see this man go through so much, to come so close to surrender, but never cross the line completely, although the reasoning and logic is there. 

Roughly 90% of the film is James Franco alone on camera.  I was never a big fan of the man until I saw this.  His previous characters were, for the most part, essentially, two dimensional.  This role is a huge step for him.  I saw a man seriously engaged in portraying the loneliness of solitude and the despair of hopelessness.  His nomination for the Best Actor Oscar was a deserved one; not having seen Colin Firth's performance in The King's Speech yet, I really can't say whose was better.  I will say this: Franco's performance is going to take a lot to top.

I am surprised I enjoyed this as much as I did, and would recommend it.  Note though, it does get graphic, and I found myself (a horror and slasher movie fan) cringing in empathetic pain along with the main character.  This one slipped in under my radar, but I'm really glad I caught it before it faded from my memory.  8.5/10

Tomorrow's movie: It's cowboys versus ninjas in The Warrior's Way.  Looks like it could be corny, but what the hell, it could be fun.  See you then, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!