20 for 2011: 12 - Hugo Cabret

A surprising choice from Martin Scorsese jumps out of the screen at Number 12: Hugo Cabret.



Martin Scorsese has dipped his toe in different genre's before, he done period, musical and "women's" pictures (The Age of Innocence, New York, New York and Alice doesn't live here Anymore respectively); and yet we were all surprised when he annouced this project a children's film to be made in 3D. Should we have been shocked?

Whilst it may be a departure there are plenty of signs that Scorsese would want to make a film like this. Primarily the film is set in Paris in the 1930's, a world in which Society was changing rapidly with the old class structures disappearing. There will alo be plenty of opportunity to ape the styles of his heroes Powell and Pressburger with garish and striking colour palettes, and using stories within stories in the structure. Finally the mysteries in the book revolve around the cinema legend Georges Melieres, pioneer of early animation techniques, and we all know how much Scorsese likes to preserve old films. In many ways this is a culmination of all his hobbies.

With the recent re-release of Peeping Tom Thelma Schoonmacher has been making the rounds and in interviews she has often brought up the sheer mass of detail Scorsese is working on, you can guarantee he's taking the 3D filming process seriously. You add to that a cast led by Ben Kingsley, Jude Law and Asa Butterfield (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas) as Hugo then this is virtually unmissable.