***1/2 out of ****
Directed by: Danny Boyle
Starring: James Franco, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn, Clemence Poesy and Treat Williams
Running time: 96 minutes
Throughout 127 Hours, an uncommon cinematic convention –- splitting the screen into vertical thirds –- is employed. On the left and right sides are images of mass crowds, such as cars crunched together in a traffic jam or a group of birds flying together. In the middle is our protagonist, Aron Ralston (portrayed by James Franco), a man who epitomizes the enduring spirit of the individual.
At the film’s start, Ralston throws together a knapsack of supplies, including a camera and Nalgene overflowing with water, drives from his Colorado home to the jagged, sun-baked canyons of a Utah national park, and escapes. This is his paradise from the bullish throes of everyday life, where he bikes, goes spelunking with two attractive girls (Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn) and experiences nirvana while exploring its vast dunes.
Unfortunately, while journeying through the rocky formations, a boulder pins his arm to the side of a cave wall and Ralston becomes stuck. He tries to use a dull knife to chip at the boulder and loosen it, but to no avail. He is, literally, caught between a rock and a hard place (also the title of the book published by Ralston that this film is adapted from).
Ralston personifies such a level of freedom and catharsis, it’s no wonder that a director as visually and emotionally expansive as Danny Boyle would choose to bring it to life. Like his last film, the award-winning crowd-pleaser Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle’s latest is a triumph of adversity. But instead of throttling through India, 127 Hours mostly takes place within the confines that sandwiched Ralston.
Like the dreamy images of Latika waiting at the train station from that earlier film, Ralston imagines the ex-girlfriend (Clemence Poesy) and adoring family who are leaps and bounds away. Like Slumdog, it has Anthony Dod Mantle’s layered, hi-def cinematography and A.R. Rahman’s thumping score (sadly, the latter is not as effective here)
Boyle, whose camera is always active and edits just as swift, has less room to move. Still, he relies on his intoxicating visual style to serve as a vibrant counteractor for Ralston's loneliness. For instance, a thirst-quenching montage of clips from soft-drink commercials and a hyperactive fast-forward styled shot showing the distance between Ralston and his car, where drinks lie waiting on the front seat, will make you crave a drink as badly as our protagonist. While 127 Hours is inspiring, it also unrelentingly urges you to take a sip of water (which is, my friends, visceral filmmaking at its finest.)
As our trapped canyoneer, James Franco virtually ensures an Oscar nomination for the demanding psyche of the role, which includes having to yelp in unbearable pain in a few aching moments, while also capably unleashing Ralston's gruff, sarcastic tone and determined spirit. He even manages to capture spurts of hope -- a smile when the dazzling sight of a bird appears flying overhead -- even as time seems to stand still.
Franco also nails the sorrow within Ralston's several heart-breaking confessions, recorded on his camcorder as a diary of his grueling experience. He comes to realize that the rock may have been waiting for him his whole life, capitalizing at the right moment to knock his own detached persona into place.
For those who know of Ralston’s experience (or who have heard reports of fainting and walk-outs from local screenings), you know that the climactic sequence -– Ralston’s last stand against the boulder –- is a jarring and graphically bloody affair. The scene is quite short and mesmerizing, if you have the stomach to keep your eyes peeled to the screen.
Regardless, even if you cannot fathom the dizzying two-minute whelp of gore near the film’s end, you should make it your duty to witness all 94 other minutes of this extraordinary film.
This is a triumphant and incredibly personal quest at its core, and neither Franco nor Boyle forget that. 127 Hours is
easily the most visceral film of the year and surely one of the finest, an adventure that encompasses the tremendous resilience of a man who plunged remarkable depths but was left stranded within the depths of his own despair.
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