127 Hours is told in 93 minutes – Danny Boyle style. The film is based on Aron Ralston’s memoir, Between A Rock and A Hard Place (2004). Boyle, the film’s director, first approached Ralston about his tale in 2006 but they ended up parting ways when Ralston was only interested in a documentary or a docu-drama where he was able to appear in the film. Flashfoward to 2008 and Boyle had just picked up Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire and some time had passed since the book initial publication. Now Ralston was willing to let Boyle move forward with an actor playing Ralston . . . and here we are. Boyle cast James Franco, who has received a lot of award buzz for his portrayal of Ralston, which revolves around Ralston’s solo canyoning trip in Utah that didn’t quiet go as planned. The camera stays with Ralston for the entire film (which is a change from the book that I think works). It is a visceral film-going-experience with plenty for both the eye and the ear. The film is true to the way Boyle describes his style of film making—“total immersion.”
“I’ve always thought of it as an action movie even though he can’t move. It needed to be full of momentum, purpose and a journey all the time in as many ways as we could make it. But in the end, none of it matters. It’s the actor who sustains you and keeps you going.” – Danny Boyle
127 Hours is Franco’s show. Sure, there are the two hikers, played by Amber Tamlyn and Kate Mara, who he meets at the beginning of the film. There are also the flashbacks/hallucinations of his parents (played by Treat Williams and a favorite stage actor of mine, Kate Burton) and various other figures from his past. But at the end of the day, the film is basically a one-hander. The film Ralston videotapes updates (as Ralston did in real life) of his status and state-of-mind, which gives us our narration without having to resort to the use of voiceover. It would have been so easy for the whole film to have this slipped into histrionics because what happens in the film, but Franco’s performance is so elegantly simple that you stay grounded as an audience (no pun intended). What is not simple is what happens with the sound and the camera.
“We shot for a week in Long John Canyon where [Ralston] got trapped . . . It takes so long to get there, so we camped there for six nights and six days. I realized when I was lying there in the middle of the night that it was so quiet, and really scary. There are no sirens . . . ” – Danny Boyle
A telling quote from Mr. Boyle. He bookends the film with split screen shots of crowds of people (commuting, sporting events, Wall Street Trading floor, etc.). This is a world of community vs the person who wants to go it solo. “I need help!” Ralston (Franco) yells in the film. Boyle has said he made the film “not to tell the Aron Ralston story, because a TV documentary could do that, but I made it because it wasn’t about an individual superhero. It’s about people. People are what begins and ends the film.” This is not a film about the wilderness. According to Franco, “This is a Samuel Beckett story about a man and a rock.”
This is one of the two films I’ve seen this year that I would consider buying the soundtrack for (the other being for The Social Network). The sound is amazing in both films. For 127 Hours this is thanks to Sound Editor Glenn Freemantle and Composer A.R. Rahman (both artists with whom Boyle has collaborated with before). Boyle noted that “[sound] is about creating a landscape . . . I love pop music, and pop culture. I find it really valuable . . . When you hear a new pop song, it gives you a feeling that high art can’t give you.” The soundscape is almost another character in the film. And although I really enjoyed it, having read Ralston’s book, it seemed in real opposition to who Ralston was as a person (The Ralston of the film, as played by Franco, seems much cooler and more plugged in than the real-life Ralston did in Between A Rock). This is a Danny Boyle soundtrack, not an Aron Ralston soundtrack. In the book, he gives multiple mentions to a taste rooted in his following of the bands Phish (even taking a vacation to Japan to see them – and to get some climbing in) and The String Cheese Incident. If you know anything about those bands, you will know that they are very different from the sound that Boyle delivers.
Boyle’s films usually deal with dark subjects but his films are never depressing. You can almost sum up the entire Danny Boyle canon with the lines spoken by Ewan McGregor as Renton at the end of Boyle’s second film, Trainspotting:
“The truth is that I’m a bad person. But, that’s gonna change – I’m going to change. This is the last of that sort of thing. Now I’m cleaning up and I’m moving on, going straight and choosing life. I’m looking forward to it already. I’m gonna be just like you. The job, the family, the fucking big television. The washing machine, the car, the compact disc and electric tin opener, good health, low cholesterol, dental insurance, mortgage, starter home, leisure wear, luggage, three piece suite, DIY, game shows, junk food, children, walks in the park, nine to five, good at golf, washing the car, choice of sweaters, family Christmas, indexed pension, tax exemption, clearing gutters, getting by, looking ahead, the day you die.”
One thing that did really bother me was that 127 Hours is one of the most blatant examples of product-porn I have seen in a long time. We are bombarded with corporate logos: like Ralston’s dreams of larger than life images of beverages like Gatorade (I know in the book he had Gatorade in his truck but this is different). Maybe it has to do with Boyle’s style, but the products all took on a fetishistic quality that might be okay for an advert but seemed out of place in telling the story. Did we really need a shot of his bank card? The products are yet another character in the film. And unlike the soundscape, an unwelcome one.
“This is a truly innovative brand logo that graphically captures the essence of the London 2012 Olympic Games – namely to inspire young people around the world through sport and the Olympic values.” – Jacques Rogge, International Olympic Committee President
I bet the corporate ‘partners’ of the 2012 London Olympics are over the moon that Boyle has been hired to put on the games’ opening ceremonies. Boyle is certainly someone comfortable around a brand. I am sure his style and kinetic energy will attract that coveted youth demographic that sponsors salivate for.
Nice post – I was wondering where the London Olympic logo fit into the post on 127 hours.
Interesting comments on the product placement and the quotes from Boyle.