AFTER 90 MINUTES, BOYLE’S “127 HOURS” HAS TORONTO ROCKING
Over the four years that I’ve covered the Toronto International Film Festival, my three most memorable screenings have all come courtesy of Fox Searchlight and at the Ryerson Theater, and each were met with standing ovations of the sort that one is lucky to witness even just once in a lifetime: the unveiling of “Juno” in 2007; the unveiling of “Slumdog Millionaire” in 2008; and the unveiling of “127 Hours” (Fox Searchlight, 11/5, trailer) last night.
“127 Hours” tells the remarkable true story of a mountain climber named Aron Ralston, a vibrant young man who winds up stuck in just about the worst predicament one can imagine and then sets about finding a way out of it. The film was made by many of the same people responsible for “Slumdog Millionaire” — producer Christian Colson (a gentle man who seems drawn to material in which characters wear their hearts on their sleeves); screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (who somehow turned the story of a largely silent and isolated incident into a pitch-perfect script), cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle (who presents the epic and the intimate equally beautifully); composer A.R. Rahman (whose energetic score perfectly captures the protagonist’s spirit), and director Danny Boyle (who stepped out of his comfort zone of hyper-kinetic action and instead accepted the challenge of making a film in which action of any sort is completely impossible). The lion’s share of credit for the film’s success, though, must go to James Franco, who gives one of the greatest screen performances of all time as Ralston. He’s in every scene of the film, and in the vast majority of them he’s acting alone and with one arm tied behind his back (to borrow a rather appropriate pun), all the while focusing his attention on something that isn’t actually there (the crushed arm that he’s trying to free). I believe that Marlon Brando would have been impressed; Edward Norton, who sat directly behind me, certainly was.
After the film ended and the three minute standing ovation subsided, the people involved with the film — including Ralston — chatted amongst each other and answered several questions. Piers Handling, the director of TIFF, asked Ralston if the film accurately depicted his experiences; after a long pause followed by a struggle to find words, Ralston said through tears, “Yes — that’s the answer — yes.” Boyle mentioned that Ralston had initially wanted to turn his life story into a documentary, and Ralston thanked Boyle for convincing him not to — “As a documentary it wouldn’t have ever been anywhere near as powerful as that was,” he said. And an audience member asked Ralston if he prayed to God through his ordeal, to which he replied that he had prayed to the God of every religion and even to The Devil, just in case he existed. He closed out the proceedings on a lighter note, though, saying, “I’m not sure even God has the power to make the Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup.”
Thanks to the quality of the film, the experience of the film’s distributor, Boyle’s aptitude for tasteful campaigning, Franco’s smarts and likability, and Ralston’s public endorsement of the film, the sky is the limit as far as awards prospects go.
Photo: TIFF director Piers Handling looks on as James Franco, Danny Boyle, Amber Tamblyn, Kate Mara, Aron Ralston, Simon Beaufoy, Christian Colson, and Clemence Poesy experience a massive standing ovation following the Toronto’s first public screening of “127 Hours.” Credit: Scott Feinberg.
Tags: 127 Hours, Amber Tamblyn, Anthony Dod Mantle, Aron Ralston, Christian Colson, Clemence Poesy, Danny Boyle, Edward Norton, James Franco, Juno, Kate Mara, Marlon Brando, Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire, Stanley Cup, TIFF, Toronto, Toronto Maple Leafs