If you are of a mind that would like to have your eyes gently moistened by the Hanks family, then Dan Slevin has got a deal for you!
Photo: Sony Pictures
Based on a Swedish hit film called A Man Called Ove (which was in turn based on a bestselling Swedish novel of the same name), A Man Called Otto stars Tom Hanks as the eponymous curmudgeon whose misanthropy is somehow tolerated by his long-suffering neighbours.
In a recent interview which raised the currently hot topic of ‘nepotism babies’ in the entertainment industry, Mr Hanks described Hollywood as a “family business” and A Man Called Otto is as good a vehicle for late-period Hanks as you could find, as well as being produced by his wife Rita Wilson and featuring their son Truman Hanks as the young Otto in flashbacks. If you must go to work every day, go to work with people you love.
Hanks is Otto Anderson, a recent widower who has lost whatever lust for life he once had. His purpose in life now is enforcing the strict rules shared by the housing association that he was once the chair of, and attempting to end it in as orderly a way as possible.
While suicide is never funny, attempted suicide can sometimes be and there are some laughs to be had as these meticulously planned efforts at offing himself inevitably end in frustration and failure.
Grumpy Otto (Tom Hanks) reluctantly reading his neighbours' kids a story in A Man Called Otto. Photo: Sony Pictures
A young family moves in across the road from Otto’s house and add to his annoyances by being friendly, chatty and needy – Otto is an engineer by profession and a problem solver by inclination and thus finds himself drawn into the lives of this talkative Latina woman (Mariana Treviño), her practically incapable IT expert husband (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and their two (soon-to-be three) children.
At the same time, a neighbourhood stray cat is inveigling his way into Otto’s life and a local real estate developer (Mike Birbiglia) is attempting to buy out the local residents so that new condominiums can be erected on the site.
Tom Hanks and a cat in the film A Man Called Otto. The cat is named "Cat". Photo: Sony Pictures
And, thus it will come to pass that in snowy Pennsylvania, Otto’s icy heart will probably melt. After each failure at self-harm, a flashback informs of us of the reasons for Otto’s depression: the loss of the great love of his life and the gradual loss of the community that he gave so much to.
For a long period, I had thought that Hanks had been miscast. Not because it was too obvious that “the nicest man in Hollywood” couldn’t remain a grouch for the whole film – although that is true – but because I didn’t think the journey was going to be long enough, dramatically speaking. I could imagine Clint Eastwood playing Otto (twenty or so years ago) and having some real menace behind his terrible initial behaviour, giving the inevitable eventual redemption some meat to go with the potatoes.
Even when Hanks’ Otto is being appalling, there’s enough of a glint behind the eyes that the audience knows what’s coming.
That’s when I realised that it isn’t just the audience that can see what’s behind the curmudgeonly façade – the neighbours can, too. They loved him when his wife was still alive (although they mostly loved her) and they forgive him now she has gone.
That’s the great journey of the picture. Not Otto’s transition from grinch to do-gooder, but his realisation that he is loved – can still be loved – and his choice to live up to that love.
It’s a satisfying movie, largely because there’s an A-Team of people behind it despite the modest ambitions. Marc Forster (The Kite Runner, Quantum of Solace) directs, reuniting with his screenwriter from Finding Neverland, David Magee. And Thomas Newman’s score reminds you of nothing quite so much as another meditation on suburban relationships, American Beauty for which he was Oscar nominated.
A Man Called Otto is rated M for offensive language & suicide themes and is screening in theatres across New Zealand.
