Martin Scorsese isn’t the first director one might think of for a children’s movie, but Hugo offers a story that transcends easy categorisation. Starring Asa Butterfield as Hugo Cabret, Chloë Grace Moretz as Isabelle, and Ben Kingsley as Georges Méliès, the film takes place mostly in the 1930s Paris setting of the Gare Montparnasse train station. Hugo is an orphan who lives there and operates the clocks. His father (Jude Law) was an inventor before his mysterious death, and he left behind an automaton that requires a special key for activation.
Hugo and Isabelle eventually bring the automaton to life, and the message it passes on leads them on an adventure of discovery about the history of filmmaking, and how Hugo’s father and Georges Méliès are connected to it. Hugo itself is as magical and immersive as the movies it references, and the film won five Academy Awards in 2012. The story is based on Brian Selznick’s 2007 novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret.
Here are fifteen artful stills from the film.
