Product Details

• Actors: Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Thomas Horn, Viola Davis, John Goodman
• Directors: Stephen Daldry
• Writers: Eric Roth, Jonathan Safran Foer
• Producers: Scott Rudin, Celia Costas, Mark Roybal, Nora Skinner
• Format: Color, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• DVD Release Date: March 27, 2012
• Digital Copy Expiration Date: March 27, 2014 (Click here for more information)
• Run Time: 130 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (266 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0077ATSSQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,405 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (DVD + Ultraviolet Digital Copy)" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close touches the viewer to the very core. In the way that Titanic and The Sweet Hereafter depicted tragedy by pulling back at the pivotal moment, only increasing the heartache portrayed, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close shows the massive losses experienced in New York on September 11, 2001, through the lens of one young boy. Thomas Horn plays Oskar, a boy devoted to his dad (played by Tom Hanks, in flashbacks), who is lost in the attacks on the World Trade Center. The devastation of that day shudders through Oskar's family, including his mother, Linda (Sandra Bullock, in a subdued and affecting turn). Young Oskar is lost in the broken new world, but suddenly finds a purpose: a key left by his father. As Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close progresses, Oskar focuses on the key as a way to connect to his lost father--but finds, instead, connections in the unlikeliest of places. Horn is a wonder in his leading role, and commands attention even as his emotions are scattered. Hanks and Bullock are excellent, as always, though they are more incidental to the film than the viewer might have hoped. Standing out in the cast is Max von Sydow, a mysterious mute whom Oskar meets on the New York subway, and who becomes the most unlikely of guardian angels. Based on Jonathan Safran Foer's best-selling novel, which was able to depict a bit more wry humor to leaven the heartbreak and history lessons, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close nonetheless faces human tragedy straight on, and shows how a broken family can be rebuilt, one small key, one subway ride, one awkward hug at a time. --A.T. Hurley

Product Description

Oskar is convinced that his father (Hanks), who died in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, has left a final message for him hidden somewhere in the city. Feeling disconnected from his grieving mother (Bullock) and driven by a relentlessly active mind that refuses to believe in things that can't be observed, Oskar begins searching New York City for the lock that fits a mysterious key he found in his father's closet. His journey through the five boroughs takes him beyond his own loss to a greater understanding of the observable world around him.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

89 of 100 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Boy's Quest in EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE February 24, 2012

By C. Tsao

Format:DVD

A Boy's Quest in EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE
Ambitious in concept, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is the love story of a troubled boy whose bond with his father transcends death and events beyond his understanding. Director Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliott, The Hours) has put together an interesting study in post trauma and rediscovery. It doesn't always work, but it still registers on an emotional level.

A funeral signals the death of a family member and a boy's alienation to the world. In flashbacks, Oskar (Thomas Horn), who has trouble communicating and may have Asperger Syndrome, adores his father (Tom Hanks) who challenges him with riddles and treasure hunts to meet people outside his apartment. Both father and mother (Sandra Bullock) are loving parents, and the world becomes an interesting laboratory for exploration and discovery. Life is idyllic until 9/11 when everything changes and Oskar is witness to his father's last moments trapped in one of the Twin Towers. A year later, looking in his father's closet, he discovers a key in an envelope with the letters `black'. Who or what does the key belong to? Oskar sets out to find out by systematically tracking down every `Black' in the phone book and visiting each person for a clue. This big scavenger hunt is at best a daunting task.

His grandmother who lives across the street has a mysterious renter (Max Von Sydow) who does not speak and can only communicate by jotting on a note pad or displaying `yes' and `no' written on each hand. The renter takes a liking to Oskar and accompanies him on his quest. This is a search that proves overwhelming as each person they find has a story too.... When all hope seems lost, the road leads back to that fateful September morning and opens Oskar to the truth about his parents and himself.

At first you wonder if this hunt will be meaningful and be rewarded or if it is a waste of time. Oskar's obsession keeps him connected to his father; to fail is to lose whatever he has left of that relationship. In a way, it is about trying to make sense of his father's death and coming to terms with it. It is also about the forgiveness of guilt that nearly consumes Oskar.

You kind of think that at some point a miracle may occur or that something profound may happen, but what does reveal itself does not quite answer all the questions, and maybe that's just the point to the film, that life is part mystery and we never truly understand its riddle.

When you take stock of all the people that Oskar encounters, you realize that every one of them can sympathize or has suffered some kind of loss, and how they react to that in relation to Oskar shows how the trauma of loss can be a common bond. You wish you could learn more about some of these people.

Von Sydow gives a memorable performance without uttering a word as the renter who has a personal, family secret. Why does he remain mute? Was he a survivor of something so traumatic like the concentration camps of Europe that he does not speak? In a supporting role, Viola Davis is effective playing a character who figures prominently at the beginning and the end.

In the end, Oskar has learned something about himself and his family, and through his journeys, he has matured in a new post-9/11 world. Ultimately, the revelation at the end is bittersweet and that without the power of forgiveness, closure is incomplete. It also speaks to a part of humanity that we all share. Read more ›

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Movie! March 31, 2012

By D P

Format:Amazon Instant Video|Amazon Verified Purchase

I rented this movie with some trepidation. I read the book several years ago and it was one of my all-time favorites. I was afraid (especially with the negative reviews here on Amazon) that it would not only fall below my expectations but it would ruin the beautiful story I remember from the book. I was so wrong. This was a great movie!

54 of 66 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Can I say Uncontrollable Sobbing?? April 1, 2012

By Bonnie D.

Format:Amazon Instant Video

This movie got to me immediately and I was an emotional wreck by the end. The young man who played Oskar should have GOTTEN an Oscar. He was appropriately named. I have a nephew with Asperger's so I know that this young man played this part to perfection. At the core, it's the beautiful story of a damn good father who loved his wife and son and left this world too early, and how his family deals with that. It's flipping beautiful. I don't understand the low reviews from some.

30 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely just long enough and just conscious enough.... March 28, 2012

By Cameron Shue

Format:Amazon Instant Video

I work with kids with Asperger's and this kid did a perfect job. One reviewer thought he wasn't enough like a real kid. Well, Asperger's kids are different. They're often exactly like this kid.
A perfect movie. I can't imagine a better one being made about 911. Incredibly moving and extremely sad. Very, very well-written. Amazing....

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars The book is unbearable. The movie isn't. May 27, 2012

By Samuel McKewon

Format:Amazon Instant Video

Skillfully directed by Stephen Daldry and equally well-edited by Claire Simpson, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" is about as good as it can be considering you spend two hours with two of the more annoying characters in recent memory. The first is 11-year-old Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn) whose father died in 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. The second is Oskar's mute companion (Max Von Sydow), who answers questions by writing on paper, or flashing a "yes" or "no" tattooed on his palms. Together, they make a twee duo on a Journey for Truth. A Journey that's not really triggered by Oskar's dad but seems to be because the source novel, by Jonathan Safran Foer, needs some reason for the verbally-advanced-but-possibly-autistic Oskar to think he must walk the streets of New York City in search of a person named "Black." If the summary seems ridiculous, that's because the story is. Damn if it doesn't go down easier than it should, though. The book is unbearable. The movie isn't.

Thomas Schell (Hanks) bonds best with persnickety Oskar when he sends him on fictional quests in the city. Maps. Treasures. Clues. So, a year after Hanks' character dies, Oskar finds a key in a vase. And a name: "Black." Oskar fancies it as his father's last mission for him, and each Saturday he walks New York City rattling a tambourine for company, because his personality leaves him too scared for public transportation. Soon, a "renter" from his grandmother's apartment (Von Sydow) joins Oskar. He's tall and sad, with a secret out there in plain view. Folks tend to receive Oskar and this mute better than you might think for New Yorkers, and there's a reason for that, although it strains credulity just like the rest of the story....

The Foer novel - and screenplay by Eric Roth - piles on props, symbols and emotional subplots. How does Oskar's mom (Sandra Bullock) manage her son's weekly disappearances? Can Oskar come to terms with his final one-sided conversation with his dad over an answering machine? Does that key open any lock? Will the "renter" face up to his failures? While Roth wisely cuts out a lot of Foer's horsecrap - grandma's memory of French-kissing her sister has been redacted, thank God - if you scrutinize the details too closely, you'll find several don't hold up, especially Oskar's fixation with one of the leaping bodies from the World Trade Center.

Oskar, the character, doesn't hold up. His level of organization - not to mention his acute antenna for adult emotions - are far too developed for a kid his age and supposed social struggles. He lapses into bizarre patterns of speech, talking without contractions, as if reciting a collegiate term paper. In one scene, he makes a calculated choice regarding the answering machine that's cruel beyond his comprehension; in another, he's making scrap book beyond his years as recompense for the initial cruelty he never acknowledges. Horn's voice quavers, breaks, bleats. He keeps his eyes wide in every scene. He's a smart, serious kid - he won's Jeopardy's Kids Week competition, which indirectly led to this role - and that works against him here.

Von Sydow, an Academy Award nominee for this performance, does a lot with pauses, shuffles and facial expressions to make up for the lack of dialogue. It's excellent acting for a shaggy dog of a character. Hanks has a small role depicting what amounts to a saint. Bullock's out of her depth, but that's no sea change. Viola Davis and Jeffrey Wright are a weary, estranged couple, careful in their performances.

Daldry ("The Hours" and "The Reader") took plenty of shots from critics for his "exploitative" direction; that's code, at least in this case, for effective work. Whereas the book dawdles and tumbles into nonsense, the movie clips along. Daldry's big on fast-moving montages and matching images from scene to scene, and if you're trying to convey connectivity, there are worse proclivities to have. I disagree with his choice of title sequence and the movie's final image - which is a stark juxtaposition - but that's what the book gives him. It's bad there. It's bad here. In between is a polished, effective piece of emotional snookery, anchored by a lead character you'll love or hate. It doesn't work on me - Oskar's a bridge too far, and the novel is odious - but it will work on some. Read more ›

18 of 23 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A good movie but not as good as I was expecting it to be. The kid did a great job though. I say B. March 27, 2012

By Tony Heck

Format:DVD

"My father died at 9-11. After he died I wouldn't go into his room for a year because it was too hard and it made me want to cry." Oskar (Horn) is having a hard time dealing with the loss of his father (Hanks). On the morning of September 11th he is sent home early from school and is the first one home. He listens to the answering machine messages that he hides from his mother (Bullock). One year later he finds a key in his father's closer and finds one more way to be close to his dad. Going in I was looking forward to this one. Tom Hanks usually doesn't make a bad movie. While this is in no way a bad movie it was much slower then I expected. This was as depressing as I thought but there was something missing to really drive it home. Much like "In The Land Of Blood & Honey" it seemed to try to hard to make you feel bad when just the story alone has the power to do that. The one huge bright spot is the acting by the kid playing Oskar, he is in about 95% of the scenes and carries the movie extremely well. For a kid that young to steal a movie from Hanks is very impressive. Overall, a very good movie but I was expecting it to be better. I give it a B.