There was plenty to choose from at the cinema over the school holidays, including Avatar: the Way of Water, What’s Love Got to Do With It, Lyle Lyle Crocodile, A Man Called Otto, The Fabelmens, and The Whale.
Early in the New Year we managed to see A Man Called Otto, directed by Marc Forster, and starring Tom Hanks as a cantankerous old man with a sad life. The movie is based on the original novel by Swedish writer Fredrik Bateman, A Man Called Ove.
Every morning Otto does the rounds of the neighbourhood, crankily sorting through rubbish and recycling, whilst exchanging words with his neighbours over their daily misdemeanours.
Otto begins to unwind with the arrival of some new neighbours, however things don’t start well. They endanger his fence while trying to park their trailer, introducing us to Marisol (Mariana Trevino) the wife, who is unquenchably optimistic and believes there is always good in people. She starts by presenting Otto with home cooked dishes and before long he’s babysitting her daughters and teaching her to drive.
At times you feel the movie may descend into too much sentimentality, however it seems to hold the line — common sense, while delivering the essence between right and wrong.
Tom Hanks’ character is wholly predictable, yet the manner of the story reveals such a wry and tender regard for Otto and the people who help bring him back to the land of the living, its well worth the watch.
