[6]

Thomas Horn stars as an nine-year-old boy who searches New York city for the lock to a mysterious key owned by his father, one of the victims of the World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001. I can’t make up my mind if it’s clever or overly-sentimental that Horn’s character has Asperger’s syndrome. On one hand, his lack of emotional perception keeps the movie from falling into a melodramatic sandpit. But his constant state of confused wonder over other characters’ emotional experiences becomes cloying.

The supporting cast is tremendous, with Sandra Bullock delivering one of her better performance as the boy’s mother, Max von Sydow as a mute man who may or may not be the boy’s grandfather, and Viola Davis as a grieving divorcee. Jeffrey Wright and Tom Hanks are also memorable in the film. Each of these characters gives the film a much-needed emotional weight, grounding it in reality. The scenes between Horn and Von Sydow are particularly strong. I responded more to the supporting characters than the young boy and his poetic city-quest, a core concept that I found a bit cheesy and manipulative. Directed by Stephen Daldry (The Hours).

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Max von Sydow)