Having gone to see this at the Cinema on a free ticket the missus won in a competition, I can fairly say it was a complete waste of a complimentary entry. “127” is the sort of film I would pay DOUBLE the ticket price to see. Utterly engrossing and certainly not the monologue that many feared, James Franco excels in the lead role as Aron the extreme sportsman trapped in a remote gully with no hope of rescue.....but that is not all. His right arm is crushed tight against the wall by an immovable boulder leaving him with limited movement and few resources.
You may know the story, but the intrigue into how you can stretch a limited scope into a full feature is just part of the draw. Danny Boyle's particular style is stamped on the movie from the outset and I almost felt the ghost of trainspotting tapping on my shoulder. The directors choice of shots and camera motion make the story fantastic and watchable and with just three or four scenes I was utterly absorbed and taken into the film, carrying me through the rest of the fascinating but slightly more pedestrian screenplay. The moments of intensity though were just that, enrapturing and engaging to an extreme, and for me, it's those scenes which grip you at your very heart which make a movie. Yes they are there to entertain or educate, films are there to thrill you, make you laugh or strike fear into your soul. But when a film reaches inside you moves you and almost changes your being......THAT's what it is all about, that is why we have buildings called 'cinemas' and that is why as an art form it will never die. Just so long as we produce regular Gran Torinos, Once Were Warriors and 127's over and above your Harry Potters and Pirates of the Caribbean.
A remarkable film (and that from someone who wasn't overly impressed with “Slumdog”) one to keep the flame of cinema burning and one which left this viewer with the singular thought that simply swapping Hayden Christenssen with James Franco would have saved Star Wars II and III.
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