127 Hours (*****)

Slumdog Millionaire move over, Danny Boyle's latest work also may be his greatest. What began as a skeptical night of going to the movies transformed into an experience I don't think I will ever forget. The story of a man who gets his arm trapped behind a rock somehow manages to become a profound reflection on each and every person's life and the individual paths we all take.

The movie is in many ways similar to Boyle's previous film - Slumdog Millionaire - a colorful, fast-paced, dramatic yet inspiring story of life's worst situations transforming the characters into better people.

Of course, the story mainly focuses on Aron Ralston, an adventurous, albeit naive mountain climber who - of course - find himself in the worst situation: trapped in the middle of no where with no means of help. Any other director (I literally mean ANY other director) would have ruined the film and lost the true meaning of the story. Boyle makes it seem easy, oftentimes with unusual means - split screen, superimpositions, dreams, etc. It's highly stylized to say the least - but it works so well.

I could go on for hours praising each individual aspect - the score (our lovely AR Rahman), the cinematography, the editing, the sound design (!) but it all rides on James Franco's shoulders, and his is a towering performance. It's not necessarily a showy role, but he makes the most out of every little moment and pause - it's the silence that he manages that really holds our attention.

Although the running time is around an hour and a half, the intensity of each moment leaves you pinned - and time seems to stop. You might ask yourself, how could a movie set in a narrow canyon possibly hold our attention for 10 minutes, let alone over an hour? Well - it just does. In many ways it's a story about survival. Our tensions build as we see his water supply get lower and lower and the littlest changes in weather remind us how dangerous it is. At the same time it also manages to be a moving drama, a story about a man reflecting on his past relationships, love affairs, and family ties. If you were about to die, how would you feel about the life you had led thus far?

As far as I'm concerned, this is the best movie I've seen all year. No other movie in recent memory has had such a huge impact on me - physically and emotionally. All the pieces are here, and they all work brilliantly together. In fact, stupendous is probably the best word I can think to use to describe it.

(Awards potential: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Franco), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Makeup)