{"id":25888,"date":"2023-01-12T19:29:41","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T03:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=25888"},"modified":"2023-01-12T19:29:41","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T03:29:41","slug":"a-man-called-otto-is-genial-but-doesnt-wow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=25888","title":{"rendered":"A MAN CALLED OTTO is Genial, But Doesn\u2019t Wow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/24_0006_C+-merged.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7079\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Running Time: 126 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2016, the little Swedish comedy\/drama <em>A Man Called Ove<\/em>\ncame out of the blue and surprised critics. Based on a novel by Fredrik\nBackman, the simple tale of a grouchy, suicidal old man rediscovering his\nhumanity became a massive hit in its homeland and earned Oscar nominations for\nBest Foreign Language Film and Best Make-Up Effects. Now, the story has been\nreinterpreted for North American audiences. If you are not familiar with the\noriginal, <em>A Man Called Otto<\/em> is genial and warm-hearted. But somehow, it\nfeels bland and pales in comparison to the 2016 version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Man-Called-Otto-05-fixed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-25890\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The story follows extremely unpleasant senior Otto Anderson\n(Tom Hanks). He makes morning rounds in his residential street in Pittsburgh,\ncomplaining about and staring down locals who do not follow neighborhood rules.\nOtto also plans on killing himself in the coming days. But the frustrated man\nfinds his attempts thwarted by bad timing. And despite his attempts to keep\neveryone at arm\u2019s length, an encounter with new neighbor Marisol (Mariana\nTrevi\u00f1o) and her family sends his plan into turmoil. She continually asks for\nhelp and engages the annoyed protagonist in conversation, slowly wearing him\ndown. This is all interspersed with flashbacks of a young Otto (Truman Hanks)\nand his experiences with wife Sonya (Rachel Keller). As the senior finds\nhimself pulled into the lives of those around him, his bleak outlook begins to\nchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The original film managed to charm by avoiding overt\nsentimentality and focusing on the gradual and subtle changes of the title\ncharacter. While this adaptation does follow many elements closely, it is less\nsubtle in its execution. A nasty real estate developer (Mike Berbiglia) trying\nto tear the neighborhood down is emphasized and serves as a direct foil for the\nlead. In fact, this movie makes great efforts from the start to emphasize that\nviewers like Otto even when his behavior is brusque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Man-Called-Otto-04-fixed-1024x580.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-25892\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Additionally, flashbacks are delivered in a more dramatic\ntone in this version and the sadder story elements are played in too grandiose\na manner (with a swelling score) to milk a bigger emotional reaction. It works\nreasonably well, but the tactic adds artifice to the lead\u2019s transformation and\nultimately blunts its climatic impact.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At least the cast are charismatic enough to keep our\nattention. Nothing in the story will surprise viewers, but there are a few\namusing moments thanks to the efforts of the central performers. Entertaining\nscenes include a couple of Otto\u2019s interrupted suicide attempts, as well as some\ngruff responses and confrontational exchanges between himself and those who get\non his nerves (like power company representatives and a cashier at a hardware\nstore). An interaction with a clown also delivers a chuckle. And, of course,\nthe lead\u2019s interactions with new, overly talkative neighbor Marisol contain\nsome enjoyable back-and-forth jabs.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Man-Called-Otto-01-fixed-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-25891\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, the end product doesn\u2019t wow or make much of a lasting\nimpression. If you haven\u2019t seen <em>A Man Called Ove<\/em>, then it is probably\nwiser to attempt to track down that version of the story. It didn\u2019t overplay\nthe drama, yet still managed to feel substantial and pull on the heartstrings. <em>A\nMan Called Otto<\/em> seems earnest and is capably made, but the film is far from\nawards-caliber material. This effort may satisfy fans of the star or those\ncompletely unfamiliar with the novel or Swedish feature, but the film feels\nroutine and traditional in its delivery of the source book.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Running Time: 126 minutes In 2016, the little Swedish comedy\/drama A Man Called Ove came out of the blue and surprised critics. Based on a novel by Fredrik Backman, the simple tale of a grouchy, suicidal old man rediscovering his humanity became a massive hit in its homeland and earned Oscar nominations for Best Foreign [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":25889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[213,487,488,3295,4660,6251,13210,16566,16846,17941,18704,19276,19439,19440,23015,23258,23329],"class_list":["post-25888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-213","tag-a-man-called-otto","tag-a-man-called-ove","tag-book-adaptation","tag-comedy","tag-drama","tag-mariana-trevino","tag-rachel-keller","tag-remake","tag-senior","tag-sony","tag-suicidal","tag-sweden","tag-swedish","tag-tom-hanks","tag-tri-star","tag-truman-hanks"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25888\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}