go see this movie.

Nope, this weekend, there are no choices. There's only one movie that everyone needs to go and see, no matter what you've heard or how much you dislike the idea of a hiker cutting his arm off.

Wrong again. This isn't Black Swan.

127HOURS. (James Franco - Danny Boyle, 2010)
I have avoided this film for so long. I remember reading about it two months before it was released, when it was first being previewed and trailers were starting. I remember gaping at the words "more than 3 people in over [insert some percentage] of preview showings fainted" and grappling with the decision to either miss a for-sure awesome James Franco performance or, yes, pass out in a movie theater.

If you're fighting the same fight, just give in. Sure, the movie is stressful, and yes, that five minutes is painful, but just think how much worse it was for Aron Ralston.

Danny Boyle (who also directed best picture "Slumdog Millionare" from 2009) is a magician. Honestly, the man knows how to make a film that sounds impossible (one man, stuck in a canyon, with a story that everyone knows the end to?) into a masterpiece. The shots of the bluest skies in the West cascading into the dry, brown canyons make it worth the few minutes of jitters and his use of found archival footage is a delight.

James Franco (who I love, but can never really place as a standout actor in, well, anything) really makes his mark. His performance is bookmarked by conversation with others, but the meat of what should have won him a Best Actor statue (sorry, Colin, but it's the truth) is his achingly perfect acting with himself. At one point, after he's been stuck under the boulder for at least 72 of the 127 hours, he puts on a cheery and purely human performance, playing himself in three lights, all conversing; the video he takes of himself in hopes that someone will find it and give it to his parents is heartbreaking; the delirious hours in the rocks are beautifully constructed with delusions and dreams - some to laugh at, others to mull over.

And those five minutes. I won't say too much, for fear I'll pass out thinking about it. It's gross. So gross. I want and don't at all want to know how they filmed that. While I was squirming, Franco was groaning, and we were all looking away. But it is such a rewarding silence, followed by roars from the now-so-thankful-for-having-both-arms crowd. Amazing. Truly.

I don't know how or why the Academy overlooked this performance the way that they did. The trailers pegged it "the greatest performance of all time" and I 100% honestly agree.

♥♥♥♥♥