127 HOURS

Who else but patently-offbeat British director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire) could have taken the grisly true story of a brash adventurer who amputates his arm in a desperate act of self-preservation and transformed it into the year’s most uplifting film? Employing inventive narrative devices, visual eccentricities, hyperkinetic editing and an eclectic soundtrack by composer A. R. Rahman, 127 Hours chronicles the agonising ordeal of mountain climber Aron Ralston (James Franco) who spent five days struggling to extricate himself from an isolated slot canyon in Utah after his right forearm became trapped under a boulder. Franco (Spider-Man, Milk) gives a hugely charismatic performance; infectiously sanguine and self-deprecating from start to finish, but also able to evoke measured pathos during those gut-wrenching scenes in which Ralston – having reflected on love and life – grudgingly accepts his own mortality. Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara co-star as the hitchhikers he encounters before his accident. Reminiscent of Kevin MacDonald’s Touching the Void, 127 Hours is a visceral, euphoric and energetic masterpiece that knocks viewers for a loop, leaving them humbled, but ultimately elated to be alive. (JH) *****