On paper, ‘A Man Called Otto’ is pretty lightweight. Fluffy, almost. But in the hands of a talent like Tom Hanks, lightweight material can carry a heavyweight punch – and predictably, this film has a whopper of an impact.
Now, perhaps it’s a tad irresponsible to label a movie with as many emotionally unsettling moments as ‘lightweight’, but director Marc Forster (‘Stranger Than Fiction’, ‘World War Z’) is determined to maintain a friendly tone for this movie about an especially UNfriendly gentleman. And, not far removed from his turn as playing Fred Rogers, quite possibly the nicest person to ever live on this planet, Hanks gets to portray Otto Anderson – a definite move in the opposite direction. In short, Hanks goes from ‘won’t you be my neighbour’ to ‘you kids get off my lawn’! And what’s amazing, the transformation seems effortless.
Based on 2015’s Swedish Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, ‘A Man Called Ove’ (which itself was based on a bestselling book), ‘A Man Called Otto’ follows Anderson (Hanks), an impatient old curmudgeon living in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. Months from losing his wife and days after being shuffled out of the company he’s been employed at for years, Otto is the portrait of a man who has grown tired of his own existence. He’s at the end of his rope. And, as it turns out, exhaust pipe too.
See, Otto’s numerous suicide attempts keep getting interrupted by his new neighbours, Marisol (Mariana Trevino) and Tommy (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), young parents who are overly pleasant and excited to be a part of Otto’s life. The feeling isn’t mutual. Well, not at first. In a story as cookie cutter as this, it’s pretty clear to see that Otto is a guy needing a reason to carry on, and….yup….say hello to the reason.
The thing is, it’s a GOOD story. And a morally decent one. Take a sprinkle of ‘Gran Torino’, a touch of ‘About Schmidt’ and even a dash of Hanks’ often forgotten but underrated ‘Larry Crowne’ (much different blueprint, but very similar breezy feel), and you should get an idea what makes ‘A Man Called Otto’ tick. It’s definitely a film that, thanks primarily to Hanks and Forster, rises above its cookie cutter model. Personally, it connected with my heart like few films have managed to do in quite some time. Perhaps it’ll work the same magic with you.
