Director Danny Boyle is interesting due to the fact that he has no specific genre and that his projects are quite diverse. After the great success of the film Slumdog Millionaire, which was brought to him by Oscar Boyle, he turned to shooting the film quite unexpectedly, that is. some kind of monodrama about a man who remained trapped in a canyon for 127 hours. His, on the one hand, a huge problem, and on the other hand, a huge undertaking, the man recorded with his video camera, so those recordings, along with his autobiographical book, were the main inspiration for this film.
Aaron Ralston is a man who does extreme hiking through canyons. During a typical trip to the canyon, due to circumstances, his hand gets stuck under a large rock. After all possible attempts to free himself and the realization that no one will find him, Aaron makes the move of a man mad with despair, which will still free him from very awkward situations. Basically, this is not a spoiler, because a lot of people know the end of this life drama, and, considering that the film has a happy ending, you can guess what Aaron will do.
The complete project is placed on the back of a man named James Franco. He carries that burden phenomenally, because the story and the script do not give too much material for action and distraction from the main character, so that Franco effectively controls the situation during all ninety minutes, maintains the active attention of viewers, the best performance of his career. If you’re looking for a reason why this film was nominated for an Oscar in as many as six categories, the main reason for Boyle’s influence is Frank’s acting.
Danny Boyle, on the other hand, actively helps the main character by combining hallucinations, dreams, daydreams and flashbacks. In order to enhance the effect of individual scenes, the director divides the screen into several parts, which visually looks really nice. With great music and a great choice of recording location, the viewer simply moves into that claustrophobic space with the main character. The whole project seems convincing, but its disadvantage is that there is definitely no material for one feature film. At times it puts you to sleep, it seems monotonous and, if you watch a movie with not too much concentration, it easily throws you into melancholy. The story is interesting, the book written by Aaron Ralston himself has quite enough pages, but those pages do not have enough active action, plot, unfolding, or even dialogue that would shake and intrigue the passive observer.
