Film - A Man Called Otto

When was the last time I went through 3 tissues in a cinema? I didn’t foresee this as a sad film. I thought it would mostly be whimsical and happy. It was both things and funny too, but by golly gosh were the sad bits truly sad.

When I saw it had been rated 15, I did wonder why but it was evident from the start. The reasons Otto (Tom Hanks) is miserable and/or depressed are not in the trailer so there are no spoilers here. Other than to say I’m sympathetic. I’ve never come across anyone who calls someone (or a set of people) ‘idiot’ for being completely lacking in common sense at least 5 times a day like I do so of course I warmed to Otto. He’s mourning the loss of his wife and the child they were not able to keep and here he is alone, keeping the house orderly and clean while he battles to do the same with his neighbourhood and the world outside.

The synopsis of this field portraying Otto as a grump is a bit misleading - even the trailer shows him smiling and playing with the new neighbour’s kids. He clearly doesn’t like dislike all people, just the idiots. And that’s fine by me.

8/10