A Man Called Otto (2022)

IMDb plot summary: Otto is a grump who's given up on life following the loss of his wife and wants to end it all. When a young family moves in nearby, he meets his match in quick-witted Marisol, leading to a friendship that will turn his world around.

Directed by Marc Forster. Stars Tom Hanks, Mariana Treviño, and Rachel Keller.

A Man Called Otto is an American remake of a Swedish film, which was in turn based on a book. This version stars Tom Hanks as a lonely widower named Otto who has determined to end his own life but continuously gets distracted by the people around him who need his help. As he begrudgingly helps them, he finds himself forming community that gives him a reason to live again. I am extremely curious about the original version of this. There is a very overt sentimentality in this one that doesn't always work for me. And it hit my introversion in a weird way, especially in the first third of the film, where there is a large part of me that is deeply irritated at the people around Otto forcing themselves into his life, even though I know that ultimately it would be good for him to have more connections. I'm just not convinced that the way for that to happen is for people to forcefully push themselves into your home and demand that you unburden your soul to them. And because of this, for much of the movie I felt claustrophobic and irritated rather than heartwarmed. It pulls off the story enough toward the end that it demonstrates that the community was genuine, so I was able to find sit better with the ending. So overall it was fine, and Tom Hanks is an excellent actor, but it made me extremely curious to see the story told from the point of view of a culture that is not as relentlessly extroverted as the United States. I wonder if I would resonate with that more. 

How it entered my Flickchart:

A Man Called Otto (2022)

beat Mr. Nice Guy (#1995 → #1999)

lost to La La Land (#995 → #992)

beat Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (#1494 → #1499)

lost to The Shoes of the Fisherman (#1241 → #1239)

beat The Theory of Everything (#1369 → #1370)

beat Mary Poppins Returns (#1306 → #1312)

lost to Akira (#1274 → #1273)

lost to 21 Up (#1287 → #1286)

lost to The French Dispatch (#1299 → #1281)

lost to The Harvey Girls (#1302 → #1268)

beat Borrowed Wives (#1303 → #1313)

lost to Wolf (#1301 → #1302)

Ranked #1295/3995 on my Flickchart. Flickscore™: 68.