127 Hours Trailer

Having shown the gritty cityscape of Mumbai India, award-winning director  Danny Boyle now turns his attention to the great outdoors. The bleak coppery wilderness of Utah's Canyon National Park is the setting for adventurer Aron Rolston's seemingly self-centred quest. Not even encountering a pair of lovely young girls (Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara) can detain him for any significant period.


Well, how about a rock? A boulder the size of a .. falls on his arm inside a narrow crevasse (or "slot") To the generally risk-averse, the very idea of bicycling over treacherous rock country and squirming through narrow openings - much less cascading into a subterranean pool - as ridiculous.
The film is based on Ralston’s memoir Between a Rock and a Hard Place, which tells the story of how he was pinned under a boulder while hiking in an isolated “slot” canyon (i.e., one that is narrower than it is wide) in Utah — and how, after 127 grueling hours with no hope of rescue, he was forced to cut off his own arm with a crude blade. That’s not a spoiler: The come-on for the picture is, in essence, “See James Franco cut off his arm!” 


Its a strange effect this movie has on you. Beyond the amputation, there's the fact that Franco is in practically every frame, and very often in close-up. he has to sell the anguish, the nostalgia, the recriminations about having gone too far on his wilderness quest. And he does a very good job. But essentially, we know how this is all supposed to turn out, so its a bit like sitting through a really bad day at the dentist: the pain lingers, but once its gone, there's little reason or drive to recall it. don't be surprised though, if Franco's name figures in the awards season sweeps.