A Man Called Otto (2023)

Content by Tony Macklin. Originally published on July 11, 2023 @ tonymacklin.net.

Once again, Tom Hanks prevails.

Initially, A Man Called Otto seems to be a negligible project. The previews are lacklustre, and the film has a generic beginning. It looks like a faltering attempt. It's the story of a cranky, old man. Been there, done that.

But then Hanks applies his patented humanity, and the film becomes a human tour de force. It's worthy entertainment.

Tom Hanks has always played Everyman. An intelligent Everyman, which seems to be fading from actual life. He is the embodiment of decency - also a quality disappearing from human conduct in 2023.

In A Man Called Otto, Hanks plays Otto, who retires from his lifetime job. He has little to do, and becomes an angst-ridden nitpicker. His wife is deceased and he is alone.

Into his empty life comes a young Latin couple (Mariana Trevino and Manuel Garcia Rulfo) who move into the neighborhood. She brings Otto food she has prepared, and slowly he is affected by her spirit and generosity.

This probably is a worn plot, but Hanks invests it with his ability. One can't imagine a better actor for the role. He gives it a gravity it may not deserve.

A Man Called Otto is something of a family project. Hanks and his wife Rita are among the producers, and their son Truman effectively portrays Otto as a young man.

A Man Called Otto also is helped by veteran filmmakers. Marc Forster directed. Forster directed Monster's Ball (2001), Quantum of Solace (2008), and Cristopher Robin (2018). The screenwriter, who did the adaptation from the Swedish film, is capable writer David Magee.

But A Man Called Otto is basically dependent on Hanks' performance.

Tom Hanks always delivers, except maybe in the kissing scene with Julia Roberts in Larry Crowne (2011). He has been in five films directed by Steven Spielberg. Hanks won Best Actor Oscars for Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994). He played a smart Forrest, another performance that showed great range in humanity.

He out-acted a volleyball in Cast Away (2000). He humanized a complex "villain" in Road to Perdition (2002).

In recent years Hanks has portrayed actual people: Captain Phillips (2013), Bridge of Spies (2015), Sully (2016), The Post (2017), A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019), and Elvis (2022).

In A Man Called Otto Hanks doesn't play an actual person, but he makes his character genuine and memorable.

As always, Tom Hanks gives life to his characters.