A Man Called Otto is heartfelt and sad story about a widowed husband trying to find his place in the world without his wife. It is incredibly touching and can resonate with any audience member no matter the age.
Going into the film, I was expecting it to have it's sad moments but there are times where this movie gets very dark. This was a surprise and it is a major tonal shift from the rest of the film. It works really well as this tonal juxtaposition is a metaphor for how Otto is feeling on the inside versus the positivity that is given to him in his every day life.
Tom Hanks delivers a great performance here. He had great comedic timing and delivered a tremendous amount of emotion in just his subtle facial expressions. Mariana Treviño was excellent and her chemistry with Hanks is superb throughout the film. Her hard fast nature is able to drive a wedge into Otto, giving him the ability to open up for the first time and genuinely live since the passing of his wife. It worked wonderfully and was a highlight of the film. The majority of the other performances were poor... I liked the kids though.
The plot is pretty generic in terms of overall structure, I could have predicted the ending after the first ten minutes. It differentiates itself by having a very real and brutal look at the mental health of a widower. How someone's lack of direction and companionship can lead them down a dark path. It was great. This movie does try to shoe horn in some social commentary about transgender acceptance and societies selfishness with phones. I am all for giving that type of representation in film, but it was done here in a very inorganic way, making it feel not genuine.
Overall, this movie accomplished its goal and made me cry. It really affected me as both my grandmothers are widowed and it let me gain a view of what they went through in the aftermath of losing a partner.
Score: 72%
Verdict: Good
