127 Hours (2010)

A mountain climber becomes trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone near Moab, Utah and resorts to desperate measures in order to survive.

Director:

Danny Boyle

Writers:

Danny Boyle (screenplay), Simon Beaufoy (screenplay),

Stars:

James Franco, Amber Tamblyn, Kate Mara

Nominated for 6 Oscars. Another 26 wins & 112 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Franco	...	Aron Ralston
Kate Mara	...	Kristi
Amber Tamblyn	...	Megan
Sean Bott	...	Aron's Friend (as Sean A. Bott)
Koleman Stinger	...	Aron Age 5
Treat Williams	...	Aron's Dad
John Lawrence	...	Brian
Kate Burton	...	Aron's Mom
Bailee Michelle Johnson	...	Sonja Age 10
Parker Hadley	...	Aron Age 15
Clémence Poésy	...	Rana
Fenton Quinn	...	Blue John (as Fenton G. Quinn)
Lizzy Caplan	...	Sonja
Peter Joshua Hull	...	Boy on Sofa (as P.J. Hull)
Pieter Jan Brugge	...	Eric Meijer

Storyline

127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Over the next five days Ralston examines his life and survives the elements to finally discover he has the courage and the wherewithal to extricate himself by any means necessary, scale a 65 foot wall and hike over eight miles before he can be rescued. Throughout his journey, Ralston recalls friends, lovers, family, and the two hikers he met before his accident. Will they be the last two people he ever had the chance to meet?

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Plot Keywords:

aron ralston | canyon | alone | utah | mountain climber | 

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Taglines:

Every Second Counts

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Genres:

Adventure | Biography | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

14A

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

28 January 2011 (Canada)

Also Known As:

127 heures

Filming Locations:

Moab, Utah, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£2,168,570 (UK) (7 January 2011)

Gross:

$18,329,466 (USA) (8 April 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox Searchlight Pictures, Pathé, Everest Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Aron Ralston became a motivational speaker. He was busy in November of 2011. Some of his activities included: On November 16, 2011, he was the final keynote speaker for the 2011 Financial & Insurance Conference Planners Annual Conference, in San Antonio, Texas. On November 28, he spoke at the Fayetteville Town Center at the University of Arkansas.

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Goofs

In both scenes with Brian, Aron's boss, he is wearing a T-shirt that can be identified as being a product of the website www.someecards.com. This website did not launch until 2007, but the movie is set in 2003.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Aron Ralston: Hey. Aron here. Leave a message.
Sonja Ralston: Hey Aron. Sonja here, again. I know that you're probably gonna be away this weekend. But listen, just think about we we're gonna play. Please. 'Cause we have to decide, and we really... We need to practice, okay? Anyway, it will be fun. I promise. And oh, please call mom. Please. 'Cause she worries, which you know already. Okay. Later, A., goodbye.

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Crazy Credits

Captions appear just before the end credits: "Aron's premonition came true. He met his wife Jessica three years later. Their son, Leo, was born in February 2010. Aron continues to be a climber and canyoneer. He always leaves a note to say where he has gone." During these captions, the cinematographer shows us the real Aron and Jessica, who are sitting silently on a couch outdoors, on green grass near a stand of green trees. The couch has colors suggesting the hues of the canyon Aron was trapped in. Aron slowly smiles, and then breaks into a grin.

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Connections

Featured in Blood and Guts with Scott Ian: Tony Gardner and Alterian Inc (2013)

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Soundtracks

Heart and Soul
(Frank Loesser / Hoagy Carmichael)
Published by Sony/ATV Harmony (ASCAP)

User Reviews

We're Still Waiting For Boyle's Masterwork

Danny Boyle can be a very frustrating film maker . SHALLOW GRAVE was made on a total shoestring and perhaps it was this that caused it to be hype . TRAINSPOTTING was considered an unflimable novel but Boyle had a good try though he was helped by Robert Carlyle's show stopping performance as Begbie . 28 DAYS LATER had a rather derivative and illogical screenplay by Alex Garland but Boyle rose above it to make what is considered a genre masterpiece . SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is one of the most unlikely success stories in modern cinema , a story revolving around karma , set in India with an unknown cast that the whole world fell in love with . He has had a few misses however . A LIFE LESS ORDINARY was way below ordinary , THE BEACH showed Boyle isn't suited to Hollywood style film making while SUNSHINE proved he's not suited to space opera either . Despite all this you're always expecting Boyle to come up with a masterwork that will get the whole world falling back in awe . He closest to this with SM but I always think his masterwork is still to come

127 DAYS is based on the true life incident of Aron Halston , a young man who while hiking through the Utah desert fell down a crevice and had his arm trapped by a boulder and who had to take the most extreme measures to save his life . On the surface this is one of these movies award ceremonies love - courage in the face of adversity , but not something that will set the box office alight . In many ways it's something ready made for Boyle . It's not something that can be termed blockbuster but perhaps the director could weave film making magic out of it . Does he succeed ?

First of all the trailer is slightly misleading . It seems similar to THE BEACH where some American dude teams up with a couple of hot chicks and does some seriously partying . Thankfully the film deviates away the marketing and concentrates on Ralston's trauma of being trapped . You're left thinking this is for the best since Ralston come across a little bit too sure of himself , a little bit too smart and a little too popular with hot chicks to get the audience entirely on his side so Boyle and screenwriter Simon Beauefoy deservesome credit in to making him something of an everyman who has dreams , ambitions and family

This approach works well but the problem with the movie is that the whole premise doesn't comfortably lend itself to commercial film making . It's not an entirely involving film because the audience know the out come of the story and because the protagonist is on his own there's little dialogue and the story telling is done via obvious flashbacks to Ralston's life . The Discovery Channel does countless documentaries on these type of stories but they're rare in cinema and there might be a very obvious reason for this . There's two ways at looking at this

1 ) Boyle deserves congratulations for making an uncinematic film

2 ) The film fails because it is uncinematic

The first view is totally valid but unfortunately so is the second point to a large extent

As you might expect from Boyle it's impressive on a technical level with outstanding cinematography , editing and sound , though some people may quickly get fed up with the split screen technique . James Franco is impressive as Ralston and will certainly get an Oscar nomination but 127 HOURS will be one of the bridesmaids at the award season where THE KINGS SPEECH , BLACK SWAN and THE SOCIAL NETWORK will dominate while Boyle fans look forward to his next project