127 Hours

James Franco, in what is essentially a one-man show, delivers an almost flawless performance as a trapped hiker faced with his own mortality in Danny Boyle's 127 Hours. The film relates the true story of Aron Ralston, an experienced young outdoorsman, who, after an accident while hiking in Utah, finds himself hopelessly stuck in a narrow slot canyon, his arm pinned to the rock wall by an immovable boulder. The director and his creative team imaginatively delve into Ralston's unraveling psyche as his food, water, and stamina dwindle. Franco masterfully illustrates Ralston's slow mental and emotional erosion as he grapples with the relationships that have shaped his life, voicing his regrets while recording his goodbyes with his Mini-DV camera. Boyle effectively evokes the claustrophobia of Ralston's predicament, particularly by using the juxtaposition of gorgeous, sweeping aerial shots in the beginning of the movie. Impressively, though, the director so deftly mixes angles and film stock (including the DV camera footage) with split-screen flashbacks and Ralston's own hallucinations that no two shots seem exactly alike. Though Franco's character is immobile for most of the film, there is a constant, pervasive sense of momentum that grips and engrosses from start to finish.