Movie Review: ‘A Man Called Otto’

John Thomas

When you live life in black and white, the sudden introduction of color can be world-changing. Unfortunately when the color disappears the world turns drab again. Otto (Tom Hanks) lived lifelessly way into his college years.

Gazing from a train window one day, he noticed a young woman drop a book as she was rushing to catch a train on the opposite platform. In an instant, he dashed to retrieve the book and followed her onto the train, which happened to be headed in the opposite direction from the one he had been on.

They enjoyed a lively conversation which eventually turned into a dinner date and from there more frequent meetings. After his college graduation, they became engaged and finally married, bringing blazing color into Otto’s drab life.

They lived happily until they decided to take a holiday to Niagara Falls to celebrate being together before their baby was due. That’s when everything changed and the color began to dim. Years later, cancer caused the color to disappear completely, returning Otto to his black and white life.

After 43 years working for the same company, he was pushed into retirement. He even lost the position of chairman of his home owners association – he took pride in both jobs.

Now he spends his gloomy days complaining about everything and everyone in his small gated community. “That can is in the wrong recycling bin, that bicycle shouldn’t be parked there,” he mumbles to himself. He shouts to the UPS driver that UPS shouldn’t double park in front of someone’s row-house and they also need a permit to be on the property.

His biggest shock comes one day as he is patrolling the neighborhood. A car is attempting to parallel park a u-haul at the curb. Tommy (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) is at the wheel while his wife Marisol (Mariana Treviño) shouts directions from the street. After two parking attempts with the u-haul ending on lawns, Otto takes the wheel. The u-haul contains the possessions of his new neighbors and their two children who are moving in across the way.

As a thank you, Marisol brings a baked dish to Otto’s door. Reluctantly, he responds to her pounding on the door and accepts the meal, then attempts to shut the door.

Before his wife succumbed to cancer, Otto promised he would join her soon. “Soon” has arrived. He  purchases a length of rope and a hook at a local hardware store. In his parlor, he forms the rope into a noose and screws the hook into the ceiling. Standing on a small coffee table with the noose around his neck, he falls from the table, which pulls the hook from the ceiling.

His next attempt doesn’t go well either. He takes a length of hose, connects it to the exhaust pipe and inserts the other end into a window of his car. As the car fills with exhaust fumes, Otto hears pounding on the garage door. Marisol needs to be driven to the hospital to see her husband.

As a thank you, she brings another meal to his door. Otto is more interested this time as he finds her cooking tasty. Marisol is at his door again. This time she asks if Otto would baby-sit her girls so she and Tommy may go on a dinner date – before their baby is due. Otto doesn’t like the idea but agrees. The couple return home to find the girls and Otto asleep sprawled on the living room furniture. Color is slowly returning to Otto’s life.

Directed by Marc Forster (Credits: All I See is You, World War Z), “A Man Called Otto” runs 122 minutes and is a “should see” for a look at life and the twists and turns it takes and how one could manage them. This comedy-drama is based on the Swedish novel written by Fredrick Backman.

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