With a tricky topic to get the balance right, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close describes itself as a film "not about 9/11, but about the days afterwards." This isn't strictly true, seeing as large chucks of Stephen Daldry's adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's novel take place during that day. "That worst day," as it is referred to by our leading character and narrator Oskar Schell, is in fact of vital importance to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,
As we begin you see the shot of a man falling towards the ground, intentionally out of focus. As we listen to the flapping of his jacket, Daldry sets up his world's importance to sound. He wants you to listen to the noises, a purposeful message to show exactly why Oskar, still a child, finds walking the streets of New York difficult all the months after. Fire engines constantly pass by, aeroplanes buzz overhead, car honk their horns and people talk, scream and shout in almost every scene. When we get odd moments of silence they are broken by Oskar, he carries a tambourine around always to disguise the sounds that remind him of his own personal experiences of 9/11.
