A Man Called Otto: A tender new movie to give you the warm and cuddlies

Tom Hanks may scowl his way through most of the movie but he proves the old adage of people need people.

A man called Otto film 2022, staring Tom Hanks. Picture: Supplied

Tom Hanks doesn’t brandish a shotgun and yell “Get off my lawn” at an immigrant kid, but there are similarities to Clint Eastwood’s gruff racist in Gran Torino.

There’s no bigotry in his heart, but there is a familiar trope – a lonely, curmudgeonly old man who’s bitter and angry at the world, finding his way back to compassion through human connection.

It’s a trope because it works. An accessible character journey to give you the warm and cuddlies, a triumph of goodness over isolation, the belief that everyone can be redeemed if they are shown kindness.

A Man Called Otto doesn’t really grapple with that contentious last point, because it casts the almost always likeable Hanks (although recent performances in Elvis and Pinocchio exposed his vulnerability on that front), whose built-up goodwill means the audience expects to, at some point, like whoever he is playing.

So, it’s less of an arc than it should be because Hanks’ reputation as the agreeable everyman is a dramatic shortcut.

And while the parallels to Gran Torino are obvious, A Man Called Otto finds its actual genesis in A Man Called Ove, first a novel and then an awarded and successful Swedish film. This American version is a faithful adaptation, only swapping out Ove’s Iranian immigrant neighbourhood newcomer for a Mexican one.

Mariana Trevino and Tom Hanks star in A Man Called Otto. Picture: Niko Tavernise

Otto (Hanks) is a crank. He stalks up and down his small neighbourhood cul-de-sac with a tattooed scowl and a constantly finger wagging for any rule infringement. Is that parking permit affixed properly? Why isn’t that bike parked in the rack? Who left the gate open?!

Recently pushed into early retirement from the company at which he worked for decades, Otto isn’t long for this world, planning to end it. It’s revealed his short outlook on life us fuelled by grief for his recently deceased wife Sonya (Rachel Keller, in flashbacks).

But his attempts to end his life is assailed by the arrival of Marisol (Mariana Trevino), a vivacious Mexican immigrant who moves in across the road with her husband Tommy (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and their two young daughters.

Marisol isn’t put off by Otto’s surliness, and she imposes herself in his life despite his boundaries. Her verve and warmth may be anathema to his worldview but it’s exactly what he needed.

A Man Called Otto is a remake of a Swedish film. Picture: Sony

Otto’s gradual thawing in the present runs alongside flashbacks to his youth (the young version of Otto is played by Hanks’ youngest son Truman Hanks, whose big-eyed charm proves effective), revealing his courtship and marriage to Sonya.

While the flashbacks don’t go all the way to explaining some of Otto’s more unlikeable quirks, it does reveal the side to him who was once deeply connected to another person and why his loss is so earth-shattering.

It may be predictable, and it may draw on all the tropes about why people need people, but A Man Called Otto is an affable film with a few laughs and a tender heart.

Of course, its real gem is the scene-stealing, exuberant and emotionally truthful Trevino who has charisma to spare, and she and Hanks make a great onscreen pair.

Rating: 3/5

A Man Called Otto is in cinemas now