MOVIES: 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,' 'A Dangerous Method' & 'The Devil Inside'

Following are Susan Granger's reviews of the latest movies in area theaters:

"EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE"

While political thrillers and graphic documentaries abound, Stephen Daldry's precariously balanced melodrama is one of the first to delve into the painful, personal tragedy of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and how they affected American families who lost loved ones.

Adroitly adapted by Eric Roth ("Forrest Gump," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") from Jonathan Safran Foer's 2005 best-seller and stylishly directed by Stephen Daldry ("Billy Elliott," "The Hours," "The Reader"), it differs from Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center," about first responders trapped in the rubble, and Paul Greengrass's "United 93," about the flight that passengers aborted over Pennsylvania, in that it revolves around how an isolated young boy's imagination eventually allows him to come to terms with a traumatic loss for which there is no rational explanation.

Curious, sensitive 11-year-old Oskar Schell's (Thomas Horn) equilibrium was shattered when his beloved father (Tom Hanks) died on Sept. 11, "the worst day," as he refers to it. Withdrawn from his anxious, widowed mother (Sandra Bullock), Oskar may have Asperger's syndrome although, as he reports, "tests were inconclusive." But when Oskar finds a key in a hidden envelope that's labeled "Black," he's obsessive about finding the lock it fits, which involves interviewing every New Yorker with the last name Black.

While pursuing this mysterious, citywide quest, grieving, neurotic Oskar interacts with an eclectic assortment of people, including his resilient German grandmother (Zoe Caldwell), her mute tenant (Max von Sydow) whose palms are designated YES and NO, Stan the Doorman (John Goodman) and an estranged couple (Viola Davis, Jeffrey Wright).

Predictably, there's controversy whether images of people who leapt out of tower windows should be shown in a fictional film. It's terrifying, it's horrible, but it's not an abstraction. It was reality. What's almost unreal is how acting novice Thomas Horn got the part: he won $31,800 on "Jeopardy Kids Week," catching the attention of producer Scott Rubin.

On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" is an extraordinary, life-affirming 8, packing a wrenching emotional wallop.

"A DANGEROUS METHOD"

David Cronenberg turns from splatter/horror to psycho-sexual melodrama in this low-key, meticulously researched chronicle of the complex relationship between Carl Jung and his mentor Sigmund Freud, and how a wily female patient/medical student came between them.

In 1904, a screaming, hysterical, young Russian Jewish woman, Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley), arrives at Jung's Burgholzli Clinic outside Zurich. Feral in her behavior, she's obsessed with masturbation, defecation and sadomasochistic sex. Since she's obviously intelligent, Dr. Jung (Michael Fassbender) decides to experiment with Freud's revolutionary `talking' treatment and achieves remarkable success, as he reports to his wealthy wife Emma (Sarah Gadon), who is preoccupied with giving birth to a son.

Two years later, travelling to Vienna to meet his idol Freud (Viggo Mortensen), Jung is asked to treat a fellow psychiatrist, Dr. Otto Gross (Vincent Cassel). Depraved and openly defiant of social norms, Gross encourages Jung to eschew professional ethics and to pursue a sexual relationship with Sabina, who has been helping Jung with his experiments, even expressing a desire to go to medical school. Jung does -- and there are scenes of him spanking her to arouse and excite her sexually, evoking memories of abuse from her father.

Adapted by Christopher Hampton from his play "The Talking Cure" and John Kerr's book "A Most Dangerous Method," it's less concerned with the historical treatment of mental illness than with the way social norms suppress human impulses. The most interesting moments are shared between authoritative Freud, who traces all psychosis to its sexual component, and curious Jung, who is inquisitive about mysticism and spirituality. The science vs. superstition scenes crackle with intensity.

Both Fassbender and Mortensen deliver insightful, disciplined performances. But Keira Knightley's wild-eyed contortions and facial spasms -- repeatedly jutting out her jaw -- are awkward and disconcerting, as is her pseudo-Russian accent, creating more of an unconvincing caricature than a character, particularly one who later becomes a respected psychoanalyst.

On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "A Dangerous Method" is a curiously cerebral 7, perhaps too underwhelming to attract much of an audience.

"THE DEVIL INSIDE"

This derivative, micro-budget exorcism tale is just the latest in the "found footage" sub-genre of fake documentaries, allegedly "inspired by true events," that was launched so successfully by "The Blair Witch Project."

"Between science and religion, between hope and fear ... no soul is safe" is the teaser, along with the promise, "The Vatican did not endorse this film nor aid in its completion."

So after an American woman, Maria Rossi (Suzan Crowley), calls 911 to confess to committing a triple homicide that took place in Connecticut in 1989, she's summarily dispatched to Centrino Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Rome, primarily because that institution has ties to the Vatican and her three unfortunate victims were two priests and a nun who were attempting to exorcise the demon within her.

Twenty years later, Maria's daughter, Isabella Rossi (Fernanda Andrade), travels to Italy to find out if her mother is mentally ill or, perhaps, still demonically possessed. Accompanied by a videographer friend, Michael Schaefer (Ionut Grama), Isabella delves into what's described as the Vatican School of Exorcism. While the Catholic Church is unwilling to assist in this investigation, two rogue clerics -- Ben Rawlings (Simon Quarterman) and David Keane (Evan Helmuth) -- invite Isabella and Michael to observe their techniques as they cast the devil from a bedeviled young Italian woman (Bonnie Morgan). But when the priests attempt to perform a similar cleansing on Maria, the results are quite different because, according to the rambling religious ruminations, Maria's multiple demonic possession is unique.

Working from a script that he co-wrote with co-producer Matthew Peterman, director William Brent Bell ("Stay Alive") conjures up some spooky, perilous scares with horror scenes reminiscent of "The Exorcist," "The Exorcism of Emily Rose," "The Last Exorcism" and "The Rite." But Bell makes a fatal error when he abruptly ends the film without supplying a conclusion.

On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "The Devil Inside" is a satanic 3. It's a supernatural stunt -- and, judging by its astonishing grosses, it won't be the last of its kind.