Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is a 2011 American drama film directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Eric Roth.

[3] Despite mixed reviews, the film was nominated for two Academy Awards, Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for von Sydow, sparking controversy.

On September 11, 2001, schools close early, and Oskar arrives home alone to find six answering machine messages left by his father from the World Trade Center.

A year later, Oskar has a secret hiding place with memories of his father, including the answering machine and its messages.

After witnessing the tower collapse on TV as the phone call cut off, he replaced the answering machine so his mother would never find out.

Back in his room, he proceeds to destroy the material from his search, until his mother reveals to him that she had been aware of all his outings, and had gone ahead of him to meet all the Blacks to prepare them for his visit.

Finally realizing how much his mother cares about him, he accepts his father's death and writes letters to all the people he met to thank them for their kindness, including his grandfather to return home, who does come back to live with his grandmother.

He gives his mother his scrapbook from his adventures filled with pop-ups and pull tabs, titled "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close".

In August 2010, it was reported that director Stephen Daldry and producer Scott Rudin had been working on a film adaptation of the novel for five years.

[12] Similarly, James Gandolfini was credited on the initial poster, and was originally in the film as a love interest for Bullock's character.

[16] Author Jonathan Safran Foer stated in an interview that he had never thought of Oskar as autistic, but added, "Which is not to say he isn't – it's really up for readers to decide.

The website's consensus reads, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close has a story worth telling, but it deserves better than the treacly and pretentious treatment director Stephen Daldry gives it.

Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film was a "handsomely polished, thoughtfully wrapped Hollywood production about the national tragedy of 9/11 that seems to have forever redefined words like 'unthinkable,' 'unforgivable,' 'catastrophic'.

"[29] Andrea Peyser of the New York Post called it "Extremely, incredibly exploitive" and a "quest for emotional blackmail, cheap thrills and a naked ploy for an Oscar.

John Young at Entertainment Weekly said that, when it comes to the new rules, "it's better to be loved by a small and passionate group instead of liked by a much larger group",[38] and Jen Chaney at The Washington Post believes that "the Academy should've just stuck to the 10 rule so that films like Dragon Tattoo or Harry Potter could've joined the other worthy contenders, because if you're going to create a bunch of drama around the number of nominees and then come up one shy of what has become the typical total, that just feels like a letdown.

"[39] The Week wrote that the new rules are a failure, as it lets "smaller, divisive movies that the Academy had hoped to weed out, like Tree of Life and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, in, but prevents critically-praised crowd pleasers like Bridesmaids and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo from being nominated.

"[40] On the other hand, awards pundit Tom O'Neil defended the nomination and the film, stating: "This is a movie that we unwisely wrote off, but we did it because we believed the critics.

"[41] At the 84th Academy Awards, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close lost in both of its categories (Best Picture to The Artist and Best Supporting Actor to Christopher Plummer for Beginners).

"[42] Autism advocates were quick to find offense when reviewers like The New York Times‘ Manohla Dargis proclaimed that in real life Oskar “would be one of those children who inspire some adults to coo and cluck while reminding others of how grateful they are to be child-free.” Worse, Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle called him “creepy,” “weird,” “snappish” and “superior.” Autism Key‘s Michelle Gonzalez found the trend disturbing.