The absolutely delightful film from Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent and The Visitor) is one you have to share with loved ones, taking you on a delightful journey into the life of a shoemaker who repairs shoes in the same New York shop that has been in his family for generations. Disenchanted with the grind of daily life, Max stumbles upon an heirloom that allows him to step into the lives of his customers and see the world in a new way.
Adam Sandler is fantastic as Max, a fourth-generation shoe repairman on New York's Lower East Side, perfectly capturing the essence of a middle-aged man who lives at home with his mother (a brilliant Lynn Cohen).
Max has little going on besides running the shop his father (Dustin Hoffman) left behind when he mysteriously disappeared many years ago. He spends his days tirelessly repairing the shoes of the folks in his neighbourhood, all of them going places - places he'd rather be. He counts his neighbour Jimmy The Barber (Steve Buscemi) as one of his only friends.
When Max's shoe sole-stitching machine breaks down just as he's finishing an important job for a local gangster (Cliff 'Method Man' Smith), he's forced to use an old family heirloom from the basement. Soon, he discovers this is no ordinary stitcher - and he is no ordinary cobbler.
As Max's life is transformed, a personal tragedy dislodges him further from his reality and his life begins to spiral out of control. Only his new friendship with civic activist Carmen (Melonie Diaz) allows him to redeem his name and live up to his full potential. Embracing his role as a local hero, Max takes on real estate mogul Elaine Greenawalt (Ellen Barkin) and attempts to set right the wrongs of his beloved community.
McCarthy found his inspiration in the phrase 'to walk a mile in another man's shoes' and what that meant, and co-wrote the screenplay with Paul Sado.
"I didn't know where it originated so I was researching that and noodling around with it and then I reached out to Paul Sado, who co-wrote the movie with me. And it just spun out from that, there were a lot of late-night conversations until we hammered out the story.
For McCarthy: "The Cobbler feels like one of my movies at the start, but then it becomes wildly different. We have magic and action sequences and visit a lot of different worlds. There's a texture and scope to it that was wonderful to play with it. There is a lot of plot - it's a very plot-driven movie - and owes a lot of various genres, specifically fairy tale and super hero and it was a chance to explore that in our own way."
The Cobbler is a wonderful coming-of-(middle) age story that proves it's never too late to become who you are.
While examining the current economic upheaval taking place in cities across America today, it is ultimately a fable that considers family, craft, social responsibility - and superpowers.
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