To most of us, Sep. 11 will forever be known as 9/11. To Oskar Schell, however, Sep. 11 will forever be known as “the worst day.”

Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn), a fictional character in the new movie Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, is an intelligent, creative boy that doesn’t exactly hang with the “in crowd.” After his father (Tom Hanks) dies in 9/11, he experiences intense emotional pain and becomes more of an outcast than ever before. With his mother (Sandra Bullock) watching him everywhere he turns, Oskar searches for the key to happiness, trying to find some way to be closer to his father even though his father is already dead. The movie is not simply “a story about Sep. 11, it’s about every day after.”

Whenever an emotional plot deals with a sensitive topic, first-rate actors are needed to paint the picture of the situation, and the cast of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close does exactly that. From heartwarming laughing and smiling to heartbreaking crying and screaming, the actors go through the whole list of emotions. The scenes were so meaningful and touching, half of the people in the movie theater were crying when I went—and that’s no exaggeration. I have to admit, even I shed a tear (only one, though). It was the first time I ever did so in a movie.

I highly recommend this movie. It’s not your typical Hollywood guy-gets-the-girl story where the special effects are the best part of the film. In fact, if I were to describe the motion picture in one word, it would be “beautifully atypical” (okay, maybe one word isn’t enough to describe it, but still). Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is a 5/5 stars, hands down.