I spoke last night to a guy who caught a research screening of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close last Sunday night at Leows’ Lincoln Square (B’way at 68th). And he agrees with Kris Tapley’s guy that Max Von Sydow‘s wordless performance as Thomas Horn‘s grandfather “will certainly get an Oscar nomination, perhaps the award itself.”

And he has a slight dispute with Stu Van Airsdale’s guy about the opening with “falling bodies, crushing thuds, and other vividly horrifying reminders of the initial scene at the World Trade Center.” My guy’s dominant impression is “an obliquely falling body in a white suit. If this wasn’t a 9/11 film, it could easily be mistaken for a Cirque Du Soleil routine.”

“One surprising thing about the film,” he adds, “is that James Gandolfini, credited in both the trailer and the poster, has had his role entirely cut. John Goodman‘s role is reduced as well, adding up to a few short scenes.” I don’t know how he’d know that Goodman’s role has been reduced unless he’s read a draft of Eric Roth’s script or whatever. I forgot to interrogate about this.

“And as for all those folks that pointed out that there’s snow on the ground in a few scenes in the trailer, it’s important to note that the film takes place a few years after 9/11; those scenes aren’t meant to reflect 9/11.” But of course the trailer, despite the MD80 thing, is looking to evoke precisely that.