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★★☆☆☆
19 October 2017
A movie review of WONDERSTRUCK. |
"It is never the right time," Ben (Oakes Fegley)
How did director Todd Haynes go from I'M NOT THERE (one of the most accomplished biopics), and then CAROL, to this? Almost interminable, who is the film aimed at? It's too dull for adults. Surely it's also too dull for kids? It brings to mind his unnecessary five hour take on MILDRED PIERCE. WONDERSTRUCK contains only one ace scene in 117 minutes: An unusual, exciting three-way communication.
There are two main timelines, 50 years apart:
- Gunflint, Minnesota, 1977, Ben (Oakes Fegley) is on a mission to find his father.
- Hoboken, New Jersey, 1927, Rose (Millicent Simmonds) is searching for her mother.
Both head to Manhattan.
How did director Todd Haynes go from I'M NOT THERE (one of the most accomplished biopics), and then CAROL, to this? Almost interminable, who is the film aimed at? It's too dull for adults. Surely it's also too dull for kids? It brings to mind his unnecessary five hour take on MILDRED PIERCE. WONDERSTRUCK contains only one ace scene in 117 minutes: An unusual, exciting three-way communication.
There are two main timelines, 50 years apart:
- Gunflint, Minnesota, 1977, Ben (Oakes Fegley) is on a mission to find his father.
- Hoboken, New Jersey, 1927, Rose (Millicent Simmonds) is searching for her mother.
Both head to Manhattan.
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We see Ben's mother Elaine (Michelle Williams - barely utilised) in flashback. She recently died in an automobile accident. Ben's family home is infused with memories, and is about to be sold without his permission. He is 12. He needs to look for the father he never knew. For some bizarre reason, Elaine neither mentions him nor introduces Ben to his father's family. And by the end we are still none the wiser to her motivation. It typifies the sloppy nature of WONDERSTRUCK.
Rose is a young deaf girl browbeaten by an impatient father, Dr Kincaid (James Urbaniak). She goes to the cinema to see someone who we initially assume is her silver screen idol, Lillian Mayhew (Julianne Moore). A silent film within a silent film.
The theme of neglectful parents is repeated across multiple characters. Rose is so lonely she leaves written messages - in a bottle for the ocean, on a meteor in a museum - for people to find. Childhood isolation runs throughout the film. Ben comes across similarly aged Jamie (Jaden Michael), a kid who has no friends. WONDERSTUCK offers no wisdom to console/advise.
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Weak symmetry is added into the mix. The film Rose watches with Lillian is called ‘Daughter of the Storm’. In Ben’s time a storm hits his home. While on the telephone, lightening strikes making him deaf. The film dampens the sound to try and immerse us in his newly stressful world. Later, we think Ben has his hearing back, until he explains he is deaf. The movie just drops the conceit (seemingly at random, unless one is mistaken?).
Books are infused into WONDERSTRUCK. The title comes from a publication. Elaine is a librarian. Tom Noonan's character owns a bookstore. Walter (Cory Michael Smith) is a museum researcher. And a book, where Ben finds the clue to his father, showcases cupboards with tat in it, cringe titled, ‘Wonderstruck: Cabinets of Wonder’. Oh dear!
Twee. Anticlimactic. What is the opposite of being struck by wonder?
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