Sem Fôlego

Director Todd Haynes ("Carol") has brought forth yet another slow paced film with "Wonderstruck". Containing almost no dialogue, the strong score (by Carter Burwell) fills the void of the voices and provides all the sounds of the emotions and environment in which the two main terrific child actors Ben (Oakes Fegley "Pete's Dragon") and Rose (relative newcomer and deaf actress Millicent Simmonds) encounter. At Ben's side, and with a voice, is his new friend and equally talented young actor Jamie (Jaden Michael "Baby Jaguar VO in Dora the Explorer) who unexpectedly helps move the two very different yet parallel stories of Ben and Rose along. While the jumping back and forth from the eras of 1920 (Rose) and 1970's (Ben) kept the film interesting, additional flashbacks explaining Ben's history, a cameo by Michelle Williams as Ben's mom, and double character rolls by Julianne Moore (as Lillian Mayhew and the older Rose) just left me confused and frustrated. Not frustrated enough to walk out, but enough that I just went with the flow and stopped trying to figure things out. Carter Burwell's score will surely be in Oscar consideration, Haynes' ability to capture the various periods will find Oscar traction, and costumes wizard Sandy Powell will once again be in the running for an Award. The film is based on book by Brian Selznick's, and I can hope the storyline in the book was easier to follow.

This film tells the stories of two deaf children, in different eras in New York.

It is unfortunate that the film is just painfully slow to the point that I can skip thirty seconds at a time and still miss nothing. I don't really need to see scenes of characters walking the streets for a whole minute, walking up the stairs for thirty seconds or just sitting for a minute. Most of the film has no dialogue, which is not a problem in itself, but there is just no message to fill the screen. The museum scenes in the two different eras may be trying to make viewers compare and contrast the treatment of deaf children in different eras, but it just does not work at all. It is just tedious and boring. Even Julianne Moore cannot save this film from being a tremendous bore.

Unbelievably dull. Turned it off. Don't bother. Nothing positive to say. Save your time and money.

How is a Todd Haynes film with a character based on Lillian Gish this bad? And why is this his follow-up to Carol?!

This YA mystery – adapted by its author – has an intriguing dual- time structure, a nice Carter Burwell score and some neat nods to silents, but it's also cloying, not very mysterious, and incredibly longwinded: not trusting its audience to understand anything, and struggling with some laborious translation problems reminiscent of Le mèpris, in which a lot of the dialogue has to be written down and held up. It doesn't help that the central kid seems to have wandered in from a school play. Or that it ends up looking like an extended advertorial for some museums.

It's sort of like Hugo, if everything that Scorsese's film had done had gone a bit wrong.

(The Gish films being homaged, incidentally, are primarily The Wind (the poster of the film-within-a-film starring 'Lillian Mayhew' is based directly on a publicity image for this 1928 masterpiece) and Orphans of the Storm, though she played mothers in few of her starring vehicles and Wonderstruck diverts considerably from her real life.)

Carol was one of the best films I saw in 2015, as a matter of fact its probably the best film of that year. Everything about that film was so right. I really like Todd Haynes. Safe is also a fantastic film. I did like Far From Heaven and I'm Not There, though I'm not as crazy about those two. I saw the trailer for Wonderstruck and thought it looked interesting and could possibly be an experience like Carol or Safe. Wonderstruck is definitely a good film but its one of Todd Haynes' weaker efforts. That's really no knock on the film or the filmmaker, its just that Haynes' has set his own bar high.

The film portrays events in the lives of two children, one in the late 1927, the other in 1977. Both kids are deaf and have common elements in their life. Rose (1927) is running away from her dad to New York to find her idol, an actress in New York. Ben (1977) is recently orphaned and runs away to New York on a quest to find his estranged father. Both stories are intertwined and interwoven despite the already visible similarities from each tale. Its an interesting concept and Haynes utilizes unique filming styles to convey the tale, however the film doesn't always have high points and is a bit predictable.

The 1927 portion of the film emulates silent films of the era and is a tribute to movies of the time. The film is score heavy in this decade which makes the picture seem authentic. The score for this film is rather excellent and could be up for award contention at year's end. The 1977 portion has that gritty and colored frame that perfectly represents the cinematography of films of that era. I applaud Haynes for his presentation in style. The child actors do quite well. I actually didn't even realize Michelle Williams was in the film. Its a warm and fuzzy film that lacks any real conflict which I think was needed to perfect the film. Its a very saccharine effort which will appease younger viewers and Haynes definitely intended for it to be that way.

I have to go back to the score because its really riveting. Adds to the magic and wonder of the film and the experiences of the two leads. I love seeing New York in film throughout different decades so visually this film offers a definite viewing experience. Wonderstruck is not Haynes' best effort but like most of his other films its an ambitious effort and technically outstanding.

7/10