How rare are films about which the word "magic" can be said. "Wonderstruck" is one of them.
Usually, "magically" we remember something from childhood: the concept of magic itself is not yet devalued, it has a direct, literal meaning. Then out of habit, we talk like that about children's films. Todd Haynes made a film about children, but it is impossible to name him as a child or family. Alternatively, is it just possible and we just underestimate the children of the audience? Perhaps they have a dramatic story of losses and fears that we face in the most difficult moments of our life? Haynes, one of the most extraordinary American directors, seems to be sticking to this point of view.
In the form of "Wonderstruck" - a dizzyingly complex and experimental picture. According to the content - the tangled parallel stories of two children who were lost in New York and got into the Museum of Natural History. Only Rose was there in 1927, and Ben - half a century later, in 1977. Both fled from home. Both are deaf: Ben in an accident, Rose from birth. Both Rose and Ben are lonely and unhappy. Rose is looking for a mother who does not want her to know a famous theater and film actress. Ben is a father about whom he knows practically nothing; his mother died in a car accident.
The author of a book about Ben and Rose is Brian Selznick, a writer and illustrator, the creator of a kind of literary form in which the text is inferior to pictures, but they are not presented in the form of a comic book, but are interspersed with prosaic fragments, gradually forming into a single narrative. Selznick became famous for "Hugo", brilliantly screened by Martin Scorsese. "Wonderstruck" - his next sensational creation. The original script, too, he wrote. In the book, Ben’s story was told in words, and Rose in pictures. In the film, Selznick with Haynes came up with a solution that was adequate to the original: 1927 was styled as the cinema of that time - dumb and black and white, and 1977 is filled with the acid paints of the bright and expressive New Hollywood cinema.
Todd Haynes is an outstanding stylist and stylist, mystifier and inventor, music lover and formalist. According to his pictures, one can study the modern history of America - not fateful events, but everyday life. He had already recreated the American 1940s universe on screen in "Mildred Pierce", the 1950s in "Carol" and "Far from Heaven", the 1970s in "Velvet Goldmine", the 1980s in "Safe", but now he swung on two different epochs at once - and at the same time he shot them simultaneously, having built the scenery of two temporary layers next to each other. Even throwing away the intricate plot, one of this reconstruction is amazed so much that you cannot recover for a long time. The full feeling of a time machine that transferred the heroes and us either to another world era, or to its fantastic film reflection (not to understand at the present distance).
It was a great idea - for a deaf girl, a cinema turns out to be a paradise on earth, where dumb films are shown: here she is finally on an equal footing with other viewers. However, I must say that at the same time "Wonderstruck", unlike "Hugo", is not a cinephilia movie at all. There is more passion for music and sound in general (no wonder a film about the deaf) than an image. Starting from Space Oddity by David Bowie is somewhat trite - however, in 1977 this song was not yet a cinematographic commonplace, the picture taxied to an unexpected parallel with Richard Strauss’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra in dashing electro jazz processing, recalling magic "2001: A Space Odyssey", and indeed decades, when every boy growing up without a father believed that his dad was an astronaut.
In addition, the main clue here - books and museums. Ben sets off on a journey driven by a museum catalog left over from his mother, hoping to find all the answers in the bookstore. Rose, on the other hand, tears up the sign language self-instruction book by running away from home to New York. The name "Wonderstruck" is simply Kunstkamera, Cabinet of curiosities, from which modern museums once grew: including the Archaic and the Natural History Museum adored by children, including Ben and Rose. In the artificially constructed space, they are saved from the merciless reality to them, there leads Haynes and the viewer. The final monologue explaining all the mysterious events is resolved in the form of a handicraft puppet cartoon. Here is the time to recall the cult debut of Haynes - 40-minute "Superstar", where the Barbie and Ken dolls played the biography of a real singer of the 1970s.
The actors in "Wonderstruck" are by no means dolls. The multiple Julianne Moore looks amazing in an actress who owes her best roles ("Safe" and "Far from Heaven") to Haynes: she is the star of a silent film that watches Rose, and her strict mother, and the strange woman who meets in the Ben museum.
In some scenes, she looks younger than her real age, in others, she is much older, but everywhere she is equally organic. In several flashbacks - touching Michelle Williams. However, in the center of action they are not, but wonderful children. You could already see Oakes Fegley in "Pete's Dragon", and debutant Millicent Simmonds is really hard of hearing. At altitude and constant allies Haynes. The operator Edward Lachman works wonders by switching from a grand, as if clamped 1920s shooting style to an impulsive and lively 1970's. The composer Carter Burwell creates an inspirational offscreen symphony - ironic, sentimental and psychedelic at the same time: in a silent, mostly film, music is especially important.
https://youtu.be/oeh-HfGdOEA[Wonderstruck Official Trailer (Open Captions) – Millicent Simmonds Intro | Amazon Studios](https://youtu.be/oeh-HfGdOEA)
"Wonderstruck" does not want us to just talk and talk, he wants us to remember to watch and listen to those moments when it is possible. He wants us to be always there, and always to be brave. Brave to one act, which is so necessary. Brave and not afraid at all, despite all weaknesses, go forward. Brave for the sake of finding the very miracle in this bright world, ready to impress with its beauty and wonders. The main thing is not to be afraid to look for them and always have a number of those who share the admiration of all this together with you.
The illustrations are used in agreement with the Depositphotos photobank
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