Woody Allen's film "Wonder Wheel", which critics accepted almost no worse than all his other works, did not receive a single nomination for "Oscar" and "Golden Globe". I believe that this is not entirely fair, at least, Kate Winslet, who played the main role, deserves only praise.
Woody Allen turned 82 this winter, the number of his films exceeded fifty, and right now, in the wake of the discussion of scandal from the past and the MeToo movement, the incredible happens. A new classic movie is practically booing. It seemed that there was nothing to expect from him (except for the usual program), and the loyal audience over the past decades has somehow been formed, that is, the risks are minimal. However, there is nothing immutable. "Wonder Wheel" is more than modest; criticism is the worst in Allen’s entire career. Not a single nomination for the "Golden Globe" or the "Oscar".
Of course, they will tell you that the reason is simple: the film is weak. Whether from a sense of contradiction or all the same justice, but I want to argue. "Wonder Wheel" is the same nostalgic bittersweet parable about the vanity of everything, like many later Allen tapes (especially those that went beyond the definition of "comedy": "Match Point", "Cassandra's Dream", "Blue Jasmine", and "Irrational Man"). If you have enough generosity to praise the master for those pictures, it is likely that you sincerely find the “Wonder Wheel” delightful. At least there are some obvious advantages to the tape.
The most important of these wonders is Kate Winslet. It is almost impossible to believe now that 20 years ago she was described as "that girl from Titanic": we have one of the most powerful actresses of our time. Allen gives her something that not every playwright and director is capable of — the delightful main role of an age woman who is still proud of her appearance, but is already beginning to be shy of her. Her heroine, Ginny, works as a waitress and lives with an ugly fat husband — a tied-up alcoholic who once saved her from an unfortunate romance. Her worries are everyday bread and a pyromaniac son who escapes from school and sets fires wherever he goes. Once in the life of Ginny, a man is indescribably beautiful, intelligent and young, who is interested in her: this is a Mickey student who earns money on a beach lifeguard in the summer.
The Winslet game in this late novel is so nuanced, subtle and full of painful overtones that you want to fit its character into a series of heroines of classic texts about adultery ("Madame Bovary", "Anna Karenina", "Thérèse Raquin", "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District "), And not because of the dramatic material, but at the expense of acting. Something, perhaps, in this story responds in her personally. Alternatively, not. In any case, it is pure magic.
In terms of style, Allen is, of course, true to himself. A lot of dialogue, straightforward development of the plot, unobtrusive light jazz off-screen. Moreover, here he returned to his native New York. Actually, the wheel of wonders is the Ferris wheel on Coney Island, in the most famous amusement park of the city. All the characters in the painting live and work there. The launching chain of events Carolina (Juno Temple) arrives - a girl who escaped from her mafia husband, seeking refuge from her father, with whom she has not seen or talked for five years. He grunts, takes the prodigal daughter; the second excellent acting work in the film - experiencing, it seems, the second professional birth of Jim Belushi. Mickey, who is destined to become an apple of discord for two women, plays Justin Timberlake - as invariably cheerful and cheerful as in the fresh video from the album just released. The four of them play the main part of this minimalist play, now funny, sometimes aching.
Life is like an amusement park, where for every entertainment you have to pay your price, and the winnings are only penny, - what could be more trivial than such a metaphor? However, in the intelligibility she cannot refuse. "Wonder Wheel" is a film about simple, not outstanding people who also know how to suffer, and love, and die, and kill. Each of them cherishes his tiny dream; alas, there is no dream that would not contradict someone else and would not stand on her road. In this bitter message, the picture is close to the classics of American theater drama. No wonder along the way I remember Eugene O'Neill, and Ginny herself constantly recalls her past - a small theater, where she began as an actress.
https://youtu.be/VFM0UqX9MJ8[Wonder Wheel – Official Trailer | Amazon Studios](https://youtu.be/VFM0UqX9MJ8)
However, despite the honestly observed unity of place, time and action, we are still not a performance, but a real cinema. The operator is responsible for this - one of the last geniuses of the golden age of cinema, the Italian Vittorio Storaro, who once made the best films of Bertolucci and Coppola. He turns Coney Island into the real Oz Country, plays in the stylized 1950s, pretends to be a traditionalist bore, and then suddenly dumbfounded with a shot from which you cannot come round. The soft evening light on the face of Kate Winslet, standing at the window - from those images that remain in memory for a long time. In addition, this image is not the only one in the picture.
The illustrations are used in agreement with the Depositphotos photobank
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