Wonder Truck (2017)

Directed by: Todd Haynes | 116 minutes | drama, family | Actors: Millicent Simmonds, Oakes Fegley, Michelle Williams, Julianne Moore, Cory Michael Smith, James Urbaniak, Damian Young, John P. McGinty, Ekaterina Samsonov, Sawyer Niehaus, Lilianne Rojek, Jaden Michael, Tom Noonan, Morgan Turner, Amy Hargreaves, Sawyer Nunes, John Boyd

Books by writer and illustrator Brian Selznick are usually valuable material for renowned directors. For example, Martin Scorsese was responsible for the film adaptation of ‘Hugo’ in 2011 and director Todd Haynes was responsible for the film adaptation of the equally fairytale-like ‘Wonderstruck’. Haynes, who previously managed to paint a majestic picture of the fifties in his masterpiece ‘Carol’, succeeds with verve in his mission to capture the atmosphere of New York in the thirties and seventies, although the film lacks some fat. the bones to really stick.

In ‘Wonderstruck’ two searching children are central. In the seventies we follow Ben, whose mother (a disappointingly small role by Michelle Williams) recently died. After his mother’s accident, Ben grows up in his aunt’s home in Minnesota, haunted by the ignorance of his father’s identity, which only comes to him in a recurring nightmare. In his childhood home, Ben discovers an old book containing a bookmark from a New York bookstore with a message from his father on it. After an accident, Ben becomes deaf and decides to look for his father in New York. Parallel to this storyline we follow the also deaf Rose (a role of Millicent Simmonds who is also deaf in real life, also made an impression in ‘A Quiet Place’). Growing up in the 1920s alone with her wealthy, authoritarian father, Rose spends her days updating a scrapbook of a famous actress (Julianne Moore). After yet another conflict with her father, Rose decides to look for the actress. ‘Wonderstruck’ is therefore primarily a film about the quest of these children, and the way in which they deal with the lack of parenthood.

With a setup like this, it’s just a matter of waiting for the two separate storylines to converge. And perhaps therein lies the main problem of ‘Wonderstruck’: the film is visually overwhelming, but does not contain much content, especially in the first half. Over time you will know roughly how the situation works and how the various characters are connected. The film is mainly about the power of images, supported by a beautiful soundtrack. Those who expect a certain build-up of tension will probably find it hard to get what they want with ‘Wonderstruck’. The run-up to the moment when the storylines converge takes just a little too long, so that the focus on three quarters of the film may have faded a bit. The film also lacks emotional impact and the ending is a bit too sentimental.

Nevertheless, all this does not take away from the fact that ‘Wonderstruck’ has become a very beautiful film, with excellent acting by the lead players. Julianne Moore manages to impress in an almost ‘silent’ role. The same goes for Simmonds, who proves that she is an up and coming talent. Plot-wise, the film may not surprise you enough, but Haynes makes up for it with his fairytale approach. ‘Wonderstruck’ is a film for the connoisseur, in which the viewer has to surrender to the visual magic that Todd Haynes manages to create.