Wonder Wheel (2017)

Directed by: Woody Allen | 101 minutes | drama | Actors: Kate Winslet, Jim Belushi, Juno Temple, Justin Timberlake, Jack Gore, Tony Sirico, Steve Schirripa, John Doumanian, Tom Guiry, Max Casella, Gregory Dann, Bobby Slayton, Michael Zegarski, Geneva Carr, Robert C. Cirk, Tommy Nohilly, Ed Jewett, Debi Mazar, Danielle Ferland, Maddie Corman, David Krumholtz, Jacob Berger, Jenna Stern, Michael Striano, John Mainieri

In ‘Wonder Wheel’ we are presented with a beautiful portrait of a hopeless life on Coney Island in the 1950s. Once an actress with potential, Ginny (Kate Winslet) is stranded as a waitress and unhappily married. Her forties are breathing down her neck, her ten-year-old son is a starting pyromaniac and her husband an ex-drinker with loose hands. When Carolina, her husband’s daughter, asks them to stay with them, because she is on the run from her mafioso ex-husband, the house is too small. When the considerably younger, but oh-so-romantic lifeguard Mickey (Justin Timberlake) takes an interest in Ginny, there seems to be hope. But Carolina also noticed the dreamy lifeguard…

As we are used to from director Woody Allen, in ‘Wonder Wheel’ we see a beautifully designed vicious circle. Just when you think it couldn’t get any more awkward, annoying, or tragic for the layered characters, he goes the extra mile. The cleverly written drama is painful, but the amount also gives it something comical. This gives a nicely balanced and poignant effect to look at. In addition, ‘Wonder Wheel’ stands out because of the wonderful use of light. In the scenes, Coney Island’s neon signs provide the actors’ penetrating faces with beautifully colored light. In some dramatic moments (sometimes even in one monologue) those lights can also suddenly fade and make room for the very cold and gray light of the painful reality. Together with the wonderfully dry (and typically Woody Allen) jazz music, this creates beautiful atmospheres.

With a star cast like this you also expect some artisanal play. Besides that this expectation is more than fulfilled, Kate Winslet really deserves some extra tribute for this great achievement. She knows how to make the pain of her character palpable, but not to push it in your face. She effortlessly switches from an emotionally empty look, to moments where she jumps from scratch due to too many emotions and severe migraines that her character is struggling with. She dares to show the ugliness of her character in a way that you as a viewer still love her.

‘Wonder Wheel’ is a strong piece of film with painful dialogues, characters that show their ugliest true side and situations that go from bad to worse. This, combined with beautiful environments and the neon-filled piers of Coney Island, creates beautiful counter-colors and an intriguing whole.