Wonderstruck has a ton of potential, but never meets the heights filmmaker Todd Haynes probably envisioned. It is marketed as a children’s movie, based on the kid’s book of the same name. It follows two young people, Ben and Rose. Ben lives in 1977 in rural Minnesota. He is struck deaf by a lightning blast, right around the time that his mother dies. Alone, he strikes off to try to find the dad he never knew, in New York City. In a separate story, Rose was born deaf, and is living in New Jersey in 1927. She reveres silent film actress Lillian Mayhew (Julianne Moore), and when the local theater decries silent movies in favor of the new “talkies,” Rose too runs away to find Lillian in New York. Though the 50 year gap separates our two protagonists, their stories intertwine by the end of the film. It sounds really great, and Haynes does a superb job of creating a world that feels very real for us. Rose’s 1927 is in black and white, with only a soundtrack and no vocals (very silent film-era like), while Ben’s 1977, because he was born with hearing, is loud and vibrant. But while the film builds wonderfully, the payoff just isn’t there. I don’t think younger children for whom this movie is best geared for would sit quietly through its subtle nature either. Not a bad film by any stretch, but unfortunately one where the whole is not greater than its parts.
Mudbound is a very startling look at life in rural Mississippi in the mid-1940’s. Though black men are free by law, they are far from free in society. A lot happens in this movie, and I could go into paragraphs describing all the set up, but it boils down to an unlikely friendship against racism, and standing up as the person you want to be. Henry McAllen owns a farm with his wife Laura, and sharecroppers Hap and his wife Florence tend the fields. When Henry’s brother Jaime and Hap’s son Ronsel return from World War II, they bond over experiences in the war which no one else can fathom. Yet they must keep their friendship a secret, both from Jaime’s and Henry’s father Pappy, a deeply racist old man, and from the town at large, who would see such a friendship as an affront to their beliefs. There is understandably a lot of uncomfortable language in this film, and some disturbing scenes as well, but it doesn’t shy away from an ugly past in our country. I’d like to think my current generation has come a long way since these times (though watching the news, sometimes I’m not so certain), but it is still startling in the fact that 1945 was not that long ago in the grand scheme of things. A brilliantly written (if sometimes anticipated) story, with tremendous acting from Rob Morgan, Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, and especially Jason Mitchell as Ronsel.
Rotten Tomatoes uses words like “thoughtful approach” to describe Menashe. I prefer “ponderously boring.” It follows a Hasidic Jew living in New York, as he tries to keep custody of his son after his wife’s death. The Jewish custom says the boy can only be raised in a family with a father and mother, so Menashe is under pressure to remarry so he can keep his son. It takes an hour and a half to tell this very simple story, and really, not much else. The film moves at the pace of the life of its characters, and wants to wow us with a look at this society of which very few have much knowledge, but it crawls too slow even for this art film lover. Take my advice, do not waste your time on this one.
About the creation of the Wonder Woman comic, but more about the life of the people that were her muse, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women takes a heartfelt story but is unable to flesh out the story in a heartfelt way. Dr William Marston is a professor at Harvard’s women’s school Radcliffe, and is assisted by his beautiful, domineering wife Elizabeth. They bring in a teacher’s assistant, Olive, who immediately falls in love with both Bill and Elizabeth together. Living in a time when this sort of lifestyle is not only taboo, but illegal, they hide their three-way relationship by saying Olive is a life-in housemaker, while Bill goes on to father children to both of his loves. Bill uses his ideas created in their bedroom, of his dominating and aggressive wife and somewhat submissive mistress to create the Wonder Woman comic. I only wish this film was more subtle. It too often goes for shock value in both scenes and dialogue, which may appeal to a broader audience but loses a lot in the way of art. The story feels choppy at points, like the movie could have been longer to really delve into the story, or maybe they could have trimmed some long sex scenes, which added nothing to story. In the final 20 minutes, the movie decided it wanted to be an art film and featured far too many fade-to-blacks. A bit of a letdown for me, though the strong actors do their best to save it.
In Search of Fellini is a fantastic film that unfortunately no one is going to see due to its extremely limited release. The exact opposite of the theatrics of Professor Marston, this artful film is about a girl who goes out to find her life. Taking place in 1993, before the internet and social media, Lucy is raised in a loving but sheltered house by her single mother, Claire. Claire was a free lover and thinker in the 70’s, and raised Lucy to be smart, innovative, and unique, in a house without sadness. Pets ran off rather than died, and even grandparents continued to send postcards after they “went off to Europe” long after they left this world. When Claire is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, she hides even this from Lucy, relying on her sister Kerri to keep the lie going. Knowing she will not be around much longer, Claire urges Lucy to finally go out and get a job at age 20. In the big city alone for the first time in her life, Lucy wanders in to a viewing of Italian film director Federico Fellini. Lucy is instantly transfixed, and hatches a plan to fly off to Italy to meet this amazing man. Her journey is both magical and tragic, and lovers of the classic Fellini films will find plenty with which to associate. A lovely and spellbinding film.
Jons Movie Takes 