Wonderstruck, the new film by Todd Haynes, has been quietly humming under the radar, unlike Carol, which was quite out front and everywhere. But Wonderstruck was not a critics darling early on which gives it the opportunity now to gain some momentum heading into the last phase of the Oscar race. With front page raves in the New York and LA Times, Wonderstruck has a great chance to catch a wave of excitement.
Here is Manohla Dargis:
Mr. Selznick’s emphasis on wonder — represented by the story’s surfeit of enchantments and the near-miraculously fitted parts — can feel bullying, as if he were demanding delight instead of earning it. Yet even as he follows Mr. Selznick’s narrative lead, Mr. Haynes quietly and touchingly makes “Wonderstruck” his own because the wonder of the film isn’t in its story but in its telling. It’s in the expressive beauty of his images, the expansiveness of his ideas and the way he naturally, generously brings a once-upon-a-time girl and boy to life, allowing them to find themselves — in their willfulness, their heartbreaks and their imaginings — so that eventually they can find someone else.
And Kenneth Turan in the LA Times:
In addition to narrative parallels that keep getting stronger, the alternating pair of stories in “Wonderstruck” are linked by visual cues as well. When Rose puts a paper boat into the East River, for instance, the film cuts almost immediately to a shot of a wooden boat on the water in Gunflint.
Another parallel is that both youngsters end up spending considerable time in Manhattan’s American Museum of Natural History, especially the institution’s iconic animal habitat dioramas.
Though Moore and the other adult actors acquit themselves well, the task of carrying “Wonderstruck” falls to the children on-screen. That Fegley does well is no surprise to those who saw him in “Pete’s Dragon,” but Simmonds’ work is another story.
An exceptionally self-possessed and gifted performer who is herself deaf, Simmonds had mainly done stage work before was discovered in a nationwide search. With an expressive face and a vibrant personality, she is alive on-screen in the most wonderful way.
Though it takes its time, “Wonderstruck” — like the best tales of wonder — resolves all its mysteries as the plot’s disparate strands come together in a lovely way. “I need you to be patient with this story,” a key character says to young Ben, and it’s good advice for those of us in the audience as well.
