‘Wonderstuck,’ Todd Haynes latest film, debuted at the 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.The public reaction couldn’t have been any better: tears, a three-minute-plus ovation, and Oscar buzz among the audience.
The film is an adaptation of 2011 young adult novel by Brian Selznick. He’s the mastermind behind Martin Scorsese’s Hugo. Wonderstruck narrates the parallel stories of two deaf kids. The first one is set in 1977 and follows Ben (Oakes Fegley). He’s a Midwestern 12-year-old boy who rendered deaf by a lightning strike. After Ben’s mother (Michelle Williams) passes away, he finds clues to the identity of the father he never knew, so he runs away to New York to find him.
The other story is about Rose (Millicent Simmonds). A deaf girl living in New Jersey in 1927 which is obsessed with the silent movie star Lillian Mayhew (Julianne Moore). Rose decides to run away from home and her strict father to head to the city, she hopes to find her idol. Eventually, the stories intersect, with Moore starring as an older version of Rose.
To Hynes, ‘Wonderstruck’ is a film for the whole family. “This was all about the imagination, vitality, and complexity of kids. With the film, I really wanted to honor what I think young audiences can handle in a movie,” Haynes said at an emotional news conference. “I think [kids] handle a movie with this kind of dimension to it.”
The film marks the fourth collaboration between Haynes and his self-described “career soulmate’ Moore. Following 1995 ‘Safe,’ 2002 ‘Far From Heaven,’ and 2007 ‘I’m Not There.’ For the new movie, Moore had to learn American Sign Language in order to play Rose. As for Simmonds, the deaf 14-year-old actress was praised, and her screening debut is being hailed as a breakthrough.
Moore really enjoyed participating in the film
Moore, who also attended the conference, said that it was an “extraordinary opportunity” to play “two different parts in two different time periods.¨ She also shared what it meant to her to have learned sign language. She occasionally even used during the news conference to communicate with Simmonds, who was also there.
“As a hearing person, this was my first experience with the deaf culture,” she said. “The people who understand those cultures are the ones who’ve been in both rooms. I didn’t get to be in both rooms but I was allowed to stand in the doorway, and what that gave to me as an individual was tremendous.”
“[The film] boiled down to what kind of languages we use and how we effectively use our bodies, our hands and ourselves without spoken English,” Moore said. “What I learned … is that you’re always, as a human being, looking to communicate. Whether it’s verbal, visually or with a sign.”
Michelle Williams has learned to not underestimate child actors
During the conference, Williams shared some thoughts on children and how important it is to respect them. The actress said that after widowing actor Heath Ledger and having to raise her daughter Matilda by herself, she has learned to respect child actors’ talents and needs.
“For Mother’s Day this year my daughter gave me a card,” she said. “It said ‘Mom, thanks for letting me be me.’ It was a picture of somebody in high heels on a skateboard. That’s what I’m looking to do. I’m looking to respond to these children in the moment with what they are really offering me.”
Wonderstruck sparked talk of its awards prospects
Right after the film’s debut, critics were already talking about the whether the film would be heading for the Academy Awards or not. Indiewire called the movie “exquisite” and an “immaculately crafted fable about the ways in which people of all ages learn to break out of their bodies and connect with the world.”
Less impressed critics, like Variety, called it “a lovingly crafted adventure of innocence that winds up being less than the sum of its parts”. It’s being said that chances for an Oscar could aim more to technical categories such a production design, costumes, and score – from Carter Burwell, who also worked with Hynes in ‘Carol.’
Transitions between Ben’s story shot in color with sound and Roses’s shot in black and white with no dialogue could also mean a nomination for editor Affonso Gonçalves.
The film will hit selected theaters on October 20.