Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.5

Wonderstruck Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 29, 2018

For those searching for such things, there is perhaps no better (recent) example of the often patently insane vagaries of the film business than Wonderstruck. To wit: have you heard of this film? (And I understand that my “statistical sample” may be somewhat skewed, as my hunch is more people than average visiting this review may well have heard of Wonderstruck, and indeed may have even, you know, seen it.) Just to provide a little personal context, it was a bit surprising to see Wonderstruck appear in my review queue for a couple of reasons, the first of which is that I had heard very little about this film during its rather brief theatrical exhibition, aside from some industry articles covering its supposedly rapturous reception at Cannes, where it competed for the Palme d’Or and reportedly received a rather long standing ovation. I frankly promptly forgot about even reading such articles until I saw the title pop in my queue, which is perhaps one salient example of how well (?) the film was promoted during its theatrical exhibition. With regard to promotion, the second surprising thing is that I had received no promotional emails from any of Lionsgate’s public relations firms about a forthcoming Blu-ray release, something that struck (no pun intended) me as downright odd, given the fact that the film was directed by Todd Haynes and featured his frequent muse Julianne Moore. The oddness continued once I ordered a copy from Amazon and discovered that the domestic release is a BD-R, evidently manufactured on demand though I frankly don't remember seeing their disclaimer about that when I placed my order some time ago (they’ve since updated their listing to include such important information, and in the meantime, a United Kingdom release from Studio Canal has been announced, evidently looking like a “real” pressed Blu-ray disc). What makes all of this all the more astounding is that Wonderstruck is easily one of the more magical films I’ve personally seen in the past year (and perhaps longer than that), one that marries a rather unique “dual” storyline to some presentational aspects (including homages to old school silent cinema) that are certainly not traditionally thought of as being in Haynes’ wheelhouse. All of this is to say, if you haven’t heard of Wonderstruck before stumbling on this review, this is one of those exceptional sui generis offerings that really deserves to be seen and appreciated by a much wider audience than has greeted it thus far.

Note: Care has been taken in the following text to keep several revelations that accrue in the film from being spoiled. That said, there is at least one major plot point that simply can’t be avoided in talking about the film, and for those who don’t want that element “leaked” before viewing the film, consider this a spoiler warning of sorts.

Wonderstruck features a bifurcated narrative that ping pongs between two different tales (which of course are ultimately knitted together), the first of which is a seventies set story focusing on Ben (Oakes Fegley), who has recently been devastated by the death of his mother (Michelle Williams, seen pretty briefly) in a car accident. Ben is staying with his mother’s sister and her family, and is haunted not just by the death of his mom but by the fact that she never divulged who his father is to him. On a visit to his own house, which is near his Aunt’s, he discovers an old book about museum collections which includes a bookmark signed to his mother from a guy named Danny. Thinking he may have a clue to his father’s identity, he picks up a phone (this was the seventies, so it’s a landline) to call the bookstore listed on the bookmark, unfortunately at the same time a lightning bolt hits the house. That horrifying intersection of nature’s fury and Man results in Ben being left largely deaf.

The other story, told in black and white, documents the travails of Rose (Millicent Simmonds), a little girl in the 1920s who deals with a martinet father (James Urbaniak) by escaping to the “flickers”, where she is swept away by films featuring her favorite silent star, Lillian Mayhew (Julianne Moore). Because these 1920 segments are intentionally designed to mimic silent film, it’s not initially clear that Rose is also deaf (in one of the film’s kind of breathtaking reveals), refusing to indulge her father’s insistence that she learn lip reading by tearing the pages out of textbooks on the subject he has given her in order to make huge folded paper dioramas of the Manhattan skyline.

For reasons which are in one way different but in another actually rather similar, both kids run away from their situations, both journeying to Manhattan. It’s here that Haynes, production designer Mark Friedberg, costume designer Sandy Powell, cinematographer Edward Lachman and (perhaps especially) composer Carter Burwell really go for the gusto in splendidly realized differentiations between the two eras. There are a number of wonderfully arranged segues between the two time periods expertly orchestrated by editor Affonso Gonçalves, none more effective than some long sequences involving the American Museum of Natural History, where both kids hole up for various reasons.

There is a veritable slew of supporting characters and sidebars in this story (some of which some viewers may feel are overly precious), as Ben searches for clues about his father and Rose reacts to a meeting with Mayhew. Without giving away too much information, an expected connection between Ben and Rose does in fact occur, one that is arguably made a bit clunky by Moore’s portrayal of an elderly Rose, with a perhaps unwise choice of a some prosthetic makeup applied to Moore’s nose which tends to make her look a little unnatural at times. But this is a minor qualm in what is otherwise a really magical and extremely heartfelt film about coming to terms with the unexpected detours life often offers.

Wonderstruck Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Wonderstruck is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1. While I've had occasional BD-Rs come across my review courtesy of some labels like Film Rise that (used to) only release such burned products, I have to say I think this may be the first major label release on BD-R that I've personally reviewed (my memory may be failing me, which I readily admit). I was pleasantly surprised with the look of this transfer. Despite being both digitally captured and shot on film, there's a nicely homogeneous appearance throughout, to the point that I personally would be hard pressed to state which segments were filmed and which were digitally captured. Detail levels are generally very good to excellent, though it must be stated that some scenes are intentionally almost Impressionistic (see screenshot 9, part of any early dream - or nightmare - sequence), and a great deal of the seventies set tale is bathed in a kind of sickly jaundiced yellow tone, something that along with low contrast, can often lead to a lack of fine detail, even in relative close-ups. The yellow tint can be very easily seen in several of the screenshots accompanying this review. The black and white footage tends to have more consistent fine detail levels since it isn't fighting with grading choices, and contrast and black levels look fine throughout. Bitrates were nicely high throughout this presentation, rarely if ever falling below 30 and often getting into the mid- or high 30s.

Wonderstruck Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As awesome as Wonderstruck's visual proclivities are, the sound design of the film, including Carter Burwell's truly monumental score, should delight ardent audiophiles, and it is all relayed splendidly on the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. The black and white sequences basically play like silent film, and so Burwell's score is typically the sole "resident" of the surround channels, but the seventies material is alive with the bristling urban sounds of Manhattan, and it is further bolstered by a number of great source cues (including David Bowie's "Space Oddity"). There is some extremely effective mixing and/or tweaking going on in the segues between eras especially, but the entire sound design of the film is really quite ingenious and will repay any attention paid to it. Fidelity is fine throughout, delivering dialogue, effects and score without any problems whatsoever.

Wonderstruck Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The American Museum of Natural History (1080p; 5:35) is a brief overview of the museum, with comments from a number of folks, including author Brian Selznick and Stephen Quinn, a former Project Manager at the Museum.


• Cabinet of Wonders (1080p; 4:01) offers Selznick again talking about the film's version of his creation.


• Introducing Millie (1080p; 7:33) is a very sweet piece focusing on this remarkable young actress.


• The Miniatures (1080p; 3:55) look at some of the cool dioramas in the film.


• The Panorama (1080p; 5:11) looks at the equally cool artifact from the 1964 New York World's Fair.


• The Worlds of Wonderstruck (1080p; 5:40) focuses on some of the visual elements that were part and parcel of creating two distinct eras.


• The Music of Wonderstruck (1080p; 3:56) features composer Carter Burwell.

Wonderstruck Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Those who saw Martin Scorsese's Hugo, a big marquee entry that was also based on a Brian Selznick tome, and who felt that that story relied a bit too much on convenient coincidence and happenstance may well feel exactly the same about Wonderstruck. But those open to a really unique experience, and one that I personally would have never thought Todd Haynes would have offered, may find a lot to like, maybe even love, about this film. The story emphasizes that finding where we belong is at least as important as belonging itself, and that's a valuable lesson for anyone in any time period. Performances are excellent, and I have to say if I were an Oscar voter, Marlee Matlin would not be the only deaf actress to have a statuette in her collection. Technical merits are very strong, and Wonderstruck comes Highly recommended.