D.directed by Todd Haynes and presented at Cannes in 2017, The room of wonders airs tonight at 21.10 on Rai Movie. The protagonist is Julianne Moore, historical muse of the director.
Set in New Yorkalbeit in two distinct eras, the film is a tribute to the magic of cinema but above all to the fantastic capacity of children. Able to overcome pitfalls (and disabilities) through the power of dreams and imagination.
The room of wonders: the plot of the movie
The story is that of Well (Oakes Fegley) e Rose (Millicent Simmonds), two deaf-mute children from different eras who secretly wish for a better life. Ben lives in Minnesota in the 1970s, and misses the father she never knew. Rose instead lives in New Jersey in the late 1920s, and dreams of meeting actress Lillian Mayhew (Julianne Moore), of which he collects photos and news in a diary.
Their stories run parallel and linked by a mysterious connectionas long as a series of coincidences will lead them to New Yorka city that for both represents the symbol of a new life.
In fact, little Rose decides to go to Manhattan because he hopes to run into Lillian; while, exactly fifty years later – and after losing his beloved mother (Michelle Williams) – Well reaches the city to finally find out the truth about the father.
The two kids will live in New York a fabulous adventure but also full of dangers.
Despite the inability to communicate with others, they will be able to make their dreams come true and to find their place in the world. Meeting, by magicin the famous room of wonders, the one that gives the title to the film, inside the natural History Museum.
(01 Distribution)
Diversity and magic of cinema
Taken from the homonymous graphic novel written by Brian Selznick – the same author as Hugo Cabretbrought to the cinema by Martin Scorsese -, The room of wonders it is configured, starting from the starting material, as a fairy tale suspended between two eras distant but in very close relationship with contemporaneity.
A feature, this of the time bridge, that Todd Haynes has often attended in the course of his filmography.
The director of Velvet Goldmine he loves indeed observe the past with the lens of modernity and in this case he explores for the first time not only 1920s America, but also the magical and complex, childhood world thanks to a story of great charm and originality.
Cory Michael Smith, Oakes Fegley and Julianne Moore in a scene from “The Room of Wonders”. (01 Distribution)
Alternating the color to black and whiteHaynes characterizes the universe of its little protagonists through the color palette of the two decades, reconstructed with minutiae.
If for Ben the world is made of bright colors And David Bowiethat of Rose is without dialogue and punctuated by the grain of the film, just as if it were an artifact of the silent era.
A schematic contrast but which nevertheless allows the director to stage his solo show time Machine. With which he revives his first cinema experiences, from Carol to I am not here.
The feature film becomes like this an act of unconditional love towards the Seventh Art but also a hymn to diversity and overcoming loneliness through love and friendship. Even if it is perceived a clear extraneousness of the director to certain themes of childhood.
Far from being SpielbergianHaynes he cannot penetrate deeply into the intricate universe of children, leaving some aspects on the surface that would have deserved more attention. Peer example the disability of the two children.
It makes up for it his visual talent, which allows the film to maintain the magic of Selznick’s graphic work, thus making up for some too many approximations.
The partnership between Julianne Moore and Tood Haynes
The spark between the director and his muse arose in the very early 90s, when both timidly appear in the limelight. He knows her from afar, he has seen her in America today by Robert Altman. But when he makes her read the script for Safethe film that revealed it to the public in 1995, she accepts even though he is an author on his second film.
“Reading my script, he understood exactly how to immerse himself in the character – said Todd -, since then we have established a relationship that has marked my career, and perhaps his as welland in fact I wrote Away from heaven especially for her “
Todd Haynes and Julianne Moore on the red carpet of “The room of wonders” in Cannes. (Getty Images)
Away from heaven – a 2002 mélo set in the 1950s and inspired by Douglas Sirk’s cinema – it is the collaboration that makes both stars of the first magnitude. With Julienne nominated forOscar. In subsequent years, Todd and Julianne they will come back to work together two more times.
In the original biopic on Bob Dylan titled I am not here and precisely in The room of wonders.
A new duo project is planned for 2023, which they are already working on: May December. Where alongside Julianne will be there Natalie Portman.
iO Donna © REPRODUCTION RESERVED