“Wonder Wheel”– Movie Review

On the Closing Night of The 55th New York Film Festival, I attended the World Premiere of Woody Allen’s new drama, “Wonder Wheel”, starring Kate Winslet and Justin Timberlake. 

Synopsis

When a couple’s world is disrupted by the return of his estranged daughter, can they protect her once they learn her life is in danger? 

Story

As a World War II veteran, Mickey (Timberlake) now finds himself living quite the life.  It’s the 1950’s and he works summers as a lifeguard on the beach of Coney Island while trying to earn his Masters Degree at New York University, aspiring to one day be a great writer.  But on the path to that goal, he takes a few detours – one of which being Ginny (Winslet), an unhappily married woman with whom he’s been having an affair.  While Ginny may be grateful to Humpty (Jim Belushi) for marrying her after her ex-husband left her to take care their son, the ugly truth is, she’s not really in love with him.  Honestly, maybe she never was.

Ginny works as a waitress at a restaurant on the Coney Island boardwalk while Humpty operates the carousel on the same boardwalk.  Together, they make a meager living and struggle to get by from one week to another.  It is no puzzle then that neither one of them are at all pleased when Carolina (Juno Temple) arrives at their front door one fine day.  Carolina is Humpty’s adult daughter from a previous marriage; for quite some time now, they have been estranged because she wound up marrying a gangster against Humpty’s wishes and advice.  The last thing this young woman wanted to do at this point is to ask her father for help, but that’s exactly what made her walk back into his life.

While living as a gangster’s spouse initially seemed exciting, the glamor has since worn off.  When her husband got in trouble with the law, Carolina saved herself from jail by sharing with the FBI much of what she knew.  But that’s only endangered her further because the men from her husband’s gang now want to murder her before she spills yet more beans.  Against Ginny’s wishes, Humpty allows Carolina to hide out with them; Carolina inevitably winds up meeting Mickey and they start dating, although she does not know about Ginny having her own fling with him.  Once Ginny discovers that Carolina and Mickey are dating, she is overwhelmed with jealousy.  It doesn’t take long for the gangsters to locate Carolina – but once Ginny learns that Carolina’s life is in peril, will she try to save her life or will her jealousy get the best of her?   

Review

“Wonder Wheel” is a beautiful movie to look at, but it may be less pleasant to watch.  Yes, on the surface, this may sound contradictory if not confusing, but nonetheless accurate.  While Woody Allen takes a credit as writer and director of this film, make no mistake about it – this largely belongs to cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, who worked with Allen on his previous motion picture “Café Society” as well as his next one, currently in production and as yet untitled.  In “Wonder Wheel”, Storaro has created a masterpiece that is award-worthy; it is more his picture than Allen’s due to its sheer visual beauty. 

It is painful to admit, but creatively speaking, Woody Allen has been drilling a dry hole anxiously awaiting his next gusher; this has been ongoing for quite some time now.  At this point, he might be better off focusing on being a playwright, especially since much of “Wonder Wheel” feels that it was conceived as such; a great deal of the dramatic action takes place statically, on the set of the couple’s apartment.  Not only that, but Allen’s obsessions with great playwrights like Tennessee Williams (especially “Streetcar Named Desire”) and Eugene O'Neill (most notably, “The Iceman Cometh”) are excruciatingly blatant. 

The above plaudits for Storaro are in no way meant to trivialize the performances.  Winslet is excellent and there is talk that she may receive award nominations for her portrayal of Ginny.  Belushi is also quite good but Timberlake is not believable in this role – perhaps he agreed, based on the stiff manner in which he delivered his lines.  Of special mention, however, is Juno Temple; her performance in “One Percent More Humid” made her someone worth watching and Carolina may prove to be her breakout role.  But the masterful way in which Storaro treats things which we normally take for granted such as light, shadows and rain are truly stunning.