The first 8:30 a.m. press screening was a little bit of a nightmare for journos with security measures but into place that were extra tight. I’m accustomed to a smooth process, but this morning the line-up was unusually and painstakingly slow — nothing we’ve ever seen before. The first item out this early was an Amazon production teaming with master American filmmaker obsessed with everything involving the past.
Only his third trip to the fest (or fourth when we include his masterwork Safe which played in the Quinzaine in ’95), Todd Haynes was perhaps offered the VIP jacket for life perhaps with the presentation of 2015’s Carol (which outclassed all films according to our 2015 critics). Wonderstruck stars Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams and a trio of young thesps (including deaf actress Millicent Simmonds who almost had me in tears at this morning’s press conference as she was in true admiration and appreciation mode having worked with Haynes.
An adaptation of Brian Selznick’s book, this takes place in two eras and plenty of foreshadowing is suggested in how it’ll connect the dots in the nooks and crannies of the American Museum of Natural History. We could say that this is Haynes working outside of his comfort zone with a bigger budget and more make believe elements than his six slices of Bob Dylan. According to our troops, he did an admirable job with a film whose target aud are either children or….kids at heart.
Check back with us twice daily for the latest grades and make sure to click on the grid below for a larger version. Tomorrow we have some South Korea and Hungary love for Bong Joon Ho and Kornel Mundruczo.
