Wonderstruck(Filmmaker in Focus Series All Those Magnificent Obsessions Allow: The Cinema of Todd Haynes )

Adapted from an eponymous 2011 graphic novel written and illustrated by Brian Selznick (The Invention of Hugo Cabret), Wonderstruck explores the curious, impressionable, and imaginative inner world of children. The film’s two storylines run in parallel. In 1927, Rose, a deaf and mute girl, runs away to New York City to meet her favorite actress, Lillian Mayhew (Julianne Moore). Half a century later, Ben loses both his mother and his hearing. Looking for his long-lost father, he also embarks on a solo journey to NYC. The two stories intersect and follow the kids, engulfed by silence, as they come to learn about the unexpected truth amidst the buzz and clatters of the outside world. Haynes faithfully represents the mute community by featuring deaf actors including Millicent Simmonds, who plays Rose. Working with his long-time collaborator, cinematographer Ed Lachman, Haynes emulates black-and-white texture of the silent films of Murnau and King Vidor in the segments set in 1927 setting, and takes his cue from the gritty realism of the New Hollywood films such as The French Connection (1971) and Klute (1971) for the parts set in 1977. Much of the action was shot on location at the American Museum of Natural History and the Queens Museum of Art. The film was in Competition in Cannes Film Festival and was selected as the Centerpiece Film of New York Film Festival in May and September respectively.