Wonderstruck

1977, colour: Ben, recently orphaned and then deafened by a lightning strike, runs away from Gunflint, Minnesota, to search for his father in New York, whom he has never met. 1927, black and white: Rose (the deaf Millicent Simmonds makes her acting debut in the role) sets off from Hoboken, New Jersey, across the Hudson, longing for her mother, a Broadway-acclaimed actress.

The paths of the children, who are driven by the search for security and the question of their place in the world, cross in the American Museum of Natural History in front of the famous diorama of wolves running through the moonlit forest (- which in turn was researched in Gunflint, Minnesota). This means, of course, that their paths don't cross, as they're criss-crossing Manhattan half a century apart. Or rather, they intersect quite organically in the viewer's imagination, which creates a common goal for the two skilfully interwoven storylines, which also represent distinctive, historically appropriate cinematic styles, long before this goal comes into view.

Haynes' adaptation of the 2011 children's book of the same name by Brian Selznick (who is also responsible for the screenplay) is a film for children, parents and grandparents, the wonder of which lies, among other things, in making the trace of a family visible in time and space. Like a constellation in the sky, the individuals of the clan shine in the infinity and vastness of the universe that surrounds our small planet, and not one of them always knows about the other. But none of them should be missing, because with the constellation shining from the past, orientation in the present would also be lost.

(Text: Alexandra Seitz)