Wonder Wheel

Director: Woody Allen

2017, US

 

(US, 2017) Written and directed by Woody Allen. Cast: Kate Winslet, Justin Timberlake, Juno Temple, Jim Belushi, Max Casella, Tony Sirico, Steve Schirripa.

Kate Winslet gives the multi-shaded, bittersweet, funny, brash and tender performance of her career, as an unhappily married mother raising her young son in Coney Island of the 1950s, under the shadow of a blue Ferris Wheel. Like Allen’s Blue Jasmine, Wonder Wheel is not a comedy, though humor runs through it, along with melancholy and loss. Winslet grabs at a possible way out of her malaise with her crush on a NYU grad student of theater (Justin Timberlake). The great ensemble cast includes Juno Temple, Jim Belushi, and two sorely missed alumni of The Sopranos, Tony Sirico and Steve Schirripa. 101 min
“Winslet stands her ground, as if to say attention must be paid. It should be. Her performance is absolutely astounding.” Peter Travers, Rolling Stone.