The Wonder (2022)

Not every story is a feature length film. Honestly this is a problem for a lot of series as well. The Wonder is an example of a story that feels stretched too thin to fill an average feature length film runtime. Despite a strong central performance by star Pugh and a beautiful approach to film making by director Lelio, The Wonder is plodding, often feeling like it is filling moments with monotony. It doesn't mean there aren't interesting moments here. There are powerful, effecting moments which will sit with you after the film is done. But they are interspersed with a lot of very little in the meantime. 

There are interesting questions at the heart of The Wonder, about belief, disbelief, and the meaning of our actions. But so often the film seems to focus on far less engaging diversions from the story. This leads to some aspects feeling repetitive or perhaps hyper focused. This ends up distracting from the more interesting questions being posed because we lose focus of them in the tedium. 

There is a good story here and it is wonderfully filmed, but it often feels like it could have been a very powerful short film. 

The Wonder

Starring: Florence Pugh, Tom Burke, Toby Jones, Kila Lord Cassidy, Ciarán Hinds

Director: Sebastián Lelio

Writers: Emma Donoghue, Alice Birch, Sebastián Lelio