Wander Darkly movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Wander Darkly

Premieres December 11, 2020

RATING: R

LENGTH: 1 hour, 37 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: A

IN A NUTSHELL:

Written and directed by Tara Miele, this powerful movie takes a sobering look at struggling relationships and how we all live our lives and love the people in them. The romantic drama by Lionsgate received rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020.

It’s a mind-bending, ethereal journey that required two editors in order to effectively tell the ambitious story in the film.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Some crude language
You see a close-up of a woman breast-feeding
You see a woman in her bra and underwear
An unmarried couple is naked in bed having “relations”

THEMES:

Life and death
Relationships
Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome
Loss of a loved one, grief
Soulmates
Family
Reality vs fantasy
Memories

THINGS I LIKED:

Sienna Miller is absolutely fantastic. You might remember seeing her star with Jude Law in Alfie where they met and became engaged for a time. She’s a British actress who has been nominated and won many awards, but more often in the news associated with scandals. She once stated, “Somehow, I always end up being scandalous even though I don’t mean to. I just find it. If it’s there, if there’s something scandalous lurking, I’ll accidentally walk into it.” Did you know her mother was a personal assistant to David Bowie?
I really liked Sienna Miller being paired up with Diego Luna. His range took me on a journey from not liking his character to being endeared by him. His mother was British and died in a car accident when he was only two, so the story in this movie must have really touched him deeply.
I liked not being able to tell if a certain character was alive or dead. Some viewers might be confused by that but it’s part of the effective “wander darkly” experience.
The storytelling is done in a very creative way.
I love the way Mexicans honor their dead with photos, flowers, and music on Day of the Day. The images of skeletons used to frighten me until I watched the sweet movie Coco (Theatrical Version).
Really great musical score.
I really like the movie poster that illustrates very well how things feel upside down when someone dies. The film really does feel like a dream and a nightmare combined.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

A lot of scenes are visually dark, which will make it hard to watch the movie on small devices when the movie goes to streaming. Then again, remember the title of the movie: Wander DARKLY.
There is no humor whatsoever. It’s a very sad, depressing, and heavy movie.
Viewers might get confused about the timing of the things because scenes jump forward and backward constantly. The beginning and the end of the movie are clearly defined, but everything in between is very non-linear. Some viewers will be confused by the structure, but I actually enjoyed it a lot.
There wasn’t any buzz about this movie for a long time, so a lot of people know nothing about it and will probably miss it.

INTERESTING LINES:

“I should have loved you better.” – Adrienne (Sienna Miller)
“Even if it gets messy and hard, take the good and the bad…for better or for worse.” – Matteo (Diego Luna)