Seriously don't bother. If you're bored and looking for watch a film to fill in some time, don't make it this one. It might be alright if you're specifically looking to watch some pretentious pseudo verite bullsht. Maybe. The attempt to create realism through jerky hand-held camera work is distracting and enough to give you motion-sickness, the film-stock is grainy and unattractive, the characters are grating and impossible to empathize with and the music was craptastic. Everything about this film irritated me, from the over-used disjointed jump cuts to the ridiculously heavy-handed and out of place piano scoring, and the boring plot (and I hesitate to bestow 'plot' on the disjointed wreck that is Wonderland).
I also disliked Wonderland's recurring gimmicky motifs - eg. character's moment of reflection = fast motion + slow motion + shitty *emotive* piano music. (Quick! A character is thinking! Cue the piano music and stock city footage! My, how ironic it is that despite being in a city surrounded by people this character is so isolated. How *profound*. In fact, it's so profound, lets use it again!.... and again!.... and again!) I'm guessing Wonderland was an attempt to be an insightful meditation on the reality of the lives of a bunch of everyday people dealing with modern life or some crap like that. The problem with that is that real life is boring. So why bother to make a film of what people see everyday? Without offering any kind of different insight or narrative or point of difference to create ANY sort of interest AT ALL? What I did last week is as interesting as any one of Wonderland's inconsequential narratives. In fact if Wonderland's plot is what passes as film-worthy these days, I think I could make a living shitting out weekly screenplays of what I've done each week. It's cinema verite! It's art! It's genius! It's... totally boring. If you want real life boredom, turn off your TV and go talk to some real life vapid morons. At least that way you don't have to fork out for video rental.
Watching Wonderland is like going to a bad party - the music is bad, the people are boring, pretentious and unattractive, and while it's only a couple of hours until it's over, it seems like much, much, longer.
I also disliked Wonderland's recurring gimmicky motifs - eg. character's moment of reflection = fast motion + slow motion + shitty *emotive* piano music. (Quick! A character is thinking! Cue the piano music and stock city footage! My, how ironic it is that despite being in a city surrounded by people this character is so isolated. How *profound*. In fact, it's so profound, lets use it again!.... and again!.... and again!) I'm guessing Wonderland was an attempt to be an insightful meditation on the reality of the lives of a bunch of everyday people dealing with modern life or some crap like that. The problem with that is that real life is boring. So why bother to make a film of what people see everyday? Without offering any kind of different insight or narrative or point of difference to create ANY sort of interest AT ALL? What I did last week is as interesting as any one of Wonderland's inconsequential narratives. In fact if Wonderland's plot is what passes as film-worthy these days, I think I could make a living shitting out weekly screenplays of what I've done each week. It's cinema verite! It's art! It's genius! It's... totally boring. If you want real life boredom, turn off your TV and go talk to some real life vapid morons. At least that way you don't have to fork out for video rental.
Watching Wonderland is like going to a bad party - the music is bad, the people are boring, pretentious and unattractive, and while it's only a couple of hours until it's over, it seems like much, much, longer.