The Wonders

Oh Cannes Film Festival, we think you must be drinking too much wine when you award some of these films.  The review in the film festival book made this sound like it was a sweet coming of age story about a girl and her sisters in a rural Italian farm.  I said to my friend that I didn't know much about this film, and I had to apologise for suggesting it.

The main character Gelsomina was sweet, and on the cusp of becoming a woman, and I get that the film was trying to capture that, the awkward time between being treated like a child, but being expected to be a woman working on the family farm, left in charge a lot of the time.  There just didn't seem to be any delight in the movie, no magic moments, no real fun and that left it boring and flat for me.  I didn't see the charm in the dirty muddy backdrop although the rural farmhouse done up could be awesome.  The parents were horrid, with the mother and father spending most of their time arguing.  The crazy television show plonked in the middle of the story just seemed stupid and cheezy and I really didn't get it.

So just a lowly 1/5 - and that is only because the combination of a warm movie theatre on a cold day just after eating brunch, and the gentle Italian accents caused me to sleep through some of the movie.