Wonderstruck

Two deaf children seek an absent parent in time zones set 50 years apart in Carol director Todd Haynes's exquisite tear-jerker based on the young adult novel by Brian Selznick (Hugo). In 1927, Rose (deaf actress Millicent Simmonds, who is superb) slavishly follows the career of silent screen goddess Lillian Mayhew (an incandescent Julianne Moore, in one of two roles). Meanwhile, in 1977, Ben (Oakes Fegley, also excellent), pines for the mysterious father he never knew. Both escape to New York where their fates entwine in a ravishing swell of enthralling emotional uplift. Fluidly shifting between the black-and-white visual language of silent cinema and the Space Oddity funkadelics of Manhattan before connecting the narrative dots, Haynes also pays homage to his own Superstar past in this immaculate magical mystery tour through the hyper-sensitive observations of the deaf. Carter Burwell's stunning score also adds seismic force to this profoundly moving and soul-stirring fable.