Wonderstruck (2017)

This film could have been good, but instead, it was nothing special.
The film interweaves two plots which occur fifty years apart. Rose (Millicent Simmonds) flees her controlling father to head to New York as her favorite actress is there to perform a show. She finds her beloved actress, Lillian Mayhew (Julianne Moore) way too quickly and the twist? Lillian is her mother and none too happy to see her. Rose then heads off to a museum where is the on the run from some guards until her brother, Walter (Cory Michael Smith) finds her and lets her stay with him. However, as Rose is deaf, the world is silent with just the overhead score and few subtitles so while her home life was miserable, you don't get the idea of how she wanted to escape to New York but that move opened doors for her that were previously closed.
Fifty years later, 1977, Ben (Oakes Fegley) is still nursing his grief over the loss of his mother, Elaine (the underused Michelle Williams) when he loses his hearing in a freak accident. During a thunderstorm, he dials the phone and a bolt of lightning strikes the electric pole. That's how his hearing is lost and I just can't believe how would actually happen. Despite his new struggle, he nevertheless sets off to New York City to find his father has the only clue he has in a bookmark with an address and name. His adventure is far more exciting than Rose's and it takes the whole film. He makes a friend along the way and does miraculously run into family. Turns out, Rose is Ben's grandmother, but her son (his father) has since passed away. It was a bit bizarre how Rose pieced that puzzle together. So Ben has found the answers he sought.
Despite the difference of the techniques, the film doesn't tell much. Moore and Williams are not used enough and they are too good to be used so little. However, there is one good quote from the film: Everyone is standing the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars. Watch Hugo instead, that is a much better film. Grade: B