It could be wonderful
I’m a fan of Matthew Broderick. I’ve been a fan since Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and continue to be a fan because of the diversity of his roles. He simply didn’t stick to comedy; he toured the genre landscape since making it big in the late 80s. More recently, he found himself in the star role as Ben Singer in the movie Wonderful World.
The movie revolves around a man that has lost his way since being scorned by the world. Singer wrote children’s music for a corporation and was pretty good at it. Regretfully, in the world of ‘bottom lines’ his music didn’t look like it was going to sell so the recording industry shut him out. His life tumbled into an editing position for a law firm. Fast-forward some years later and Singer is divorced, living with a man named Ibu, estranged (in a sense) from his daughter and, more importantly, very unhappy with his life. Singer lives from day-to-day in a cynical bumble of hatred for the world around him. When his diabetic roommate Ibu goes into a diabetic coma, Singer’s life begins to unravel. He loses his job, his car is towed and his daughter no longer wishes to see him. Out of all the darkness he finds hope in a single woman named Khadi; she’s the sister of Ibu.
I won’t say anymore because I don’t want to ruin it for you.
The story of Wonderful World is quite simple. Singer has been scorned and to live again he has to find a way to recover his happiness in a mean world. Broderick’s role as Ben Singer is quite good. His distrust of things and people are magnified by Broderick’s complete understanding of his character. Broderick also a fantastic knack for slowly transforming his character from one thing to the next. So, when the transition from sad to dreadfully sad to ‘on the way up’ starts occurring it’s done in a subtle way. For me that was huge in this film. If you’re going to deconstruct a life then you have to make a smooth transition into rebuilding it correctly. Give credit to Broderick for doing this, as he mastered it many times over in previous films and continues to impress in this one.
Shifting gears slightly, it’s impressive to see his cynical nature at the beginning of the film (which is nothing short of brilliant). He really is the unhappiest, most distrustful man in this world that director Joshua Goldin creates. Goldin’s focus on Singer’s unhappiness, and spreading of unhappiness, is neat to watch. Much like Broderick’s smooth transition with his personality, Goldin knows how to make this character infectious in a bad way. When you see how uncomfortable and distant Singer’s ex-wife is, or how brutally honest Singer is to his daughter and her reaction, then you’ll understand how carefully crafted this character was during the creation process.
Now, what’s even more brilliant than an unhappy man is how you treat the unhappy man during his transition to happiness. In movies there is a ‘device’ that is used to move a story along; imagine a bridge connecting one side of a character to another side of a character (unhappiness to happiness). Sometimes this ‘device’ is forced and sometimes it’s done right. Monty Python use to make fun of such things when it came to the subject of ‘device’ used to move the story along. Anyway, the device in Wonderful World is Ibu’s sister, Khadi. Khadi is the ‘device’ that transitions Singer from unhappy to happy. I won’t tell you how it ends, just know that the relationship between Singer and Khadi doesn’t end the way you’re assuming it does. She fits perfectly into the story and helps Ben find himself and again. She’s a perfect fit for the story, which makes her a perfect fit as a ‘device’. In other words, Goldin did it right in terms of using her character appropriately.
With all of this said, the movie isn’t perfect. There is a bump in the road when Singer and Khadi lock horns later in the film. This particular moment makes the story awkward. As Ben is struggling with the notion of unhappy versus happy, he almost resets the entire story, which resets audience expectations (and is slightly confusing). You’ll understand this moment and when it happens you’ll know. I found this little imperfection a little jarring as it simply serves two purposes. The first purpose is to demonstrate that Ben is still struggling with himself. You’ll understand this anyway, so there was no need to actually show it. The secondary purpose is that it’s an out for Khadi, which is disappointing. Khadi is a beautiful character and deserved a better out than this particular one.
Like I said, it’s a bump in the road, but it makes the movie imperfect.
As for the Blu-ray portion of this film, it’s really quite nice. Magnolia Home Entertainment has recently stormed onto the scene and has done some really good transfers to Blu-ray from film. Wonderful World is no exception to this, as it looks gorgeous on a 1080p monitor. What’s even better is that the music associated with the film sounds great coming through a 5.1 system. You’ll love the music at the end.
In regards to the features, here’s what you’re looking at:
• As Soon As Fish Fall Out of The Sky: Character and Story of Wonderful World
• Behind the Scenes: Working with Writer/Director Josh Goldin and Actor Matthew Broderick
• Behind the Scenes Montage
• HDNet: A Look at Wonderful World
These features are just enough to make them excellent. There’s not too much forced into the special features section of the Blu-ray. You get great information form the director and actor and some good things such as the HDNet special. They really compliment the film.