The last time Woody Allen opened a film this late into the awards season it was with Match Point in 2005, a thriller that didn't resemble anything the director was doing at the time, or anything he's done since. I'm starting to pick up a similar vibe from his latest, Wonder Wheel, which will also be vying for some hardware this year, most likely for the lead performance by Kate Winslet.
The first trailer has arrived and the tone is slightly different from the sappy, downright awful period comedies Allen has been doing lately. The film is set in the 1950s on Coney Island, which explains the title, and stars Winslet as the beleagured wife of a carousel operator, played by Jim Belushi. Juno Temple plays his estranged daughter who arrives out of nowhere and pregnant, with Justin Timberlake as a lifeguard who gets wrapped up in their story, that happens to involve gangsters. From the footage it looks like we can expect Winslet's character to go through a similar breakdown as Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine. Hey, it worked in getting her an Oscar, so why not?
Allen turned to cinematographer Vittorio Storaro who he worked with on Cafe Society and the colors are practically jumping off the screen. At least we know even if the movie's terrible it will be gorgeous to look at.
Wonder Wheel opens December 1st, but premieres at New York Film Festival in a couple weeks.
