True grit

>> Excellent Wonderland examines the linked lives of Londoners

by MARK SLUTSKY

Wonderland, the new film from British director Michael (Welcome to Sarejevo, Jude) is a real piece of work. It's a sprawling patchwork of stories, all interconnected, and all taking place in London over the course of a few days. There's definitely the scent of Altman to this movie, and at times the film is reminiscent of Short Cuts (especially with its emphasis on couples), but Wonderland stands on its own, a unique and happy accomplishment.

The plot hangs loosely on the comings and goings of three sisters, Debbie, Nadia and Molly. Winterbottom's casting is superb, with Shirley Henderson (so terrific in Topsy-Turvy), Gina McKee and Molly Parker, respectively, all putting in excellent performances. Henderson is a single mother coping with loss of freedom and her son's boorish father, McKee is a lonely but confident woman looking for companionship, and Parker is pregnant and married to a man having a premature mid-life crisis.

Around these women nearly a dozen narratives play themselves out simultaneously. It's not muddled, though--as you start to wonder about someone, Winterbottom cuts to them and shows a bit more of their story. The stories are mostly pretty gritty--loneliness, alienation and all that--but amazingly, the movie is so deftly handled as to never be too heavy. This is partly due to the acting; the cast is all strong, with the three principal women standing out.

Wonderland is full of startling little moments that feel like minor revelations. They're captured gorgeously--whether it's the play of fireworks on the faces of spectators at a fair, or a middle-aged woman barking back at a noisy dog. The images in the film are beautiful, grainy and washed out, and although the movie relies heavily on hand-held camerawork, it's never lazy; the cinematography is confident and entrancing.

Wonderland is a bit of a ride, alternately brutal and euphoric. It's heartening to see a film so sprawling that succeeds on so many levels. If one criticism must be levelled it's that the film has a few slow moments, but it invariably picks up the momentum and by the end there are no loose strands. Wonderland is excellent and not to be missed. :

Opens Friday, Aug. 11