WONDERLAND. - Review - movie review

Interview, July, 2000 by Guy Flatley

Directed by Michael Winterbattom

At last, a dysfunctional family we can truly root for! Three generations of an economically squeezed, culturally deprived, combative, self-punishing clan are put under the microscopic camera of director Michael Winterbottom and intimately examined over a long, horrendously eventful London weekend. How do the siblings, parents, and mates while away the hours? Some lose track of their kids, others peruse the personal ads, have oral sex at the beauty salon, or poison the neighbor's dog. The miracle is that Winterbottom, screenwriter Laurence Coriat, and a superb cast topped by Molly Parker--who gives birth in the film's most extraordinary scene--make us love these seeming losers. The baby's name, by the way, is Alice, and it's quite a wonderland she's entering.