Wonderland
Cineplex Odeon
Thursday, 7:15 p.m.
Rating: two and a half stars
It must have sounded like a great idea at the time — having 10 emerging directors create stylistically distinctive mini-dramas to be interwoven within a disaster film that wryly contrasts nationwide reaction to a mysterious, potentially catastrophic system of dark storm clouds that inexplicably gathers over Switzerland. This is the gimmicky foundation for an ambitious, fitfully intriguing but ultimately unwieldy sci-fi parable of sorts. While this arty omnibus is visually striking — as during an ironic sequence in which panic-stricken Swiss refugees desperately try to flee to European Union countries Switzerland has been isolated from — the film is short on genuine tension and dramatic potency.
We become aware of the stylized artifice to the point of distraction. As meandering and disjointed as this experimental Switzerland-German co-production is, it’s not, to be fair, without some compelling characters whose perspectives on this disturbing phenomenon inspire snippets of satire, political commentary and cynicism.
