By Emilio Frenk.
Director: Craig Johnson
Cast: Woody Harrelson, Laura Dern, Judy Greer, Isabella Amara, Cheryl Hines, Brett Gelman, Mary Lynn Rajskub and Margo Martidale.
Rating: Very Good.
Craig Johnson, writer/ director of “The Skeleton Twins” brings “Wilson” a comedy with melodramatic elements that works at all levels.
The movie tells the story of Wilson (Woody Harrelson) a neurotic and honest middle aged man who lives alone with his dog.
One day after having a surprising encounter with his ex-wife Pippi (Laura Dern) he finds out that he had a daughter and Pippi gave her for adoption.
Wilson is more happier than ever and with Pippy they decide to meet their daughter Claire (Isabella Amara).
The encounter will represent for both Wilson and Pippy an opportunity to known each other even more and to enjoy every single moment that life offers.
Craig Johnson is a director who likes to illustrate the internal conflict of his characters with humor but at the same time you can see the loneliness and the darkness of his characters in his films.
We saw that in “The Skeleton Twins” were both the characters of Milo and Maggie played by Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig portrayed people with emptiness and they were pretty messed up.
Here with Wilson it´s not the exception and Johnson this time teams up with Daniel Clowes, who not only wrote the screenplay but also wrote the graphic novel.
This marked the debut of Clowes as a feature film screenwriter and indeed I was impressed. With “Wilson” besides having the advantage that he wrote the novel and knew the characters from head to toe, he created interesting ones.
They are both filled with humor and at the same time that have that loneliness inside of them that makes them even more special.
Craig Johnson from the beginning of the film knew how to connect with the audience and with his direction, the cast delivered sweet and touching performances.
The chemistry between Woody Harrelson and Laura Dern works at all levels and both of them are hilarious at all times.
The cinematography by Frederick Elms, which credits include “Blue Velvet”, “Patterson” was very interesting and the use of the visuals of the film made you feel like you were inside a graphic novel.
Again Craig Johnson hit another home run and with “Wilson” he directed a funny, sweet and touching movie.
Seeing actors like Woody Harrelson and Laura Dern is a blessing and of course the performance by Isabella Amara in the role of Claire was very good and hopefully we can see from her more in the future.
With that being said, I enjoyed “Wilson” for it´s humor, the directing by Craig Johnson, the performances by the cast and a fun screenplay and I give a recommendation to it.