Seeing is believing ‘Wonderstruck,’ a beguiling riddle set in 2 eras in NYC

Worlds collide in unusually gentle fashion in “Wonderstruck,” director Todd Haynes’ film version of the lavishly illustrated 2011 Brian Selznick best-seller — a book for introspective puzzle fans of all ages.

I enjoyed Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo,” an adaptation of Selznick’s “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” which like “Wonderstruck” told a tale of intrepid children uncovering the real stories of their disillusioned elders. But Haynes’ film is the more emotionally fulfilling experience. Just about any age of moviegoer will find something beguiling in its intertwining narratives, adapted for the screen by Selznick and brought to life by several key collaborators.

The key-est of the key: cinematographer Ed Lachman, Haynes’ frequent collaborator, here shooting on 35 millimeter film in black and white for the 1927 scenes, and on color stock for the storyline set in 1977. “Wonderstruck” begins in rural Minnesota in ‘77. Young Ben (Oakes Fegley) has lost his hearing in a lightning strike, not long after the death of his librarian mother (Michelle Williams). She never told Ben about his absent father’s identity.

A mysterious New York City souvenir book belonging to Ben’s mother contains a clue to that identity. So Ben embarks on a crosscountry genealogical mission. Soon he’s getting off the bus at the Port Authority in midtown Manhattan; to this Minnesota boy, it’s a new world, and Lachman gets the colors and textures magically right.

The 1927 scenes are no less otherworldly to young Rose (Millicent Simmonds), a deaf Hoboken resident likewise yearning to connect with her birth mother, a famous diva played by Julianne Moore. Crucial to the story, Moore also plays Rose as an adult in the ‘70s half of “Wonderstruck.”