It’s never an easy thing to know when it’s too soon to talk about a horrific event. When it came to 9/11, filmmakers didn’t waste any time. Movies like ‘World Trade Center’ and ‘United 93’ hit screens barely five years after the terrorist attacks on New York, and bombarded viewers with graphic images of the events, as if we didn’t all watch them a thousand times on CNN the first time around. ‘The Great New Wonderful’ is another post-9/11 film, but of a completely different variety. This graceful and sensitive film addresses not the event itself, but how the terrorist attacks affected the everyday lives of every breed of New Yorker.
The five main storylines of the film seem completely unrelated. An older woman is tired of her tedious day-to-day routine. A seemingly happy man is being reviewed by an enigmatic psychologist hired by his employer. Two young parents try to manage a difficult child. A high society pastry chef fights for an important client. A body guard makes a bad personal decision.
What ties all of these individuals together is how 9/11 has awoken in all of them some sort of dissatisfaction or restlessness. Their commonality as New Yorkers is that they have suffered a great and overwhelming tragedy, and there is solidarity in that. What’s more, they suffer in silence.
This concept is masterfully illustrated in a simple yet imperative scene. A member of each storyline enters an elevator. At first it seems like the average awkward, slightly crowded elevator ride. But in a moment, that all changes when the elevator stops abruptly and the lights flicker ominously. No one says anything; no one moves. It is painfully clear, however, that everyone is thinking and feeling the same fear, the kind of fear that would never have crossed any of these individual’s minds before September 11, 2001.
Therein lies the genius of this film. It is without a doubt a 9/11 film, but it is its subtlety that makes it so effective, so meaningful. The words ‘World Trade Center,’ ‘September 11,’ or even ‘terrorist’ are never uttered in the film. The clarity of the filmmaker’s intentions is unwaveringly powerful. For instance, the audience knows everything it needs to when a man stops what he is doing to watch a plane fly across the sky.
Every character has a moment when it is clear that 9/11 has had an intense impact, and it is amazing that each one, in spite of the trauma, somehow manages to reach a catharsis in his or her life. What’s so human about their stories is that for all of the changes that they put into effect, it still doesn’t magically fix everything. But it’s progress, and that’s something.
Every member of the cast masterfully portrays his or her player in ‘The Great New Wonderful.’ This eclectic group is comprised of indie darling Maggie Gyllenhaal, comedians Jim Gaffigan and Stephen Colbert, ‘Monk”s Tony Shalhoub, and the brilliant Olympia Dukakis. This is just to name a few. Though most of these individuals never interact with one another, they have a fascinating indirect chemistry that pulls together the central ideas of the film.
As the camera pans across the island of Manhattan at the end of the film, reminding us gently of what is no longer there, we know that the moral of the story is not about mourning, but about change. It’s okay to be sad, and it’s good to grieve, but it’s more important to acknowledge this sorrow and move forward. And just knowing this, well, it’s a start.