A coming-of-age story set across the lush wine country of both Australia and Spain, a young man explores the nature of father-son relationships and the pathway toward understanding and forgiveness.
“Chasing Wonders” is a beautiful story told on two levels. First, we have the narrative of a nuclear family: father, wife, son, father’s brother and his girlfriend, and the wife’s parents, all living together in the wine country of Spain. Their livelihood is based in vineyards and their winery but the father’s decision to relocate everyone and everything to pursue his goals in the wine country of Australia has unsettling consequences as all moves do, especially to children.
On a different level, this is a story of battling archetypes. Edward James Olmos is calmly and quietly grand in the archetypal role of the “wise grandfather,” sometimes referred to as “the Sage” or “mentor.” He is a storyteller to his grandson, encouraging him to “chase wonders,” or in psychology, to pursue who he might become. In the overall telling of a story with this archetype at the center of the conflict, it often becomes necessary for this character to either die or disappear for a while, allowing the time for, in this case, his grandson, to seek his full actualization on his own.
Opposite his influence is the boy’s father, powerfully portrayed by Antonio de la Torre, whose archetype is the ruler, seeking emotional and physical power over others. His need for control, especially over his son, stems from guilt, with fear at its root.
The boy, played by Michael Chrisafulli, fulfills the archetype caught between these two powerful men. He is the “seeker” who, filled with the wonder of his grandfather’s stories and life views, sets himself eventually on a path to ascend to the heights to which he aspires but to which his father attempts to block.
I loved the character of the brother’s girlfriend, as portrayed by Jessica Marais. In archetypal terms, she is a combination of the “Everywoman” and the “Jester” as she slips in, out, and around the central characters of the family and says the truths that somehow evade them.
The story is both heartwarming and poignant. The characters are skillfully drawn, the scenery is magnificent, and the acting is faultless. It’s a “see again” for me. Wow. That makes two in a row!
Available on STARZ Friday, November 19th
