Tuesday 29 June 2010
FILM CHALLENGE: 53) Wild At Heart
Added Jan 6, 2010,
53) Wild At Heart
Director: David Lynch
Year: 1990
Plot Summary: Lula's psychopathic mother, Marietta, goes crazy at the thought of her daughter being with Sailor, a man who just got free from jail. Ignoring Sailor's probation, the two set out for California leaving their past behind. However, Marietta hires a killer to hunt the ex-convict down and bring her daughter back to her.
Describing a David Lynch movie is about as difficult as playing I-Spy with Stevie Wonder. They are always so imaginative, artistic and are bursting with a flurry of themes, motifs and symbols. He's, to me, the true definition of an auteur: Everything that he's made could only have been made by him - if you turned on your TV set and Lost Highway, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, etc. was showing you'd instantly recognise that it's a David Lynch film - and his unique style is impossible to recreate.
In anyone else's hands, those aforementioned movies would very likely be an unwatchable mess, but Lynch has a wonderful gift of somehow making them work. Wild At Heart is no different. After all, it's a hybrid of both a romance and a road movie influenced by the work of Shakespeare and featuring hit men, witches and private investigators. Not only that, but it's also a sort of remake of The Wizard Of Oz only with a lot more sensuality and gore. This ambitious concept screams of bizarreness, but while it is a twisted, strange little picture, it's also an entrancing work of brilliance.
Of course, it's the farthest thing from reality you will find, but as always, Lynch's weird, dark world in is one of the most fascinating things about the film. Unlike Badlands or Bonnie And Clyde, it takes its protagonists’ twisted, perverse subconscious as its reality. However, behind the surrealism, violence and sex, Wild At Heart is a story of redemption as Sailor attempts to reconcile himself for the things he saw as a driver for crime lord Marcelles Santos who killed Lula's father. The main heart of story is Sailor's personal quest to find, as he puts it, that somewhere over the rainbow.
So, what's with all the Wizard Of Oz references? In fact, what's with all the pop culture references? One of the themes of David Lynch's Cannes winner seems to be about to diversity of music as different genres work their way bizarrely into Wild At Heart. There's metal music during the opening scene of violence, there's classical music in a disturbing scene near the end and the main character even sings Elvis songs. Whatever it all means, it seems to add to the nightmarish atmosphere of Wild At Heart in the way they contrast each other with the aural collage of a crackling fire and the cold laugh of the wicked witch.
The two leads are played tremendously by Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern. However, it's Harry Dean Stanton who steals the show as always. His character is only a small part in the narrative, but he played beautifully here. The subtle way he shows his affection for the menacing Marietta helps to make the film's villain even more evil and when he meets his demise at the hands of her, his heartbreak is very touching.
Moreover, while his style, tone and approach to cinema is what is always discussed about Lynch, it's rare that he's given credit for his amazing script-writing talent. The way the narrative throws us into the road trip and only uses flashbacks to recount the events that have preceded it make the movie very involving and gripping right from the word 'go'.
It has to be seen to be believed really, so I would encourage anyone who is curious about Wild At Heart after reading this review to rush out and find a copy. It doesn't meet the standards of Mulholland Drive or the jaw-dropping Blue Velvet, but it's unlike any road movie you will see in your lifetime.
4/5
5 comments:
One of his 'eh' films. Lynch is hit or miss with me.
Which are the hits and which are the misses? :) I remember you saying you don't like Blue Velvet, right?
I admit I don't like everything he's done. Inland Empire and Eraserhead infuriate me beyond anything I've ever witnessed before. But I could watch Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet every day for the rest of my life and not grow tired of them.
The Elephant Man is one of his 'eh' films to me. If it was made by anyone else I'd probably love it, but it doesn't feel like a Lynch movie in my opinion. :/
Oh, The Elephant Man is my favourite. First film to ever make me cry. Really surprised me. Had to go and do something manly immediately afterwards but I came back and cried more then turned it back on haha. Mulholland Drive is also a masterpiece. I think there are more misses than hits but those two are good enough to forgive.
That'll be another film to visit again soon then! :) I remember it did choke me up but not in the way that other films have. Not enough to make me feel the need to measure stuff and open a load of jar lids and regain my masculinity. :)
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