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Wild At Heart [1991]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

David Lynch's 1990 Wild at Heart is an utterly random and ugly experience with pockets of startling imagery and inspired set pieces. Based on a Barry Gifford novel, the film stars Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern as lovers on the lam whose relationship is tested and who meet some truly dangerous wackos (including an almost-simian Willem Dafoe). Lynch's thoughts seem to be everywhere, and he expects the audience to keep up with a story that seems more a collection of avant-garde whims than a coherent vision with the intuitive brilliance of his Blue Velvet. Cage gives one of his more chaotic performances, but then he was just reading Lynch's signposts. --Tom Keogh


Stylish weird magic
Review date: 2008-06-18 Rating: 8 out of 10

You will know within five minutes if this movie is your taste. Nicholas Cage gives a great performance as a bad Elvis type dude, with Laura Dern as his young, hot lover. Her mother is a sack of trouble and on the way there are plenty of odd, inspired performances. This is an odd road movie, and there's a lot to recommend it.

I thought this film was great but it requires you to meet it a little more than halfway. If this is you, you'll love it. Willem Dafoe (and his hideous teeth) deserve special mention. Great stuff.




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Reviews


A stark trip into the heart of the weird and not so wonderful.
Review date: 2008-03-01 Rating: 8 out of 10

It's true to say that Wild At Heart is perhaps one of David Lynch's more-flawed cinematic endeavours, with many of the scenes and indeed, the film as a whole, seeming incomplete or lacking any real purpose. One criticism of the film that tends to crop up most often is that the whole thing smacks of "weirdness for weirdness sake", with Lynch failing to tie his strange characters and their surreal situations to any kind of real narrative, which, I suppose, is true. However, despite these flaws, the film is still a great deal of fun, and although the whole thing is ultimately very silly, it still has enough bizarre high-points, set-pieces, sight-gags and cameos to make the whole thing ultimately worthwhile.

I suppose the film is best described as a vicious black-comedy, though the emphasis there is on 'vicious'. Lynch also makes allusions to the 'lovers on the run' genre of crime filmmaking popular in the 60's and 70's, taking it all further into the realms of the bizarre through his own cinematic obsessions (like deformities, arson, small-town Americana, detective fiction, good versus evil, car-accidents, etc), as well as more arcane references to Elvis, voodoo, incest, and the Wizard of Oz. It's a surreal trip, best summed up by the film's repeated mantra "wild at heart, weird on top" with Lynch seemingly revelling in this carnival of grotesques, whores, thugs and criminals, all gathered together in small-town New Mexico under a haze of blood and sex. American film critic Roger Ebert mockingly referred to the film as a "lurid melodrama, soap opera, exploitation put-on, and self-satire", which to me, sums up the film's most successful attributes. The plot takes off from films like Thieves Like Us, Bonnie & Clyde and Badlands, pre-dating Oliver Stone's similarly over-the-top dark-satire, Natural Born Killers, with two star-struck lovers hitting the road in an attempt to escape from the pressures of the modern-world (parole, poverty and an over-bearing mother). Lynch lays on the melodramatic clichés in broad stroke, to the point where all narrative references are to be taken with a pinch of salt... for example, it's not enough for our hero Sailor to be a murdering jail-bird from the wrong-side of the tracks, but he has to have a loving, sex-kitten girlfriend from a well-to-do neighbourhood with over-protective loved-ones. Admittedly, Lynch does subvert this almost saccharine depiction of moral family values by offering a flashback, in which our heroine, Lula, is assaulted by a predatory uncle, while her mother is later revealed to be a drunk, manic-depressive with mafia ties, which again, is all part of the joke.

There's also the spirit of the 50's, with Fredrick Elmes' colourful wide-screen cinematography bringing to mind the Technicolor melodrama of Hollywood's golden age, and the films of people like Nicholas Ray, Elia Kazan and Douglas Sirk. There's also the obligatory references to the feckless youth of Brando in The Wild One, or the self-aware pastiche of Coppola's great film Rumble Fish, with the characters here looking and sounding like they've walked out of the pages of a lurid slice of pure pulp fiction. Of course, this is another problem that some viewers have had with the film, with Lynch offering no real characters - as he had done with masterpieces like The Elephant Man and Blue Velvet - and instead relying on arcane ciphers and bizarre caricatured grotesques. Again, this is all part of the fun and not really intended to be taken entirely seriously, with Lynch and his actors keeping the film moving from one out-burst of random surrealism to the next; with a number of humours and/or terrifying iconic performances from this esteemed, though certainly eclectic, cast of characters. The centre of the film, and indeed, the real focus of our attention, is established and sustained well through the relationship between the characters Sailor and Lula, which is developed surprisingly well through the strong and fearless performances of Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern. Dern has never looked more stunning in a film as the sensual and unhinged Lula, whilst Cage reminds us of what a strong and intense character actor he used to be in the days before he switched to shallow Hollywood blockbusters. Both actors have a great chemistry with each other, and create a believable relationship in spite of the over-the-top abstractions and dramatic flourishes called for by Lynch's script. Amongst the supporting players, Harry Dean Stanton is a joy as the hound-dog private-investigator Johnny Farragut, who is sent looking for Sailor and Lula by his lover, Lula's mother Marietta Fortune, who is brought vividly to life with a grand-standing over-the-top relish by Dern's real-life mother, Diane Ladd.

Add some bizarre cameos from Lynch regulars, like Sherilyn Fenn, Jack Nance, Freddie Jones, Grace Zabriskie, Isabella Rossalini, Sheryl Lee (here continuing the Oz references with her climactic appearance as the good witch), J.E. Freeman, Crispin Glover (in one of the film's most bizarre scenes, as Lula's troubled cousin Dell), and an extended appearance by an unrecognisable Willem Dafoe, who's character Bobby Peru meets one of the most outlandish and overly violent sequences ever witnessed on screen. Certainly this film doesn't quite floor-me with it's madness as it used to when I was 14 or 15 (and would watch this and Blue Velvet pretty much religiously), with Lynch subsequently out-doing himself with the modern masterpiece Mulholland Drive. However, this film is probably more fun, and doesn't take as much concentration to really follow or get into it.

Ultimately, the film works depending on how much of Lynch's bizarre creations you can stand; with the film falling somewhere between the darkly-comic satire of Twin Peaks at it's most wittiest and the dark, industrial nightmare of Lost Highway, only with a more linear plot. I still think it's a great deal of fun, and will undoubtedly appeal to die-hard Lynch fans or those with an interest in cult American cinema.

dark stylish twisted road movie
Review date: 2008-02-07 Rating: 10 out of 10

early doors we are treated to a head being pummeled on marble steps to some crushing metal power chords and we know we're in good hands (the splendid mr lynch of course)

cage is on the run with the daugter of a nutty rich mum after torching the house and this gives the film its road movie basis, but lynch creates such compelling characters (cAGE'S ELVIS MAD SNAKESKIN JACKET WEARING ROmANTIC CRIMINAL; dearns nympho screamy femme fatale; defoe's foul creepy sleazy nutter crim) that its got so much more to it. add in the hyper surreal texas at night setting (including a pron film location shoot with 24 stone moms) and some priceless dialogue (cage confronted by a ganag of texmex thugs enquiring "now what do you foggots want?") and you have one of the best films of the 80's, make that ever.

The family knot of struggling vipers
Review date: 2007-08-21 Rating: 10 out of 10

A simple film by David Lynch. Of course you have suspense. Of course you have a good thriller. Of course too you have a good love story and gangster story intertwined. But there is something more than that in this simple film. David Lynch, for an unreasonable, i.e. unexplainable, reason decides to have a good sentimental positive ending. That enables us to draw a lesson from the rest of the film and transform a simple gangster story into a philosophical story about family and parents. A possessive mother can destroy everything around her but there is no reason for the daughter to yield and the daughter will always win against her possessive mother. Even evil witchcraft, or mafia gangsters, will not save the mother's stake. On the other side the father is an indispensable presence in the life of a child, be he a boy or she a girl. The possessive mother will get rid of the father if necessary just like she will get rid of her own lover if he stands in the way of her possessive schizophrenia (to commit suicide with lipstick, ah ah ah). But the father will survive for the daughter as a target to attain and recreate in the man she will choose to love, be impregnated by and "marry" in a way or another. But what's more the child born from this union will need a father and will recognize him at first sight even six years after his birth or so. Is this line, this thread going along all David Lynch's films? Maybe not so clearly but yes there is a family problem in all films, a link with some kind of a family, a father, a mother, an aunt, or someone else. The happy ending of this film and the way it is constructed at the very last minute in a very spectacular flight and return scene and then exploited through all the credits seem to show this family link is the essential link in the back of David Lunch's (at least ) subconscious mind. Well done and rather entertaining. And I loved the Deep Creek, Gulch, Stream, Bay or whatever, but Deep anyway, in the middle of a desertic nowhere somewhere in Texas, if it is Texas. As for the setting of some deep tragedy in the deepest layers of the minds of the characters or the dregs of society it is perfect with a heroin called Fortune and a hero called Sailor, that is wet with humor and damp with wit.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne


Lynch at his linear best - a weird and wonderful full-tilt romance
Review date: 2007-07-19 Rating: 10 out of 10

When a film kicks off with Nicolas Cage beating a guy's brains in and doing his signature Elvis point, you know you're in for something special. What follows is David Lynch's most vibrant and energetic film - a full-tilt love story with a dark and twisted underbelly.

Storywise, what you get is this: Sailor (Cage) and Lula (Laura Dern) are deeply in love, much to the chagrin of Lula's demented mother. Our young lovers hit the road and head out for California, with a detective and a hitman in hot pursuit, and they encounter all manner of weirdness and tests to their relationship along the way.

Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern turn in what I think are career-best performances in this one. Cage's Elvis obsession had yet to outstay its welcome at the time, so it's okay to sit back and enjoy it here, and his wild but oddly noble portrayal of Sailor makes him immensely likable - especially when he stages an impromptu cover of 'Love Me' with a heavy metal band - even if he is kind of a doofus. Dern keeps pace perfectly as trailer-trash sexpot Lula, also not too bright but equally sympathetic. Both actors are great, embracing the over-the-top nature of the story and going full bore to the end.

Almost stealing the film from them both, however, is a brilliantly sleazy Willem Dafoe as dentally-challenged nutbag Bobby Peru. He's not around for long, but he makes a huge impact, and this remains one of his most memorable roles.

With Lynch taking a less linear path with his more recent films, Wild At Heart is a fantastic reminder of the days when he was still mixing his trademark weirdness and black humour with more traditional stories. This one gives you your freaks and your oddballs, as well as a decent helping of twisted strangeness, but underneath it all is an enjoyably naive love story and a plot you don't have to sit through four times to make sense of. Wild At Heart is bright, funny, sexy, inventive, idiosyncratic stuff of the type David Lynch excels at, and it continues to be my favourite of his films.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Laura Dern
Willem Dafoe
Nicolas Cage
J.E. Freeman
Diane Ladd

Creators:
Nicolas Cage (Primary Contributor)
Laura Dern (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Universal Pictures UK
Manufacturer: Universal Pictures UK
EAN: 5050582256499
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Special Edition,
Release date: 2005-11-28
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 120 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1991
Language: Danish (Subtitled)
Language: Dutch (Subtitled)
Language: Finnish (Subtitled)
Language: Greek (Subtitled)
Language: Hebrew (Subtitled)
Language: Norwegian (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)

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