Wild at Heart (B- or 2.5/4 stars)
In 1986, David Lynch gave us the uniformly strange Blue Velvet. And now, he's back with the nearly-as-strange 'Wild at Heart', based on an apparently picaresque novel by Barry Gifford. Southern lovers Sailor Ripley & Lula Pace Fortune (Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern) are separated after he is jailed for killing - in "self defense" - a black man who attacked him with a knife; the assailant was hired by Lula's rich, jealous, unstable mother, Marietta (Diane Ladd, Dern's real-life mother). Jealous - because she may have the hots for Sailor, herself. Just after he is released from prison, the young duo take-off on a 'wild' cross-country trip from New Orleans to Big Tuna, Texas & ultimately to sunny California, pursued by a variety of weirdos that Lula's hysterical mother hired to kill Sailor. Nice, huh?
They include: his parole officer (for ignoring probation), circus freak hit men, sinister bounty hunters, & world-weary private detective, Johnnie Farragut (Harry Dean Stanton) - her on again off again boyfriend. Along the way, Lula & Sailor have, well ... a lot of hot sex. They talk about their past. They speak of their obsessions (which include Elvis Presley & The Wizard of Oz). They reveal hidden secrets. They witness a young woman (Sherilyn Fenn, of Lynch's Twin Peaks) dying after a car accident {bad omen, much?}. They meet a plethora of bizarre archetypical characters; including Perdida Durango (Lynch favorite, Isabella Rossellini), & seedy ex-marine, Bobby Peru (Willem Dafoe) who persuades Sailor into robbing a bank. Mayhem & oddities ensue.
'Wild at Heart' has a little bit of everything (which isn't necessarily a good thing). The opening scene - where Sailor bludgeons the black man who was hired to kill him - is INCREDIBLY violent; and an immediate way to keep us (the audience) on the edge of our seats. Then the film turns into a 'road movie'. Then some strange, almost supernatural events take place. There are some lurid images. i.e., Lula & Sailor in bed; Marietta coloring herself with red lipstick (all over her body); Marietta wearing long wigs, etc.. Then there are bursts of violence, again. There are references to Elvis Presley (Sailor sings several of his songs, including 'Love Me Tender' on the hood of his car to Lula). There are allusions to The Wizard of Oz (including a Glinda the Good Witch character late in the plot).
Really, 'Wild at Heart' is just full of lunacy -- soapy, sudsy, exploitative lunacy. All that said, it's the lunacy that keeps you watching. There's absolutely nothing of substance in the script. But there's some offbeat humor. There are scares. There are quirky characters. There's jolting violence. There's hypnotic imagery. There's riveting eroticism (never before have I seen 2 characters appear so ACHINGLY sexual and in love as Lula & Sailor seem. They don't long for each other. They lonnnnnnnnng for each other). Cage & Dern are fascinating to watch. Diane Ladd is a hoot as the oversexed, seemingly bipolar Marietta. And there's a dark intensity that permeates the screen from beginning to end. But it's all just so trashy. And I can't completely forgive the non-existent, dis-pleasurable screenplay.
They include: his parole officer (for ignoring probation), circus freak hit men, sinister bounty hunters, & world-weary private detective, Johnnie Farragut (Harry Dean Stanton) - her on again off again boyfriend. Along the way, Lula & Sailor have, well ... a lot of hot sex. They talk about their past. They speak of their obsessions (which include Elvis Presley & The Wizard of Oz). They reveal hidden secrets. They witness a young woman (Sherilyn Fenn, of Lynch's Twin Peaks) dying after a car accident {bad omen, much?}. They meet a plethora of bizarre archetypical characters; including Perdida Durango (Lynch favorite, Isabella Rossellini), & seedy ex-marine, Bobby Peru (Willem Dafoe) who persuades Sailor into robbing a bank. Mayhem & oddities ensue.
'Wild at Heart' has a little bit of everything (which isn't necessarily a good thing). The opening scene - where Sailor bludgeons the black man who was hired to kill him - is INCREDIBLY violent; and an immediate way to keep us (the audience) on the edge of our seats. Then the film turns into a 'road movie'. Then some strange, almost supernatural events take place. There are some lurid images. i.e., Lula & Sailor in bed; Marietta coloring herself with red lipstick (all over her body); Marietta wearing long wigs, etc.. Then there are bursts of violence, again. There are references to Elvis Presley (Sailor sings several of his songs, including 'Love Me Tender' on the hood of his car to Lula). There are allusions to The Wizard of Oz (including a Glinda the Good Witch character late in the plot).
Really, 'Wild at Heart' is just full of lunacy -- soapy, sudsy, exploitative lunacy. All that said, it's the lunacy that keeps you watching. There's absolutely nothing of substance in the script. But there's some offbeat humor. There are scares. There are quirky characters. There's jolting violence. There's hypnotic imagery. There's riveting eroticism (never before have I seen 2 characters appear so ACHINGLY sexual and in love as Lula & Sailor seem. They don't long for each other. They lonnnnnnnnng for each other). Cage & Dern are fascinating to watch. Diane Ladd is a hoot as the oversexed, seemingly bipolar Marietta. And there's a dark intensity that permeates the screen from beginning to end. But it's all just so trashy. And I can't completely forgive the non-existent, dis-pleasurable screenplay.