STARRING: Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe, Diane Ladd, Isabella Rossellini, Harry Dean Stanton and Crispin Glover. Written and directed David Lynch. Based on the book, Wild at Heart by Barry Gifford. Music by Angelo Badalamenti. Budget $10 million. Running time 124 minutes. Originally released in 1990.
Sailor Ripley (Nicolas Cage) leaves prison after serving two years for man-slaughter, to reconnect with his teenage lover Lula Fortune (Laura Dern). Their relationship is raw, passionate, all consuming and forbidden by Lula's mother Marietta (Diane Ladd) who lusts after her daughter's lover. Skipping bail, the two young troubled lovers head south while Marietta sends a couple of killers to kill him and bring her home.
Like Lynch's previous film, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart is another Neo-Noir crime movie, one filtered through a fever-induced nightmare by means of the Wizard of Oz, it's a film so pure, so raw, so infused with relentless energy that it positively vibrates with power, it's a film staggering sexy, and seemingly obsessed with cigarettes, smoking and the mechanics of lighting said fags. It's filled with violence, and has a quality unsettling and sinister, although this is not as dream-like as Eraser Head, Blue Velvet or his later films, Lynch brings a sense of fantasy to the film with the Wizard of Oz playing a strange part in the proceedings. Through it all stride Cage and Dern taking no prisoners, shinning brilliantly and committing to their roles 100%. Likewise Willem Dafoe is positively mesmerising as the twisted Bobby Peru bringing true malevolence to the role.
A strange intense film that roars with passion and energy but doesn't quite stick the landing, Cage feels uncorked at times and there's a sense of nasty misogyny that permeates proceedings. Ultimately there's just too much of everything, sex, violence, dancing, music and smoking, so much smoking.
8/10
Sailor Ripley (Nicolas Cage) leaves prison after serving two years for man-slaughter, to reconnect with his teenage lover Lula Fortune (Laura Dern). Their relationship is raw, passionate, all consuming and forbidden by Lula's mother Marietta (Diane Ladd) who lusts after her daughter's lover. Skipping bail, the two young troubled lovers head south while Marietta sends a couple of killers to kill him and bring her home.
Like Lynch's previous film, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart is another Neo-Noir crime movie, one filtered through a fever-induced nightmare by means of the Wizard of Oz, it's a film so pure, so raw, so infused with relentless energy that it positively vibrates with power, it's a film staggering sexy, and seemingly obsessed with cigarettes, smoking and the mechanics of lighting said fags. It's filled with violence, and has a quality unsettling and sinister, although this is not as dream-like as Eraser Head, Blue Velvet or his later films, Lynch brings a sense of fantasy to the film with the Wizard of Oz playing a strange part in the proceedings. Through it all stride Cage and Dern taking no prisoners, shinning brilliantly and committing to their roles 100%. Likewise Willem Dafoe is positively mesmerising as the twisted Bobby Peru bringing true malevolence to the role.
A strange intense film that roars with passion and energy but doesn't quite stick the landing, Cage feels uncorked at times and there's a sense of nasty misogyny that permeates proceedings. Ultimately there's just too much of everything, sex, violence, dancing, music and smoking, so much smoking.
8/10
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