Wild At Heart -A Retro Review
Maybe not a review so much as an admiration.
My David Lynch DVD collection has a few glaring holes; notably the recently released compilation of short films, all of which are genius, and I've yet to see his award winning The Straight Story. However, any David Lynch collection is incomplete without 1990s Wild At Heart.
What do I love about this film? Where do I start?
First of all, its not the best of his works. If you want masterpiece you have to go to Blue Velvet, The Elephant Man, or I think his greatest and darkest film, Eraserhead. Eraserhead... the quintessential "cult" film. I swear Lynch coined the phrase with that bit of genius. But I digress...
Wild At Heart is cool for a few reasons, first of which is that it's modern and set in a specific time yet feels timeless. The costumes seem to reflect a very Madonna-centric view of white-trash society. Lula's (Laura Dern) outfits as well as Perdita's (Isabella Rossellini) are all about lingerie worn on the outside, which is a fashion trend immediately traceable back to Madge. Very 1990s. Hard to miss. Lula is the early 90's. Then theres Sailor, (Nicolas Cage) in a surprisingly un-annoying role dressed and talking in 50's parlance, obsessed with Elvis and yet not pushing me beyond tolerance. I normally can't watch him without getting ticked, but his Sailor in this film is like Michael Douglas in The Game; he is basically himself and he does it well.
And then of course is Lula's mother, Marietta, (Dern's real-life mother) who's wigs embody the 70's. The character is pure now, but the hair says ABBA nine times!
But this is just one aspect of the film.
The story is based on Barry Gifford's novella which is itself a recommended read. If you read the book and see the film you'll see the very specific Lynchian touches added to the latter. The little things like the ugly woman who flutters by during the Marietta and Johnny scene, or my favourite, the car crash scene, which features Sherilynn Fenn (Audrey from Lynch's Twin Peaks) as a dying car crash victim. There are more genius moments in this film than can be summed up here. Basically, as Rottentomatoes.com gave it a 64% I'll assume that smart moviewatchers are giving this a look. NOT for an example of the best of David Lynch, but maybe for an example of how Lynch can make a story way more interesting by putting his personal stamp on it. If there was ever a textbook for how to make a David Lynch movie, this is the one you'd need to watch about a million times before you wrote it (thats after, of course, seeing all his college stuff and Eraserhead).
My David Lynch DVD collection has a few glaring holes; notably the recently released compilation of short films, all of which are genius, and I've yet to see his award winning The Straight Story. However, any David Lynch collection is incomplete without 1990s Wild At Heart.
What do I love about this film? Where do I start?
First of all, its not the best of his works. If you want masterpiece you have to go to Blue Velvet, The Elephant Man, or I think his greatest and darkest film, Eraserhead. Eraserhead... the quintessential "cult" film. I swear Lynch coined the phrase with that bit of genius. But I digress...
Wild At Heart is cool for a few reasons, first of which is that it's modern and set in a specific time yet feels timeless. The costumes seem to reflect a very Madonna-centric view of white-trash society. Lula's (Laura Dern) outfits as well as Perdita's (Isabella Rossellini) are all about lingerie worn on the outside, which is a fashion trend immediately traceable back to Madge. Very 1990s. Hard to miss. Lula is the early 90's. Then theres Sailor, (Nicolas Cage) in a surprisingly un-annoying role dressed and talking in 50's parlance, obsessed with Elvis and yet not pushing me beyond tolerance. I normally can't watch him without getting ticked, but his Sailor in this film is like Michael Douglas in The Game; he is basically himself and he does it well.
And then of course is Lula's mother, Marietta, (Dern's real-life mother) who's wigs embody the 70's. The character is pure now, but the hair says ABBA nine times!
But this is just one aspect of the film.
The story is based on Barry Gifford's novella which is itself a recommended read. If you read the book and see the film you'll see the very specific Lynchian touches added to the latter. The little things like the ugly woman who flutters by during the Marietta and Johnny scene, or my favourite, the car crash scene, which features Sherilynn Fenn (Audrey from Lynch's Twin Peaks) as a dying car crash victim. There are more genius moments in this film than can be summed up here. Basically, as Rottentomatoes.com gave it a 64% I'll assume that smart moviewatchers are giving this a look. NOT for an example of the best of David Lynch, but maybe for an example of how Lynch can make a story way more interesting by putting his personal stamp on it. If there was ever a textbook for how to make a David Lynch movie, this is the one you'd need to watch about a million times before you wrote it (thats after, of course, seeing all his college stuff and Eraserhead).
posted by johnnykocktail at 12:11 am
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