Wild at Heart (Special Edition)
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Movie Reviews of Wild at Heart (Special Edition)
Movie Review: "Rockin' good news!"
Summary: 5 Stars
By 1990, David Lynch was at the peak of his popularity and enjoying the most productive period of his career. His television show, Twin Peaks, had captivated American audiences and he was directing a number of commercials and performance art pieces (Industrial Symphony No. 1). This all culminated with Wild at Heart, an adaptation of Barry Gifford's novel, which went on to win the coveted Palme d'Or at that year's Cannes Film Festival. It established Lynch as America's premiere cinematic surrealist.
"Love, Death, Elvis and Oz: The Making of Wild at Heart" is a fascinating 30 minute documentary with brand new interviews with Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe and, in the biggest coup, David Lynch (who doesn't normally consent to these kinds of things). Best of all, even peripheral, yet memorable cast members Crispin Glover and Grace Zabriskie are interviewed. This is an excellent retrospective look at the movie that will appeal to newcomers and devoted fans alike.
"Dell's Lunch Counter" features more interview soundbites that didn't make it into the above documentary. Some highlights include Lynch on Freddie Jones' memorable "pigeons spread disease" scene and Cage on the origins of Sailor's famous snakeskin jacket and how it defined the character.
There is also a two minute montage of stills of Sailor and Lula set to music.
"Specific Spontaneity: Focus on David Lynch" is a seven-minute featurette where the film's cast and crew talk about Lynch's unique vision and the specific world he created.
"David Lynch-On the DVD" has the veteran director talking about the process of restoring and remastering Wild at Heart. It was painstaking work that took a year and a half to do.
Also included is the original electronic press kit that was made around the time of the film's production. Lynch talks about his movie and some of the key cast talk about his working methods in a surprisingly substantial extra.
Finally, there are four brief TV spots and a theatrical trailer.
Wild at Heart is an underrated film that is often ignored in favour of Lynch's more well-known work, like Blue Velvet or Mulholland Drive. Thankfully, MGM, working with Lynch, has assembled a fantastic looking and sounding (so important with any Lynch movie) transfer (the film has never looked or sounded better) with a modest but excellent collection of extras. It reminds one what a great film Wild at Heart is and how it deserves to be ranked amongst Lynch's best work.
Movie Review: ...And Weird on Top
Summary: 5 Stars
Filmed at the height of writer/director David Lynch's popularity and winner of the Palm D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, "Wild At Heart" is breathtaking. It is one of Lynch's greatest achievements, although not quite up to the brilliance of "Blue Velvet" and "Mulholland Drive." You can tell that David Lynch and everyone involved in making this movie had a great time doing it. "Wild At Heart" is a movie about "finding love in hell," and Lynch paints an insane, crazyquilt portrait of America while commenting on the escalating violence in the world. Sometimes it is pure fun to behold, other times it will terrify you or break your heart. Fueled by the success of "Twin Peaks," Lynch felt free enough to make his most whimsical movie idolizing American pop culture, chiefly Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, and "The Wizard of Oz."
"Wild At Heart" tells the story of Sailor and Lula, two very passionate lovers played by Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern. They are on the run from Lula's crazed mother Marietta Fortune (Diane Ladd, who got an Oscar nomination!) who wants them torn apart, and are being followed by a shaggy dog private detective named Johnnie Farragut (Harry Dean Stanton). On their journey across America, they meet a very weird cast of characters including the sadistic Bobby Peru (Willem Dafoe) and the enigmatic Perdita Durango (Isabella Rossellini).
As Sailor and Lula, Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern literally burn up the screen. Their relationship is so perfectly balanced and their sexual passion so believable that you can't help but fall for them yourself. Cage turns in an intense, insane performance as the Elvis-crooning Sailor Ripley, and Dern amazes as she playes wildly against type as the sexually voracious Lula Pace Fortune. Diane Ladd, also Dern's real-life mother, is great as the unstable Marietta. It's a risky, over the top performance that works. Willem Dafoe is creepy, disgusting, and completely mesmorizing as the unsavory Bobby Peru, his "say it" scene with Lula is unforgettable. Harry Dean Stanton shines in one of his best roles, and Isabella Rossellini is a delight as Perdita. Grace Zabriskie, Crispin Glover, W. Morgan Sheppard, Sheryl Lee, and Sherilyn Fenn are all wonderful in smaller roles.
While certainly not for everyone, "Wild At Heart" is definitely one of the best relationship movies ever made. The movie's explicit violence and sex may turn off some viewers, but those with a strong enough stomach will be highly rewarded.
Movie Review: I'm making my lunch!
Summary: 5 Stars
WILD AT HEART on DVD. I've been waiting on this day for a long, long, long time.
The first time I saw this movie, I was floored. Few movies excel in creating such an atmosphere of heat and humid drama on screen so well (DO THE RIGHT THING & STRAY DOG come to mind). Mr. Lynch brings the raw, kinetic lives of Barry Gifford's characters to the screen in his own particular way & everything about this movie just screams rock and roll and dangerous things. The design of the film recalls elements of film noir, motorcycle and B-movies from the fifties and even a dusting of the gritty seventies. As for the cast? Diane Ladd can wear puke & fly on a broomstick with sparkling brilliance. Harry Dean Stanton ain't nothin' but a hound dog; Willem Dafoe, rivaled only by Dennis Hopper, draws a wicked flame of evil as Bobby Peru - his scene with Laura Dern is incredible; Nicolas Cage channels alot of the same power that E had & Laura Dern fills her red ruby slippers with a delicious, trailer trash sweetness. Marcello Santos, Drop Shadow, Reggie, Mr. Reindeer, Uncle Pooch - characters all, shipwrecked on planet Earth. If you enjoy film noir, trashy romances - then say no more - this is just the one for you. The DVD transfer looks spectacular, the extras are juicy and the only thing lacking would be a commentary track, I guess. But the movie is certainly good enough to speak for itself.
OK - in reference to another reviewer (ixta coytl) - David Lynch guilty of plagiarism? A dog with a hand in its mouth is most certainly, most definitely taken from YOJIMBO. So what, it doesn't warrant "borderline plagiarism"? At the end of GOODFELLAS, the very last image of Joe Pesci shooting at the screen is taken from a silent film called THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (Edwin S. Porter). GOODFELLAS is now an imitation of that film? Artists borrow and steal from each other constantly; the above examples are hardly suggesting plagiarism. Also, checking your characters into a motel isn't grounds for plagiarism either - even if it is from the great TOUCH OF EVIL. The "seedy motel" has a long tradition in films that fall under the genres of film noir, southern gothic or the classic road movie. Everyone needs to stop somewhere for the night sooner or later.
So, keep on kickin' (...) on the dance floor & tellin' EVERYONE what's on your almost perfect mind...
Movie Review: Deep as a basket full of snakes
Summary: 5 Stars
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
Movie Review: Sailor and Lula: Wild at Heart in the Lynch Universe.
Summary: 5 Stars
Wild at Heart is David Lynch at his creative best, but this film is not for everyone. Perhaps because they're afraid of Lynch, many critics panned this film upon its theatrical release. Based on Barry Gifford's novel Wild at Heart, and inspired by The Wizard of Oz, Lynch's 1990 film follows the adventures of a young, South Carolina couple, Sailor (Nicolas Cage) and Lula (Laura Dern) who, after Sailor's release from prison, decide to run away to California (Emerald City) to escape Lula's overbearing mother (Diane Ladd, Dern's real-lifemother). She hires a private detective, Johnnie Farragut (Harry Dean Stanton), to find the young lovers, along with a gangster goon (J.E. Freeman) to kill Sailor. Cage plays Sailor as a cross between Elvis Presley and James Dean. Picture him behind the wheel of a 1950s T-Bird convertible in a snakeskin jacket, his "personal symbol of individuality." Although Sailor and Lulu never make it to their destination, their love-rollercoaster of a road trip takes them down the yellow-brick road into the twisted Heart of Texas, which in this film just happens to be the very center of the Lynch Universe. Their journey together also reveals a few dark secrets along the way. Lynch's genius and unique energy are evident in every scene throughout this visionary film.
This edition of Wild at Heart features 5.1 surround sound, and 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. Other extras include "Love, Death, Elvis & Oz" (2004), a documentary on the film; interviews of the cast and crew; "Dell's Lunch Counter," a collection of nine separate mini-documentaries on various elements of the film like "Pigeons Spread Diseases," "Not Your Head-Head," "The Good Witch," and the Cannes victory.
G. Merritt