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Brief Essays about Movies that Were Important to Me
Wild at Heart (1990)
Brief plot summary: After breaking parole for self defensive manslaughter, Sailor Ripley and his girlfriend Lula Fortune head down the highway for sunny California. Lula's mother sends out a private detective and a hitman after them. Sailor and Lula encounter an assortment of extremely bizarre "people" while discovering hidden secrets about one another. Full of lurid imagery and references to The Wizard of Oz. (from IMDb)
Directed by David Lynch, Wild at Heart came out in the glory days of Twin Peaks, the greatest television show of all time, which was also created by Lynch. I will be the first to admit that not all of Lynch's movies are great--sometimes weird-for-weird's sake does not work.
One weekend during my senior year in high school, I took a trip to see my cousin in Urbana, Illinois. She was also a Twin Peaks fan, so we were both very excited to see this movie. The ads for the film featured the slogan "Hotter'n Georgia asphalt," and that alone made us want to see it. But since we were totally in to David Lynch at the time, we HAD to see it. The theater was even selling "Hotter'n Georgia asphalt" t-shirts.
And what a rollercoaster ride this film is. It is creepy and raunchy and disturbing and hilarious and brutal and romantic. And it is weird. The opening scene features a scene of shockingly graphic violence that to this day leaves me a little shaken when I watch it.
What follows is a basic story of two star-crossed lovers who are just trying to be together. Nicolas Cage's character, Sailor, wears a snakeskin jacket -- "it's a symbol of my individuality, and my belief in personal freedom" -- and talks a bit like Elvis. Lula, played by Laura Dern, is a dirty dirty girl who loves Sailor and whose mother is trying to kill Sailor. Diane Ladd (Dern's real mother) was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her over-the-top psychotic turn.
As they flee private detectives and hitmen, Sailor and Lula enounter a whole mess of crazy folk, most memorably Bobby Peru, played with full-on creeposity by Willem Defoe. He must be seen to be believed.
Oh, and the end of the film involves The Good Witch of the North.
Did I mention that Wild at Heart is fucked up?
Other BEaMtWItM:
Raising Arizona / Dangerous Liaisons / The War of the Roses / The Mission
offered up to the world by CoachDub @ 5:03 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Is "fucked-up" usually hyphenated?
Thanks, Max. I had originally written that it is a "fucked-up film," which as a pre-noun adjective I thought worked better with a hyphen.
But then I thought the sentence was stronger if I just said that it is "fucked up," but I forgot to take out the hyphen.
Problem solved. Good eye. I'm glad that as your English teacher I taught you how to use obscenities properly.
Just out of curiousity, is "Mulholland Drive" one of those movies you classify as "weird-for-weird's sake"? I thought that was an excellent movie.
It's a good thing I didn't know you then!
Erik-- I do like Mulholland Drive quite a lot. One of the Lynch movies I do not like is Lost Highway.
Mom, you are one of the only people I can talk to about the glory of Twin Peaks.
Man I watched a little bit of "Jimminy Glick in Lalawood" last night and David Lynch had a really sweet cameo.
He seemed reaaaaly out there.
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