By Melissa Antoinette Garza
A good friend from across the pond mentioned this flick a few days back. It’s one of my favorites and I haven’t seen it in awhile. It also is that friend’s birthday today so in celebration of my buddy Ian and in honor of David Lynch, I’m reviewing the cult masterpiece WILD AT HEART (1990).
WILD AT HEART showcases Nic Cage at his craziest, Laura Dern at her most sultry and Diane Ladd in her best performance ever.
The film begins with Sailor Ripley (Nicolas Cage) with his gal Lula (Laura Dern) at a party hosted by her mother Marietta Fortune (Diane Ladd). Marietta is wealthy and she hates Sailor. She doesn’t want Lula dating him and she’ll do anything to stop it. She lies and says that Sailor tried to fuck her in the bathroom. Really, it was the other way around and there’s another secret the two share involving the death of Lula’s father.
At the party, Sailor is charged by a guest with a knife and in self-defense he kills the assailant. Ripley goes to jail, but the moment he’s out Lula runs to him with his snakeskin jacket in hand. She’s a loyal and sexy fem. I love her.
Marietta tries to put a wrench in the affair every chance she gets. She works her beau Johnnie (Harry Dean Stanton) up by batting her eyes. He does his best, but is a diplomatic gent. Not satisfied with that type of resolution, she hires people to kill Sailor.
Meanwhile Sailor and Lula are hitting hotels and enjoying their reunion. Lula is a full goddess. She has some residual scars from childhood trauma, but her and Sailor balance each other out. Sailor is crazy. He has a narcissistic grandiose personality, but he wears it so well. He also genuinely loves Lula. He wants to tell her the truth about Marietta, but cares too much to do it. Together, he and Lula share remarkable heat. He plans to leave town and take her away. She’s on-board immediately, but before leaving they stop at a club. On the dance floor, their energetic lust is palpable. It doesn’t matter that they’ve screwed a thousand times before, the want in both of them is still fever-pitch. The intensity between the two is felt by the viewer at home.
Next, the film goes full Lynch! Sailor takes the mic and sings Elvis Presley’s Love Me (Treat Me Like a Fool) as Lula eats it up and fans can be heard screeching. Everyone is into it and honestly so am I. They leave the club, go home and share a few nice romps. The love scenes manage to be steamy, sensual, funny and endearing. It’s impossible not to root for the couple.
As Sailor and Lula face complications, Marietta descends further into madness. Her breakdown makes for one of the greatest scenes in movie history. It’s so over-the-top and campy yet somehow seems genuine and is expertly expressed. Ladd is just beyond words in this.
The entire cast is terrific. It’s one of the few flicks where I’m revolted by a character portrayed by Willem Dafoe and that’s a compliment. It’s difficult for me to find him unattractive. I think the man is gorgeous. Here, he plays a rapist shitbag that I’d like to see get run over by a car a few thousand times.
The supporting cast hits every mark, but no one does as well as the leads do. Both Dern and Cage are magic together. They’re such attractive people to begin with and beyond that they are magnificent actors. Cage’s fuck-the-world approach to his craft has never worked better. Dern’s fierce attitude and female prowess makes her a force to be reckoned with and a feminist icon of sexuality and strength. She brilliantly conveyed the multifaceted nature of femininity. She was nurturing, flirtatious, fun, wild, carefree and yet also ready-to-roll with the punches and fight if pushed. She cared beautifully for those she loved, but would also throw down to protect those she adored. I love it. The performance is nuanced, layered, deep and most importantly it stands the test of time. It isn’t aged by traditional etiquette or modern customs. It’s raw. It’s real and it’s fabulous.
I can’t suggest this baby enough though oddly it’s a hard find. Digitally, it’s nowhere. You have to buy the DVD/Blu-ray, but it’s worth it.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8.5/10
