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Wild At Heart on DVD (1991)

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Average rating: (71%)
1113312162058
3.5
 
Starring: Laura Dern | Nicolas Cage | Willem Dafoe | Isabella Rossellini | Harry Dean Stanton | Crispin Glover | Diane Ladd | Frances Bay | Sherilyn Fenn | Freddie Jones | David Patrick Kelly | Calvin Lockhart | John Lurie | Jack Nance | Grace Zabriskie | Sheryl Le
Director: David Lynch
Studio: UNIVERSAL PICTURES UK
Run time: 119 mins
Certificate: 18
User collections: Mind Meltingly Brilliant Films ! | wierd and wonderful | The films of David Lynch | Simian Mobile Disco's Simply Marvellous DVDs | Palme d'Or Winners
Genres: Drama
Languages: English
Released: 07/07/2003

Brief synopsis of Wild At Heart

In adapting Barry Gifford's colorful novel, David Lynch delivers another jolt of adrenaline to unsuspecting viewers everywhere. WILD AT HEART follows the troubled romance of Sailor (Nicolas Cage) and Lula (Laura Dern), two lovers who struggle to remain together even when fate seems intent on keeping them apart. In this case, fate is Lula's mother, Marietta Fortune (Diane Ladd), a desperate woman who hates Sailor and will do anything to keep him away from her daughter. After Sailor is released from prison for murdering a man albeit in self-defence he and Lula embark on a sex-filled, rocking road trip, aware that they are being hunted by one of Marietta's cronies. When they pull off the road in order to hide out in a small trailer park, Sailor befriends Bobby Peru (Willem Dafoe), an incredibly intense war veteran with a rotten set of teeth. Bobby convinces Sailor to help him rob a bank, much to Lula's objections (for she has discovered that she is pregnant). Sailor must decide if he wants to go straight and be there for his child or remain under Bobby's influence and risk returning to jail. Lynch's raucous film contains his trademark visual style, over-the-top dialogue, and pulsating soundtrack, creating another truly distinct picture.

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Critics Reviews

Rating of 4 stars out of 5 Radio Times

Director David Lynch goes over the top, over people's heads and somewhere over the psychedelic rainbow here in another ultra-violent and sleazily sexy pulp art attack. Forget the story; Lynch clearly has. Just follow convict and Elvis fan Nicolas Cage and his white trash girlfriend Laura Dern as they are pursued through the Deep South by her crazed mother's gumshoe lover. Stuffed with the Sultan of Strange's transfixing brand of deranged visuals, haunting weirdness and exuberant camp, it's another hip and hypnotic rollercoaster ride through the twin peaks of pretentiousness and exhilaration.

Rating of 2 stars out of 4 Halliwell's Film Guide

Over-ripe acting, violent action, and a melodramatic plot combine to produce the cinematic equivalent of Grand Guignol. It won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1990.

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Members Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

Rated - 5 starsSimply fantastic

blunderwood from East Sussex , 05/02/2004

I took two unsuspecting friends to see this film at the cinema. When it finished I laughed for 20 minutes non-stop. My friends said nothing.

This is a David Lynch Tour de Force. It starts with Nicolas Cage smashing a guy's head in to the sound of heavy metal. That's a warning to the faint hearted to leave now or else. Then there's sex, violence, crime, Elvis impressions, jealousy, envy, deception, more violence, the Wizard of Oz and the open road.

Great performance from Laura Dern and Willem Dafoe as the ugliest man on the planet.

Possibly my favourite David Lynch movie... if there weren't so many good ones to choose from.

  12 out of 13 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 starsEntertaining David Lynch Movie

Noel Clay from Bromsgrove, England , 02/04/2004

This film came out around the same as Twin Peaks made David Lynch a household name. I'm not a HUGE fan of his early work, but as a general rule anything by Lynch is worth seeing at least once.

It stars the brilliant Nicolas Cage as ex-convict Sailor, who is obsessively in love with Lula (Laura Dern). The two of them set out on a road trip to escape from Lula's evil mother and her croneys, and plenty of Lynch-style weirdness ensues. To top it all off there are numerous references to 'Wizard of Oz' in the story.

It's not an easy film to watch -- lots of violence, gore and unsettling scenes as you'd expect from this director, and most of them don't really add anything to the film. Nevertheless, there's some great stuff here and I'd definitely recommend it to Lynch fans.

  12 out of 14 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 3 stars

Roland#4 from HAYLING ISLAND , 24/05/2004

If you know David Lynch's work then this will be very familiar territory. A little too familiar in fact, this often comes across as a series of recycled or re-interpreted moments from Twin Peaks, not quite as effective the second time round. But, although it doesn't really work as a whole, there are more than enough individual scenes and excellent performances to keep you entertained. Dern is tremendously trashy and the ever reliable Defoe is particularly grotesque.

Amongst the shocking violence and black humour, highlights include a brilliant "head blown off with shotgun" moment that is worth the rental by itself.

  5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsWild!

harley1 from Greater London , 07/04/2004

If you like Lynch this film is going to rock your world and I am certain that even if you don't like Lynch, you will love this film!

There's no lack of action, desire or violence as Lula (Dern) and Sailor (Cage) weave a story of love so tainted, yet enchantingly pure it's maddening. There's no lack of red lips, painted nails or great tunes in this trip through wonderland.

  5 out of 6 people found this review helpful
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