{"id":8805,"date":"2014-06-11T16:43:09","date_gmt":"2014-06-11T20:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=8805"},"modified":"2014-06-11T16:47:38","modified_gmt":"2014-06-11T20:47:38","slug":"br-wild-at-heart-1990","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=8805","title":{"rendered":"BR: Wild at Heart (1990)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"WildAtHeart1990_BR\"<\/a>Film<\/strong>: Good<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: Very Good\/ Extras<\/strong>: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong>Twilight Time<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong> All<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0April 8, 2014<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong> \u00a0Suspense \/ Noir \/ Black Comedy<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0Freshly released from prison, Sailor reunites with forbidden love Lula, and the pair trek across state lines, evading a detective and a vicious killer sent after them by Lula’s possessive momma.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Isolated Stereo Music & Effects Track \/ 2004: \u201cLove, Death, Elvis & Oz: The Making of Wild at Heart\u201d (29:30) \/ 1990 Making-of EPK (6:54) \/ 2004: \u201cDell\u2019s Lunch Counter\u201d \u2013 10 Extended Interviews (21:01) \/ 2004: Director Featurette: \u201cSpecific Spontaneity: Focus on David Lynch\u201d (7:11) \/ 2004: David Lynch on the DVD \/ 2004: Publicity Still Motion Gallery with music (2:09) \/ Original Theatrical Trailer \/ 4 TV Spots \/ 8-page colour booklet with liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo \/ Limited to 3000 copies \/ Available exclusively from Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Originally intending to produce a film version of Barry Gifford\u2019s novel, \u00a0David Lynch moved into the director’s chair after becoming enamored by the story of Sailor and Lula, two oddballs on the run from Lula\u2019s mother because of their forbidden love and determination to preserve their \u2018individuality.\u2019<\/p>\n

Lynch reportedly shot the bulk of the book\u2019s dialogue, changed the ending to ensure the characters remained together (this was a love story, after all), and added oddball references to The Wizard of Oz<\/strong>. Lynch also saw Sailor and Lula as Elvis and Marilyn Monroe, so Nicholas Cage ran with the concept and delivered another high-pitched performance as an Elvis-like character (who also croons two of The King\u2019s songs), while Laura Dern dove into the role of a perpetually horny Lula, always running a few degrees above the hottest day in the desert. The casting of Dern\u2019s mother Diane Ladd was another coup, as the actress transformed Lula’s mother, Marietta, into a 3-D monster, and the cast was supported by a plethora of skilled character actors and bit parts with the kind of oblique functionality found in Lynch\u2019s hit TV series that same year, Twin Peaks<\/strong> [TP].<\/p>\n

When Wild at Heart<\/strong> emerged in theatres with laurels from winning the Palm d\u2019Or at Cannes, there were high expectations that it would somehow be an even more extreme showcase for Lynch\u2019s innate weirdness from TP. One could say fans were divided between those who welcomed Lynch\u2019s raunchy, profane, sometimes gory noir road movie \u2013 the original theatrical trailer neatly spliced together the shock shots with heavy metal music in a brilliant campaign \u2013 and others expecting a storyline as eerie and surreal as TP.<\/p>\n

Not unlike Steven Spielberg who franchised his suburban wonderment from the hit film E.T. \u2013 The Extra-Terrestrial<\/strong> (1982) to movies (Poltergeist<\/a><\/strong>, *batteries not included<\/strong>, Young Sherlock Holmes<\/strong>) and TV (Amazing Stories<\/strong>) productions, Lynch exploited his brief fling with mainstream popularity by producing and directing projects that either bore his imprimatur, or were directly helmed by himself.<\/p>\n

WAH occurred at the tip of this brief wave, after which the director made Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me <\/strong>(1992) to show in graphic nightmarish detail what happened to TP\u2019s Laura Palmer; he resuscitated his performance art piece\u00a0Industrial Symphony No. 1<\/strong> (1990) for a videotape release featuring music and vocals by TP\u2019s composer Angela Badalamenti and singer Julee Cruise, respectively; and produced the deadpan, golden age of TV satire On the Air <\/strong>(1992).<\/p>\n

On the Air <\/strong>was an unfunny dud and the full series was never broadcast, and Industrial Symphony No. 1<\/strong> was just too weird and cheap looking for those hooked on TP, the soundtrack album, and Cruise\u2019s own solo song CD. Fire<\/strong> was a creative disaster, but there are some striking similarities as to why audiences hooked on TP the series were befuddled by its spin-off film and WAH.<\/p>\n

Both feature films have a long and meandering first third in which the introduced characters don\u2019t do anything significant and prolong the actual middle where stories finally shift into gear, allowing Lynch to needle drop little bits of odd one-time characters which either add colour and texture; or gradually figure into the finale where there\u2019s an almost cathartic release for the characters after being dragged into sleazy, violent endeavors.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the biggest issue with WAH resides in two leading characters driving from place to place, remaining almost shrill in spirit and sexuality, and are fundamentally annoying in part because the best dialogue is often spoken by secondary and bit characters. The pair may have been designed as one-note characters and riffs on pop culture icons which Lynch used to comment on the era\u2019s most violent news items, but it takes a long time before enough small characters leave their mark and affect the couple’s safety, and the hunters get closer to their sexed-up targets.<\/p>\n

WAH is essentially a novel distilled into a cinematic graphic novel, but lacking taut pacing and winnowed dialogue scenes after some needed pruning. It also demands an acceptance of Cage and Dern evoking Elvis and Monroe and little else, even though Lula does periodically tell her love a story from her troubled past.<\/p>\n

Fans would (and can successfully) argue the extreme nature of the performances and shrill sexual behaviour are faithful to Gifford\u2019s novel and are more vivid extrapolations of Lynch\u2019s own odd characters from TP (themselves barking, screwing, teasing, and turning cherry stems into pretzels with their tongues), but even if the couple are to be accepted as lovable idiots, they pale when placed beside Cage\u2019s beloved moron \u2018Hi\u2019 in the Coen brothers\u2019 Raising Arizona<\/strong> (1987) \u2013 itself a chase \/ road movie with its own combustible finale where hunter \/ assassin Smalls (Randall \u2018Tex\u2019 Cobb) explodes just as shockingly as Bobby Peru\u2019s head is bisected, rebounds off a building, and sloshes to the ground in WAH. Peru (brilliantly played by Willem Dafoe) may not have been able to sustain further scenes, but he\u2019s a more interesting figure than Sailor.<\/p>\n

Most likely WAH will remain one of Lynch\u2019s most divisive films, but perhaps the reason it pales when placed besides his second collaboration with Gifford, Lost Highway<\/strong> (1997), and Mulholland Drive<\/strong> (2001) is due to there being too few hypnotic moments and recurring surreal material in the first third; the Wizard of\u00a0Oz<\/strong> references, for example, \u00a0are poor substitutes for Lynch\u2019s pure surrealism in spite of being part of the film\u2019s major motifs.<\/p>\n

(In fairness, Mulholland<\/strong> was expanded from a fully scripted TV pilot that was rejected by network ABC, and Lost Highway<\/strong> builds to a sudden out-of-body swap that pivots the film and its central character towards a different and more nightmarish direction, but WAH has a jumbled quality which doesn\u2019t fade until Sailor and Lula are driving at night, and the film changes from candy-coloured day material to the creepy darkness where Lynch tends to pull out his creepy figures.)<\/p>\n

WAH does have some standout small characters, with Bobby Peru and his rotting stump teeth being the top draw. Grace Zabriskie\u2019s Juana Durango \u2013 first seen almost in monochrome behind a veil like The Elephant Man<\/strong> (which Lynch directed in 1980) – is a woman of few words, and she’s terrifying when tormenting Marietta\u2019s private eye boyfriend Johnnie (Harry Dean Stanton) before his his life is extinguished.<\/p>\n

Excellent sequences include Johnnie\u2019s death, and Peru\u2019s \u2018seduction\u2019 of Lula, during which Lynch cuts from a static wide shot to brutal close-ups as Sailor\u2019s love is tormented by Peru\u2019s man-handling and verbal taunts. Ladd\u2019s \u2018red face\u2019 scene is a bizarre eruption of rage and self-loathing (and was actually crafted by the actress), whereas TP actress Sherilyn Fenn has a small cameo as a car crash victim unaware the stickiness on her head comes from brain leakage; and fellow TP actress Sheryl Lee appears as a Good Witch in a very poofy costume with big curly hair. Veteran British character actor Freddie Jones (also an Elephant Man<\/strong> alumnus) has a memorable eenie-weenie role as a parrot-squawking jazz fan, and to match Perdita’s lineage to mother Juana Durango, Isabella Rossellini is given a thick monkey-brow and yellow hair.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Blu-ray & Extras<\/strong><\/p>\n

Twilight Time\u2019s Blu-ray marks the film\u2019s first North American release on Blu, replicating the extras from MGM\u2019s 2004 DVD. Included are a half-hour making-of doc, 1990 EPK, short interview extensions, publicity materials\u2026 which of course begs the question among fans: is this edition of WAH uncut?<\/p>\n

Sadly, no, and that seems to be a problem tied to the DVD masters being made from a print newly struck (in 2004) by MGM for the DVD release. Like the laserdisc edition, it\u2019s the theatrical cut where Bobby Peru\u2019s head \u2013 flying off from a self-inflicted gunshot \u2013 is partially obfuscated by a flash and smoke. There are reports<\/a> panned & scanned cable TV airings featured the uncut version, and there\u2019s an A\/B comparison<\/a> which shows the differences between the U.S. and German DVD releases of which the latter contains the \u2018uncut\u2019 edition.<\/p>\n

Lynch supervised the 2004 transfer (the DVD and TT\u2019s BR feature a short blurb by Lynch on the transfer) but he\u2019s shown little interest in producing a proper special edition for WAH. TT\u2019s release provides us with most of the best of both worlds: a proper albeit older HD transfer that\u2019s fine, a still vibrant 2.0 and new 5.1 sound mixes, and all those DVD extras which MGM used to make for their own Special Edition DVDs but fully ignored for their own budget-line BR release of films, like Escape from New York<\/strong> (1981).<\/p>\n

Should Lynch ever consider revisiting the film, fans would certainly demand a new 4K transfer, and archiving properly mastered deleted scenes (about 75 mins. worth) which Lynch included as a Bonus Disc in his limited (and now out of print) Lime Green DVD set<\/a>.<\/p>\n

TT managed to include a stereo isolated music & effects track, but as the Publicity Stills Motion Galley reveals in the edited music montage, there are surviving music stems of Angelo Badalamenti\u2019s score; for the time being, however, fans will have to settle for the BR\u2019s music & effects stems and the short soundtrack album which favoured a lot of source songs and classical music rather than original score.<\/p>\n

Films adapted from Gifford\u2019s Sailor and Lula novels include Wild at Heart<\/strong> (1990) Perdita Durango \/ Dance with the Devil<\/a><\/strong> (1997). Gifford also wrote the screenplays to episodes of the Lynch-produced Hotel Room<\/strong> (1993), City of Ghosts<\/strong> (2002), Ball Lightning<\/strong> (2003), and You Can\u2019t Win<\/strong> (2014). Gifford also appeared in The Phantom Father<\/strong> (2012), adapted from his short story.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2014 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> —\u00a0IMDB \u00a0<\/a>— \u00a0Soundtrack Album<\/a>\u00a0 — \u00a0Composer Filmography<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally intending to produce a film version of Barry Gifford\u2019s novel, David Lynch moved into the director’s chair after becoming enamored by the story of Sailor and Lula, two oddballs on the run from Lula\u2019s mother because of their forbidden love and determination to preserve their \u2018individuality\u2019…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[829,2761,1267,2764,2763,2762],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-2i1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8805"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8805"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9079,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8805\/revisions\/9079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}