"Wild At Heart" remains true to its name. All the characters are driven by wildness. Wildness is the fine thread that runs through the course of the movie, binds the characters together, lurks behind the scenes, and tightens round events. Wildness is the one ring that rules them all.
While sometimes free to reveal this wildness and at other times conceal it, characters appear frequently on the edge. Although most performances are good or at least satisfactory, they still run the risk of being over-the-top.
There happen to be quiet a few villains in this film. But none of them reaches any way near Dennis Hopper's Frank Booth in Lynch's masterpiece "Blue Velvet". Booth's dominance, his nasty presence could be felt anywhere and everywhere in the picture. He alone can be compared with legendary modern villains like Anothany Hopkins' Dr. Hannibal Lecter in Silence Of The Lambs".
There are just so many references to "The Wizard Of Oz", one may even consider this film to be a bizarre post-modern "remake" of the original musical classic. Very much in David Lynch's line. In his own creative fashion, he successfully employs the well-known allegory about Emerlad City to make his point. Brilliant.
Whether silhouetted against the void of the day or luminous opposite the dark of the night, the Wicked Witch evokes not only terror, but also understanding of the characters' situation.
Lynch has the good sense not to use Oz as a subplot however. It sort of hovers above the main feature like a "superplot". In the sense that it not only helps unfold the story so far, but also provides room for some wild guess at the direction it may take on the yellow brick road.
The only unconvincing import from the merry old land of Oz was the good witch. But then, I was never much impressed by the original one in the first place. She was, I used to tell myself, a necessary evil, like so many things in our real world. So unlike Oz.
While sometimes free to reveal this wildness and at other times conceal it, characters appear frequently on the edge. Although most performances are good or at least satisfactory, they still run the risk of being over-the-top.
There happen to be quiet a few villains in this film. But none of them reaches any way near Dennis Hopper's Frank Booth in Lynch's masterpiece "Blue Velvet". Booth's dominance, his nasty presence could be felt anywhere and everywhere in the picture. He alone can be compared with legendary modern villains like Anothany Hopkins' Dr. Hannibal Lecter in Silence Of The Lambs".
There are just so many references to "The Wizard Of Oz", one may even consider this film to be a bizarre post-modern "remake" of the original musical classic. Very much in David Lynch's line. In his own creative fashion, he successfully employs the well-known allegory about Emerlad City to make his point. Brilliant.
Whether silhouetted against the void of the day or luminous opposite the dark of the night, the Wicked Witch evokes not only terror, but also understanding of the characters' situation.
Lynch has the good sense not to use Oz as a subplot however. It sort of hovers above the main feature like a "superplot". In the sense that it not only helps unfold the story so far, but also provides room for some wild guess at the direction it may take on the yellow brick road.
The only unconvincing import from the merry old land of Oz was the good witch. But then, I was never much impressed by the original one in the first place. She was, I used to tell myself, a necessary evil, like so many things in our real world. So unlike Oz.
