Review of Wild at Heart (1990) by Sabra E — 07 Dec 2010

What a cast of players in this one! Rossellini and Zabriskie as unibrowed psychopaths, Dafoe as an orthodontically challenged pervo psychopath, Ladd as lipstick-masked harpy psychopath, even Glover as an anal roach molesting jittery psychopath. Wild at Heart could've easily been named Psychopaths versus Lovers, or CooCoo Roadtrip, or Hitman Circus...but that would be too stupid; this is surely no B-movie--it's classic Lynch, with as much narrative as you can stand without having to put everything together from pieces of dreams, hallucinations, flashbacks, etc.

Wild at Heart is very much a love story of two wild kids running away, smoking cigarettes and lusting one another 24/7. Their outfits are magnificent, their metal head-banging/love for Elvis ballads charming, and their chemistry--a smoking ten. I have to give this movie credit, though I had to look away for some of the more intense scenes, it's a solid, stirring ride, and definitely trademark Lynch: the most unique filmmaker around.