Review of Wild at Heart (1990) by Nick O — 06 Jul 2010

Wild at Heart (1990) -- [8.5] -- David Lynch's surreal cinematic mash-up of love and depravity won the Cannes Film Festival's prestigious Palme d'Or. It's a simple story about two fierce lovers, Sailor and Lula (Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern) who try to keep their heads above water in a world gone, almost literally, to Hell.

The overt "Wizard of Oz" references serve as a constant reminder that you're watching a morality tale -- think Grimms', but with more doggy-style and exploding heads. The lack of subtlety may be pretentious, but it's interesting to see adult themes like redemption and sexual desire forced into fable.

Cage and Dern do great jobs, but Diane Ladd steals the show as Lula's insane mother, Marietta Fortune. It's a manic, mesmerizing, and frightening performance which earned Ladd an Oscar nomination.

Willem Dafoe is memorable as Bobby Peru, a creepy character with nubby teeth who coerces Lula and Sailor to indulge in their darkest desires. And in what may be the most bizarre scene in the film, Crispin Glover plays Lula's cousin Dell, a deranged young man who can't stop making sandwiches or putting cockroaches in his underwear.