Friday Matinee

Wild at Heart

This whole world’s Wild at Heart and weird on top. David Lynch’s Palme d’Or winner is a psychotronic firestorm of love & passion fueled by one of the all-time great big-screen romances. Cinema just wouldn’t be the same if it weren’t for the vivid, sexually-charged pairing of Nicolas Cage at his most hyperbolic Cage-iest and Laura Dern at her most hot-blooded Dernsiest. It’s more than just a movie, Wild at Heart is an essential experience. Lynch’s followup to Blue Velvet is an exciting hallucinatory nightmare via neo noir outlaw thriller packed with bizarre details, memorable tangents, Elvis Presley songs, allusions to The Wizard of Oz and a myriad of untamed characters: Dern’s real-life mother Diane Ladd going totally bonkers (and garnering an Academy Award nomination), Willem Dafoe as a greasy hitman in dire need of a dentist, Harry Dean Stanton as a private dick, Crispin Glover playing mentally ill and more players from Lynch’s stable than you can point out (Isabella Rossellini, Sherilyn Fenn, Jack Nance & Sheryl Lee to start). Plus it’s funny, iconic and completely unforgettable. And Nicolas Cage looks fricking great in a snakeskin jacket.

“Starting with the outrageous and building from there, he ignites a slight love-on-the-run novel, creating a bonfire of a movie that confirms his reputation as the most exciting and innovative filmmaker of his generation.” – Peter Traers, Rolling Stone