Wild (Jean-Marc Vallée)

[Ezee E]

IMDB

[Ezee E]

Been there, done that.

Wild is truly a Telluride film in that it features nature and a journey. Recent examples include Tracks, Into the Wild, 127 Hours, all of which did it better. Wild has something going for it, which is the encounters a single female has while hiking alone, and the creepiness that it can lead to. Tracks didn't have this, as there simply wasn't anyone around except for the man helping her out. Almost every occasion leads to some unease at first, and I'd like to hear some female thoughts on this.

But other than that, Reese Witherspoon doesn't really give too much to a character that we've already seen in many instances.

[Pop Trash]

Even the female angle was done before in Wendy & Lucy, although it's pretty clear Wendy is going on a 'journey' because of poverty, not because of some self-actualization which makes the film that much more powerful.

[Ezee E]

Even the female angle was done before in Wendy & Lucy, although it's pretty clear Wendy is going on a 'journey' because of poverty, not because of some self-actualization which makes the film that much more powerful.

One of the better scenes in the movie is when a journalist interviews Reese with the assumption that she's a hobo, rather then the hike she's embarking on.

[Irish]

This was really quite extraordinary. The nearest analogue is Eat, Pray, Love, I guess, but the material here isn't self indulgent in the way that film was.

I loved the patch-work, calico editing. It did a great job of communicating what was going on in Cheryl's head in a movie that doesn't have a lot of dialogue.

Witherspoon is perfect and low key and keeps rhythm with the material. The tone here never wavers. I liked the way the movie doesn't depend too heavily on big swings. There are no dramatic highs and lows, just pages out of one person's life. And yet the woman at the start of the film and the woman at the end of the film feel vastly different.

I hope like hell this pulls a few Oscar noms. It deserves it.

[MadMan]

I haven't seen any of the other movies you guys have mentioned. I doubt viewing them will affect how much I liked this movie.

[dreamdead]

I loved the patch-work, calico editing. It did a great job of communicating what was going on in Cheryl's head in a movie that doesn't have a lot of dialogue.

Yeah, the editing (and script structure?) here really elevate a narrative without much progression. The film spreads out Dern's typically excellent work so that the actual sparseness of it isn't apparent; she anchors Cheryl's actions even though she's only in about 10 minutes of the film. Witherspoon is more of a blank, but eh.

Otherwise, the film explores movement/stasis, and while those aren't new themes, I think that this genre can stand to have more than just Wendy and Lucy as part of the female study of this template. I like that the film occupies Cheryl's headspace enough that pretty much every male she encounters is treated as a threat, and then it's up to each individual to undercut that expectation. Really lovely coda too.

[Grouchy]

I love Jean-Marc Vallée's directing and editing style. I wasn't completely enamored with this for some reason, though. Maybe I just found it too similar to better films like Into the Wild and Wendy and Lucy. But it's a solid drama. The highlights are Laura Dern's scenes - she's one of the most extraordinary actresses of all time.

Another detail I loved was how El Condor Pasa was spread through the film. IIRC, it never played as a fully formed part of the soundtrack until the end.