David Lynch's Wild At Heart got a new blu ray release this week.
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| "Is this what they meant by everybody Wang Chung?" |
Released
through independent distributor Twilight Time (whose business operation
consists of only pressing 3,000 copies of a particular title), David Lynch's
1990 Palme d'Or winner “Wild at Heart” finally makes it's US debut on Blu-ray.
Although
it remains to be seen whether or not this new disc meets Lynch's fastidious
technical standards, since it was pressed without his involvement (where he was
fully involved with the MGM DVD), Lynch's anarchic mixture of 'The Wizard of
Oz', mob violence and his own brand of the night life is a welcome edition to
the high definition format. Combine
Nicolas Cage's iconic scene chewing with Elvis Presley and Laura Dern's sexy
turn as a gum-chewing Marilyn Monroe and you've got Sailor and Lula, the framework
for the two leads in Oliver Stone's 'Natural Born Killers': Mickey and Mallory
Knox..
Is
the film a deliberate melodrama, a snarky self-satire of Lynch's recent success
with his TV show 'Twin Peaks', an exercise in ultra violent extremes, or just a
simple love story? It seems to be all at
once, with Lynch pushing the envelope of onscreen violence in ways that sent
early test-screening audiences racing for the exits. Its win of the Palme d'Or at the 1990 Cannes
Film Festival was overshadowed by heavy booing, led notably from film critic
Roger Ebert.
Many
David Lynch fans refer to it as their least favorite entry of his, as the
narrative seems anecdotal and incongruent to the story of Sailor and Lula. That said, it has some of the most over the
top and hilarious characters to grace a Lynch film, from Willem Dafoe's slimy
pornographer Bobby Peru to Crispin Glover's indescribable Dell. It's one of Lynch's most straightforward
mixtures of surrealism and satire, propelling a modern romance which achieves a
rare balance of sincerity and a sneaky undermining of thus.
-Andrew Kotwicki