Wild at Heart (1990)

Directed by

David Lynch

Genre

drama film, comedy film, crime film, thriller film, romance film, black comedy film

Country

United States

Runtime

2h

Rated

R

Rating

7.0 of 10 from 1,927 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A young couple, Sailor and Lula, flee across the American South to escape her controlling mother and the hitmen sent after them. Their road trip is a wild mix of passionate love, brutal violence, and strange encounters.

romanticviolentoffbeatintensesurrealdarkly humorouschaoticsexually charged

What happens

Wild at Heart is a 1990 American Southern Gothic black comedy romantic crime film written and directed by David Lynch, based on the 1989 novel of the same name by Barry Gifford. Starring Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe, Crispin Glover, Diane Ladd, Isabella Rossellini, and Harry Dean Stanton, the film follows Sailor Ripley and Lula Fortune, a young couple who go on the run from Lula's domineering mother and the criminals she hires to kill Sailor. Lynch intended only to produce the film, but after reading Gifford's book, he decided to write and direct it as well. He disliked the ending of the novel and decided to change it to fit his vision of the main characters. The film is noted for its allusions to The Wizard of Oz and Elvis Presley. Early test screenings for the film were poorly received, with Lynch's decision not to cut some violent scenes of his film and estimating that at least 200 people walked out due to its graphic content. Wild at Heart won the Palme d'Or at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival, which at the time was considered a controversial decision. The film was theatrically released in the United States on August 17, 1990, to polarized reviews from critics and grossed $14 million against its $10 million budget, considering it a box-office disappointment. It also received numerous accolades including an Academy Award nomination to Ladd. The film has been positively reevaluated by critics in the years since its release. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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