Wild (2014)

Hot off of the fairly large success of last year's Dallas Buyers Club director Jean-Marc Vallée brings us another biographical drama movie that is, at least in part, a detailed character study based off of a true story. I was a big fan of Dallas Buyers Club but am pretty unfamiliar with the director's work otherwise so I was pretty excited to see what his next movie would be like. I must admit I was a little surprised to see him return so quickly and with another movie that has received lots of acclaim for its central performance (this time from previous Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon). Wild looked like a movie that had potential to be a true hard hitter and one that was as emotionally exhausting as it was intense as the events it portrays. The true story this movie is based on is something I am totally unfamiliar with so Wild was a totally blank slate when I went into it. While Wild may not be the emotional powerhouse movie I had in mind it definitely is a very good movie that tells a down-to-earth (although extremely small and intimate) story with flair and passion.

Wild is the true story about a woman named Cheryl Strayed who is at a very tough cross road in her life. Cheryl was a promising young woman whose life didn’t' quite turn out like she expected it to. She has gone down the road of experimenting with drugs and her relationships with family and friends are in shambles. One day it's almost as if a light goes on inside of her and she sets her mind on hiking a massive 1,000 mile trail in the western United States despite having absolutely zero wilderness, survival or hiking experience or training of any kind. It becomes quickly apparent that this expert-level hike is far beyond her abilities but she refuses to give up as this massive hike becomes a way for her to work out her issues internally and hopefully survive and move in the right direction in life when it is over. Wild is non-linear in a way and Cheryl's intense hike is inter-cut by constant flashbacks to major moments in her life as she reflects upon them. I think it's a great dynamic to work with and for the most part I think Wild does a pretty outstanding job of balancing nature-survival scenes with more dramatic, character-driven elements.

Perhaps I was expecting a bit more of a survival movie but it wasn't long into Wild where I realized there would be no massive scene or peril or glorious moment of overcoming the odds. Instead this is a much more tightly focused movie that takes Cheryl's entire journey in one big stride. The entire hike is an uphill battle for her and the things she experiences along the way somehow play into her past or where she wants her future to be. In that way Wild was a bit less intense than I was ultimately expecting. If you want a purely “A Perfect Storm” or “Life of Pi” type survival movie this probably isn't what you're looking for. As I previously stated Wild aims to tell a very intimate story and for the most part succeeds. Unfortunately Wild wasn't as exciting as I thought and because it was a more precisely focused film I felt that it lagged quite a bit in parts and could have told the same thematic story if it cut a few more corners (so to say). Overall Wild was very entertaining and somewhat emotional although I was a bit let down by its lack of peril (but that's entirely my fault for not realizing what this movie was really about).

Director Jean-Marc Vallée does a lot of the same things stylistically that he did with his previous film Dallas Buyers Club. Wild is very rugged looking and has a short of washed out color palate that gives everything a very “Earthy” atmosphere. This is beneficial to a lot of the scenery that is filmed in the movie and I think Wild is a very nice looking picture as a result. Also the editing and overall construction of the movie gives everything an almost surreal flair. Flashbacks aren't always led into or even direct. Sometimes just quick shots or images from Cheryl's memory are put on screen to a whispery voice-over or spliced together with seemingly random intent (but none of the details are left unexplained). In fact, I think this visual style may be my favorite part of the entire movie. It gives everything an almost otherworldly vibe and really feels like we are seeing the character's memories on screen. I really like how Wild looks and am interested to see what the talent behind the screen works on next.

So yes, Wild may not be the intense survival movie I was expecting but that shouldn't weigh too heavily on some of the other things I really liked about this movie. All of the performances are great here and since there are so few characters everybody is given a lot of time to shine. Reese Witherspoon plays Cheryl and this is one of her best roles to date. We usually see her in a sugary sweet female role but here her character has gone through some very serious things that are almost entirely self inflicted (has issues with controlling her sexual urges and is a heavy drug user, for example). It's a nice turn for Witherspoon who is always a joy to watch and she absolutely embodies the role in a believable way. Laura Dern plays her mother in flashbacks and stole my heart each time she was on screen. Not only is her character's story heart-wrenching but Dern is so good in the role it's almost impossible to remember that she's ever been in anything else. Lots of other side characters show up in flashbacks and through Cheryl's journey, each of them bringing something new to the table. I don't think there was a wasted moment in that sense.

Still, I feel like the extremely tight focus of the film overall makes Wild seem much smaller than I was hoping. Not only that but I don't think this movie ever reached a peak. While there were many emotional moments and the movie builds Cheryl's character well, I don't think Wild ever was so moving as to be incredibly poignant to me. I don't want to belittle the real life people this film is based on because clearly this story is a powerful one but I don't think it fully comes across in the film itself. Wild is entertaining for almost the entire run-time but it doesn't hit any striking highs as a drama or as a survival movie. When Wild was over I felt good to have taken the Journey with the characters but I realized it hadn't moved me to any great extent at all.

Wild is a very well made movie and features some fantastic performances (Reese Witherspoon is especially surprising in a more rugged role). It wasn't quite the dramatic powerhouse I think it could have been and it doesn't strive to be an epic, intense survival movie either. Wild is about as intimate as it gets. It is a character study and a personal reflection about one's place in the world and where this character wants to go. Wild may not have blown me away but I would be lying if I said it wasn't worth watching. There is a lot to love here and I think the talent involved should be watched closely as I foresee great things from them in the future.

7.5/10