(USA, 120
min.)
Dir.
Jean-Marc Vallée, Writ. Nick Hornby
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Thomas Sadowski,
Gaby Hoffman.
 |
| Reese Witherspoon stars in Wild. Photo courtesy of TIFF. |
“God is a ruthless bitch,” writes Cheryl Strayed (Reese
Witherspoon) as she makes her mark in one of the many trail logs she signs
whilst hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in Wild.
Cheryl’s smart, snappy epigraph joins a roster of quotes from famous cultural figures—Walt
Whitman, Emily Dickenson, Joni Mitchell—to mark her journey, but it’s Strayed’s
own words that best summarize her adventure. Wild is, after all, based on Strayed’s best-selling,
Oprah-endorsed, and exceptionally-powerful book, so it’s fitting that this
page-to-screen adventure lets the author leave her mark on the world with her
own words as part of the journey. Make no mistake, though: Wild is an utterly cinematic ride. This is how you do a great
adaptation.
Every ounce of power, honesty, humour, and insight from
Strayed’s book comes intensely to life thanks to the terrifically focused
screenplay by Nick Hornby (screenwriter of An
Education and author himself of High
Fidelity, A Long Way Down, etc.)
and the kaleidoscopic vision of Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée (Café de flore, Dallas Buyers Club). Wild
is a powerful journey, a transformative one, as the film pieces Strayed’s life
and story together in one solid portrait. Wild
vividly realizes Strayed’s rich, clear prose every step of the way.
Wild, just as
Strayed does in her book, hooks the viewer from its intense and visceral
opening scene. Cheryl is in the midst of her hike—bruised, battered, and
suffering from broken toenails—when she loses one of her undersized boots to
the rocky ravine and, in a moment of fatigued restlessness, she hurls the other
boot into the horizon, drops an F-bomb, and screams into the wild. The scene is
a stark, funny, and captivating lead into the story it frames.
At the forefront of this journey is Witherspoon’s
note-perfect turn as Strayed. (The author herself actually makes a cameo
appearance as the truck driver who first brings Cheryl to the
PCT.) Witherspoon completely deglamourizes for the role as she walks the trail
with nary an ounce of make-up—save for dirt, cuts, and bruises—and every small
crease on her face and each bag under her eyes lends a wealth of authority and
experience to this performance. Wild offers
an intense physical role, yet Witherspoon matches the emotional demands of the
performance just as impressively as she walks the line of the PCT lugging
Cheryl’s comically oversized backpack. (Yes, Wild fans: Monster makes the cut!)
Witherspoon, at a youthful 38, fits the role just right
playing Strayed at the age of 27 when she embarks on her quest in 1995 and in
earlier years during Strayed’s young adulthood in school and at home with her
mother, Bobbi (Laura Dern). Witherspoon brings a spunkiness to the role that
feels like the perfect incarnation of Strayed’s lucid and accessible voice.
Cheryl’s ineffable likability as she hikes the PCT makes the jarring flashbacks
to the episodes of drug abuse, promiscuity, and overall recklessness that
precede her journey doubly effective as Witherspoon creates Cheryl both lost
and found. She throws herself into the role with remarkable abandon. Simply
put, Wild offers one of the best
performances of Witherspoon’s career.
Dern is equally memorable in her turn as Bobbi. Bobbi
appears mostly in flashing, flighty shards that punctuate Cheryl’s journey, yet
the warmth, spirit, and lust for life that Dern brings to this performance
makes Bobbi an implied presence throughout much of the film. Even when Bobbi
appears only in fleeting images, one feels her spirit even when she isn’t in
the frame. This aspect of Wild is
essential and part of the adaptation’s success since Hornby’s meticulously
crafted script delays much of Cheryl’s reminiscences of her mother’s fight with
cancer and uses Bobbi’s spirit to motivate and move Cheryl during the final
stretch of her journey.
The real star of Wild,
despite the greatness of the performances and the strength of the screenplay,
might be the phenomenal tapestry of the editing that brings the film to life.
Vallée cuts the film under the pseudonym John Mac McMurphy (as he did for Dallas Buyers Club) and partners again
with collaborator Martin Pensa, and their work from the editing room is a jolt
of life. Quick flashes and fragments are interspersed throughout the film as Wild deftly cuts between past
and present. The rapid-fire associative editing conveys Cheryl’s motivation for
undertaking this personal odyssey and blurs past and present as her memories
prompt her along the way.
The delicate dance with Bobbi is a highlight of the cutting,
as is the richly symbolic fox that watches over Cheryl on the PCT, but there’s
clearly a higher level of artistry behind the bracing tempo of Wild. The actions, sounds, and images
are so precisely choreographed and cut together that multiple shots, settings,
and temporalities align with fluid skill. Ample credit is equally due to DP
Yves Bélanger, who makes sumptuously warming use of the natural light and
landscape, plus the incredible soundtrack that complements the energy and
catharsis of Witherspoon’s lively performance. The pulse of Wild is thrilling. Wild, in its own way, is
a ruthless bitch of a film, for it is bold, visceral, and almost physical in
its ability to move you.
Rating: ★★★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Wild screens:
-Monday, Sept. 8 at 9:00 pm at Roy Thomson Hall
-Tuesday, Sept. 9 at 11:30 am at the VISA Screening Room
-Friday, Sept. 12 at 3:00 pm at the Princess of Wales
Theatre.
Please visit www.tiff.net
for more information on this year’s festival.
Update: Wild opens in Ottawa on Dec. 19.
Update: Wild opens in Ottawa on Dec. 19.
*Check back for a feature interview with Jean-Marc Vallée and Laura Dern!*