Wild (2014)

Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée
Produced by Bruna Papandrea, Bill Pohlad, Reese Witherspoon
Screenplay by Nick Hornby
Based on "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail" by Cheryl Strayed
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Thomas Sadoski, Michiel Huisman, Gaby Hoffmann
Cinematography: Yves Bélanger
Edited by John Mac McMurphy, Martin Pensa
Production companies: Pacific Standard, River Road Entertainment, TSG Entertainment
Distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release date: 19 December 2014 (United States)
Running time: 115 minutes
Country: United States
Budget: $15 million
Box office: $52.5 million

"Wild" is a biographical drama film directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and based on Cheryl Strayed's 2012 memoir "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail". The story is about a woman who decided to find herself by a 1,100-mile solo hike.

Cast

• Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl Strayed
• Bobbi Lindstrom as Young Cheryl (the real-life daughter of Cheryl Strayed)
• Laura Dern as Barbara "Bobbi" Grey, Cheryl's mother
• Thomas Sadoski as Paul
• Keene McRae as Leif
• Michiel Huisman as Jonathan
• W. Earl Brown as Frank, a farmer who Cheryl asks for food
• Gaby Hoffmann as Aimee
• Kevin Rankin as Greg
• Brian Van Holt as the ranger in Mount Hood National Forest who opens the store for Cheryl after it was closed
• Cliff DeYoung as Ed
• Mo McRae as Jimmy Carter
• Jan Hoag as Annette
• Charles Baker as TJ
• Jason Newell as Ronald Nylund
• Ray Buckley as Joe
• Cathryn de Prume as Stacy Johnson
• Evan O'Toole as Kyle
• Anne Gee Byrd as Vera
• Randy Schulman as Cheryl's therapist
• Anne Sorce as Bobbi's nurse in the hospital
• Matt Pascua as Wayne
• Art Alexakis as the tattoo artist

First of all, I want to say that I found the film in due time, in my turning-point when everything seemed artificial, moss-grown and needless. So for me "Wild" has become my breath of fresh air which helped me to reflect.

Jean-Marc Vallée is known to me for his works like "Café de Flore" and "Dallas Buyers Club". His "Wild" impressed me, I make no secret of this fact, but I was waiting for something more. Yes, I liked the way the story goes: a viewer sees today's Cheryl and her memories that really hurt her whether it be her family, her husband, her love affairs or her drug addiction. However I wasn't fully imbued: maybe it would be better to show more emotional experience of the main character?

I've recently realised that Reese Witherspoon is one of my favourite actresses. I believe her emotions, her silence, her actions - her acting, in a word. As for her Cheryl, I saw her character's doubts and mistakes which overfilled her head. And I also want to note scenes of the trip: a desert, a heat and the flaming sun aren't the best conditions for filming.

Advantages

• Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl Strayed
• Laura Dern as Barbara "Bobbi" Grey, Cheryl's mother
• The motivating story

Disadvantages

• Not all Cheryl's mistakes are explained

"Strangenesses"

• Running from the past isn't a right decision

Clue Moments

• Memories
• Power of will

When you don't know what to do probably the right decision will be to begin again? But it's better to introspect and find yourself on you own. It isn't necessary to go off on a long and dangerous journey but it's worth to go out from comfort zone as only this way you come across the difficulty and develop yourself. The past teaches however it mustn't become the present or the future: just draw a conclusion and move on. It's important to mention than changes don't exist without pain; and pain isn't always bad - it can be... cleaning and essential.

Soundtracks

1. Simon & Garfunkel - El Condor Pasa (If I Could)
2. First Aid Kit - Walk Unafraid
3. Wings - Let 'em In
4. The Shangri-Las - I Can Never Go Home Anymore
5. Leonard Cohen - Suzanne
6. Billy Swan - Don't Be Cruel
7. Free - Be My Friend (BBC Session / Take 1)
8. Lucinda Williams - Something About What Happens When We Talk
9. Portishead - Glory Box
10. Bruce Springsteen - Tougher Than The Rest
11. Pat Metheny Group - Are You Going With Me?
12. The Hollies - The Air That I Breathe
13. Simon & Garfunkel - Homeward Bound
14. Dusted & Eric D. Johnson - Ripple
15. Evan O'Toole - Red River Valley

Quotations

* * *

Cheryl: What if I forgave myself? I thought. What if I forgave myself even though I'd done something I shouldn't have? What if I was a liar and a cheat and there was no excuse for what I'd done other than because it was what I wanted and needed to do? What if I was sorry, but if I could go back in time I wouldn't do anything differently than I had done? What if I'd actually wanted to fuck every one of those men? What if heroin taught me something? What if yes was the right answer instead of no? What if what made me do all those things everyone thought I shouldn't have done was what also had got me here? What if I was never redeemed? What if I already was?

* * *

Stacey: You get lonely?
Cheryl: Honestly? I'm lonelier in my real life than I am out here. I miss my friends, of course, but it's not as if I have anybody waiting for me at home. How about you?
Cheryl: Why are you here?
Stacey: I don't know. I just need to find something in myself, you know? I think the trail was good for that. I mean, look.
[They look up at the sunset]
Stacey: This has the power to fill you up again, if you'll let it.
Cheryl: My mother used to say something that drove me nuts. There is a sunrise and a sunset every day and you can choose to be there for it. You can put yourself in the way of beauty.
Stacey: My kind of woman.

* * *

Cheryl: "If your Nerve, deny you - Go above your Nerve" - EMILY DICKINSON and Cheryl Strayed.

* * *

Bobbi: I've always been someone's daughter or mother or wife. I never got to be in the driver's seat of my own life.

* * *

Cheryl: How wild it was, to let it be.

* * *

Bobbi: We're rich in love.

* * *

Cheryl: Denying wounds where his strength came. Denying his wounds were from from the same source as its power.

* * *

Cheryl: Ash body. I prefer the ashes of the body. Soft and silver. As a pale light falling to earth.

* * *

Saleswoman: The best lipstick does not help if you do not you take care of your personal hygiene.

* * *

Bobbi: I always wanted a room with a view.

* * *

You may see the trailer here.

Plot: 7/10

Entertainment: 7/10

Acting: 8/10

Originality: 8/10

Music and Sound: 7/10

7/10