With “Wild at Heart,” Lynch throws away all nuance and bares his cinema for the audience. Before “Wild at Heart,” Lynch’s films were obscene and explicit, but they still had a certain nuance to their expression. “Wild at Heart” is not a representation of American life – it’s a representation of a representation of the American psyche.ĭavid Lynch has produced many films worthy of a deep-dive, almost all of which are more critically acclaimed and more successful than “Wild at Heart,” but seldom has a David Lynch film made such bold, subversive statements. The film has a much different meaning now than it had at its release date.Īll intended meanings set aside, apparent superficial meanings are equally valid subjects for criticism, so consider this list a mixture of “intent” and “extent,” a merging of the profound, the artificial, and the superficial to criticize a piece of film that has a deeper relationship to American cinema and the American psyche than it does to life. It’s important to consider that this is a re-visiting of the film, 30 years after its release. “Blue Velvet,” however satirical and ironic, had a certain sincerity at its core (a certain ‘magical realism’ if you will) while “Wild at Heart” did away with the sincerity and built its fundamentals entirely on artifice. It’s easy to consider David Lynch as an iconic director right now, but even though some critics hailed “Blue Velvet” to be one of the best films of the decade, others (Roger Ebert among them) were having trouble adjusting to Lynch’s cinema.Įbert called the film “repulsive” and “manipulative,” a film hiding behind a “copout of parody,” but that’s the very reason why “Wild at Heart” is an interesting case. “Blue Velvet,” however divisive, showcased that Lynch had a fresh voice paving a new path for independent American cinema. At the time of its release, Lynch was slowly beginning to build his reputation as an auteur. There were group walkouts in the first few screenings and there are stories of people heckling the movie at Cannes, even though it ended up winning the Palme d’Or.

In May 2020 we celebrated the 30th anniversary of David Lynch’s film “Wild at Heart.” It was initially released in 1990 to mixed reviews.

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