Wild the Movie by Cheryl Strayed

Well,

Right up front,
I hated this movie.

I was so looking forward to this movie.

I thought it would be an uplifting resurrection from drug oblivion to healthy, normalcy.
 
Redemption – the right path – beautiful panoramas with a moral at the end – a modern Jimmy Stewart movie.

This was part of my December miasma of depression, regret, and various rationales for committing suicide. 

The cinematography and direction were confused, piecemeal, very disappointing.  There was lots of potential here: the trail; a great actress, an interesting story.  All of this seemed to be lost on the director.  Jean-Marc Vallée was obsessed with tine-slicing; past plot references; and symbolic “moments”. 

This resulted in a confusing presentation of what should have been a simple plot.  Maybe he was pressured to stick close to the book’s plot development.  If so, that’s always a big mistake.  Movies have to have a fairly simple plot arc, unlike books, which, these days, have three or more concurrent plots and development of a dozen characters.  Doing that in a movie requires seeing the movie twice {good marketing gimmick} to understand what the director was “saying”.  This film was so confusing that I wouldn’t see it a second time if you paid me to do it.

The bright point of the movie was the performance of Laura Dern.

She gave a creditable portrayal of Cheryl’s mother.  It was easier to follow her time-line, and so, the flash-backs weren’t as confusing as Cheryl’s.

 

 

 

I didn’t think {or was unaware} that Cheryl had accomplished anything by this 1,000 mile journey.  Her character was still messed up, and from my experience would be back on drugs with months.

Nothing about the journey encouraged me to try one on my own.