Wild is the story of Cheryl Strayed who, like The Proclaimers, would walk 1000 miles. I really appreciate the grand gesture as a life style choice. As someone who assigned herself the task of watching every Oscar nomination in every category just because, I definitely think if I had to climb back from a huge fall from grace walking 1000 miles would work for me.
What also worked for me was the editing. Wild featured some of my favorite editing of the year, but isn't nominated in that category. The often dreamlike transitions between past and present were lovely and intuitive. The performances were just fine; Reese was solid but maybe didn't cover quite the range I would have expected. Also, Laura Dern had a character with no range. She is great and she did imbue what she had with some tender honesty, but it didn't feel quite like an Oscar performance.
But what really didn't work for me was the lack of stakes built into the story. I mean that when I got to the end of the film, I suddenly felt like I had never really understand why this journey had to be taken. If throughout the film I had felt some urgency, or tension or understood everything she stood to lose (or gain) on the trip, I would have had a far greater connection to the journey and the eventual outcome. Instead, Reese took a walk, I went with her and at the end we stopped walking. An interesting walk, but no more.
The Proclaimers would walk 500 Miles. But then again, since there are two of them and they're both singing, I guess 1,000 miles it is! :)
ReplyDeleteChristy, you caught my creative math! I also considered that if I add up every time they tell me how far they would walk it really begins to cover more ground. They're kind of stealing Cheryl's thunder at that point.
ReplyDeleteI love creative math! And The Proclaimers! Well done!
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