Something wild is an odd mainstream movie, part of Demme’s yuppie trilogy in the 1980s that reminds me of blue velvet but has some wild tonal shifts that I thin throw a lot of people off
the tonal shifts have to do with the speed of the film. There will be wild (sorry) periods (like the first 20 minutes that are intoxicating) and the big showdown finale but there are also moments where demme lingers, like the long musical (if you know demme he is going to stay awhile and ejoy music) sequence and dancing randomly at the reunion- he lingers. I love both shifts- I love how he airs it out at times and I love how he ramps it up
Daniels is the kyle maclachlin character from blue velvet, Liotta is dennis hopper and Griffith is sort of both Rossellini and dern—sort of starts as Rossellini and then turns into dern with the hair dying transformation
For the first 20 minutes it’s Melanie Griffith’s film. She’s so incredibly captivating. She’s gorgeous, has the hair and name from lulu from pabst’s Pandora box)—you are completely under her spell- just like daniels who is the vehicle ride of normal living into the wild world of Griffith and then, it gets terrifying, to Liotta
Liotta shows up at 50 minutes and takes over the film. He’s magnetic and piercing. This is one of his better performances (goodfellas and narc come to mind)
It’s a demme film- so lots of music—some of the reggae I don’t get—but I love the wild david byrne opening
Also because it’s a demme film we have big cameos—tracey walter (playing a crazy straight role), sayles, john waters
I hate the weird wipe transition edits
Very 1980’s conservatism meets 1960’s
It’s a great unique romance of a film
The ending is the only time demme really goes for it with his (later) trademark close-ups like in Philadelphia and silence of the lambs– the killing of Liotta and showing his face and then daniels’ reaction. It’s a fantastic scene
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