Wild

Reese Witherspoon has decided to reminisce about her more ambitious beginnings and go back to the time before she melted into average commercial comedies. Unfortunately, for my taste, this film is predictable and not very interesting from a psychological and dramatic perspective. I can't remember the last time I found flashbacks so annoying, as they completely disrupt the storytelling. Without them, I would probably give it a cautious three stars - but like this, I can't even give it that. Overall impression: 45%. (19/11/2017)

Beautiful scenery, a charismatic girl, Simon and Garfunkel, a meaningful story and emotions. If I were to recall something similar in type and genre, the last time I enjoyed a film like this was Penn's Into the Wild eleven years ago. The protagonist of that one had different motivations, but both have something in common: they are searching for themselves in a beautiful, purifying landscape. At the beginning I wasn't really hooked, the sudden cuts were a bit confusing, but as time went on I got incredibly engaged. I understood the main character, I envied her determination to do something with herself, and I'm so glad that Vallée didn't slip into cheap tropes, that some scenes that could have slid into a fatal ending were resolved in a different way and the clichés were avoided. And the way Vallée works with flashbacks is a masterpiece, too. And especially Reese – she put everything into the role, she even produced it herself; girl I admire you! Reese is just a God-given talent, like Vallée, I have yet to see a bad or even just mediocre film from him. (22/09/2018)

In retrospect, after Big Little Lies, it's easy to appreciate Jean-Marc Vallée's collaboration with Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern. A pleasant experience, despite the fact that the subject is quite unique. Whoever is tempted by this adventure on foot through the wilderness can also read the autobiographical book of the same name by Cheryl Strayed. (15/02/2020)

Better than Into the Wild, it works much better with the dosing of information and always has something to reveal. Reese is great and you never lose interest in her character, though many of the scenes are not precisely the most memorable (but many are enriched by “El Condor Pasa”). For me it’s also valuable as an educational documentary – I realised that I would go on a long nature trip only with a bunch of armed friends and accompanied by a car carrying beer, a coolbox and a grill. That would be proper wilderness. 75% (09/04/2020)

There are two reasons to check out these spiritual odysseys like Wild or Into The Wild: the haunting scenery and spiritual cleansing, or at least the psychological nitty-gritty of a main character full of opinions, attitudes and experiences that come into direct confrontation with the question of whether this or that decision is good or bad. With a little imagination, everyone will find themselves, at least for a while in some passages. They have done it cleverly and for good measure put in basically all the negative model situations that can happen to a person from an early age (a bully father, illness, poverty, drugs, etc.). Wild is less psychedelic and puts more emphasis on family, relationships and the formation of what one should have, or not have in life and what one should prioritise. Reese Witherspoon is convincing and solid, but doesn't, as it tends to do, get under the skin as she should, as despite all the blood and sweat it's still just a bedtime story, or rather a good morning one. (16/11/2015)