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Reese Witherspoon leaves her romcom-queen image in the dust in “Wild,” a hard-hitting and minimalistic survival drama about Cheryl Strayed (Witherspoon), a real-life woman who, in 1994, hiked more than 1,000 miles — alone — on the Pacific Crest Trail. It was a soul-cleansing experience for Strayed, who was rocked by a divorce and the death of her mother, and the film was clearly a cathartic experience for Witherspoon, who thrillingly sheds the popular preconceptions of her skill set.
Determined to retain the grittier elements of the Strayed memoir on which the film is based, Witherspoon produced “Wild” herself, with a script by Nick Hornby, and emerged with something largely unencumbered by typical Hollywood limitations. Steeped in drugs and sex as a means of coping with grief, Strayed’s life wasn’t pretty, and neither is the depiction of it — until the movie hits a point of schmaltz-free uplift.
“Wild” isn’t without its cloying elements. As a literally poetic marker of her progress, Strayed, when hitting stations with notebooks for hikers, pencils in passages from countless layman-friendly scribes (like Emily Dickinson), and memories of her mother occasionally manifest in on-the-nose voiceover. But it’s remarkable how few things fall short in this moving drama, which even avoids the all-too-common trap of the superfluous flashback (scenes from the past with Strayed’s mom, played by a marvelous Laura Dern, are welcome and cohesive).
This is a major step up not only for Witherspoon, but for Jean-Marc Vallée, who directed last year’s loathsome “Dallas Buyers Club,” but, like Strayed, finds redemption by trekking to higher ground. He nails multiple shots (like one of a certain hurled boot) that encapsulate Strayed’s crisis, and he weaves her journey into something at once brisk and unhurried. But chief kudos goes to the leading lady, whose overall lack of compromise — from purchasing the book rights to embodying Strayed without vanity — makes “Wild” an unforced feminist stepping stone. This movie is wonderfully, unapologetically female, and yet, thoroughly, undeniably universal.
Wild
R
Three-and-a-half reels out of four
Opens tomorrow at area theaters
Recommended Rental
Frank
R
Available Tuesday
Michael Fassbender gets all Humpty Dumpty in “Frank,” a rock dramedy about the masked frontman (Fassbender) of a ridiculously esoteric band. All of the metaphors — heavy is the head that wears the crown, the on-the-shoulders burden of creativity — are there for the taking, and yet they still come off as novel in this quirky curio. The great buffet of co-stars includes Maggie Gyllenhaal, Domhnall Gleeson and Scoot McNairy.
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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