Wild Side

The story goes like this : Donald Cammell died , heartbroken by the producers' typical butchering of his film, which was released as a "straight to late Friday night" sleazy thriller; ...and, with hindsight, it's easy to believe this. Thankfully, the director's assistant was able to re-cut the movie, according to the artist's wishes and, as a result, ... "Wild Side" is a mindsuck ("suck" is not the actual appropriate word I had in mind here ) of a masterpiece.

It grips you from the first scene (what on Earth is going on here, who's what, is the cop bad, is the bad girl good ??), through its barely credible tortuous twists and double-crossings, until the unescapable -and yet unpredictable- end. Followed by another end, of course.

The involvement of the actors, their very limited number -hardly anyone else than the damned foursome dares cross the threshold into Cammell's world- works to perfection, as it introduces some kind of claustrophobic atmosphere (there is supposed to be a world outside these half-lit hotel rooms, but we won't see much of it until the last sequence). These four characters drift in and out, each less trustworthy than the last : past ten minutes, it will be hard to remember who's supposed to be forming an alliance against who. Key word here : intensity. Hey, the, er..., climax of the film involves the -explicitly not homosexual- gangster (almost or not : up to you to find out) raping his male driver, an undercover cop, just to prove his love to a prostitute ! Confused ? Yes, you will be, and that's nothing compared to the actual script : everyone works very hard to double-cross everyone else, not least their lover.

And now, let's tackle the major asset of this film : its acting.

Amazing. By now, it is pretty obvious to everyone that Anne Heche is a truly terrific actress, all ambiguity and secret resolves. She certainly doesn't disappoint her growing number of admirers here. Steven Bauer , who plays the cop, has -quite simply- never been near as impressive as he is here. But the cherry on the cake, the surge after the lollipop, the tour de force extraordinaire, has to be credited to who else but Christopher Walken.

Christopher Walken, as we know, IS Christopher Walken -no introduction needed, but in "Wild Side", he just... delivers his most demented performance to date, if you can start to imagine. His endlessly fascinating ambisexual reptilian face, his weird yellowy skin, his eyebrowless laser eyes -not to forget a hair rock stars would advertise soda for-, the man is scary beyond frightening. He's not deranged, he's from another planet ! Nearly incomprehensible. Let us be very clear here : "Wild Side" is an absolute must for all Christopher Walken fans out there.

There will never be another Donald Cammell film, and that's a real tragedy. Especially when you bear in mind that the man co-authored mandatory-cult-movie "Peformance", yes, the very one "Performance" that sent E. Fox over the edge for a few years. Thanks God, Christopher Walken still walks amongst us lesser mortals (and occasionally steals an entire Tarantino scripted movie by only appearing five minutes).

Curiously, I continued to watch this...as unlike many flicks around these days, it was quite unpredictable. Okay. It has a few flaws, like Mister Walken's sometimes way out overacting, but this may have been down to the director's untimely death after the project was taken out of his control. Anne Heche, who everyone condemned a few years ago for riding on the coat-tails of her former love Ellen Degeneres, turns out to be quite an accomplished actress (check her out in One Kill), and is believable as a woman torn in many directions. It's also very easy to see why Walken's character would fall for her. Ryuchi Sakamoto's haunting music recorded nearly five years after the movie was shot, adds to the surreal atmosphere of some scenes, even though they can seem a little far fetched.

Film Four has done a fine job restoring the movie, it's a shame though that the BBC's excellent documentary, Donald Cammell: The Ultimate Performance, isn't included on the DVD.

I remember reading a review of this in one of those phone book sized movie guides you can get at a book store. They gave it their lowest rating, saying that it looked like it was all improvised in a series of motel room and apartments.

Yea, I can kind of see it.

Anyways, Wild Side is an OK noir film of sorts about a bank worker by day, high class prostitute by night (Heche) who gets involved with a crime boss (Walken) and his sexy girlfriend (Chen). Heche and Chen end up falling in love, and concoct a plan of sorts to get away.

The film probably would have faded away if it wasn't for the scorcher of a love scene between Heche and Chen. With an agonizingly erotic set up (a long dinner date between the two, followed by a first kiss in the womens bathroom), the actual love scene is allowed to play out nice and slow, in a big bedroom with the summer light and breeze blowing in. Seriously guys (and girls, I guess) this is everything you could want in a scene like this.

I wish I could say the movie around it was memorable enough to live up to that kind of glory, but it really doesn't. I'm sure Donald Cammell was a great director, and it's probably real sad that the film was chopped up before he could finish it to it's satisfaction. But I've got a feeling that whatever state this movie was supposed to in, it would have turned out the same.

Eroticism aside, the lesbian scene is asthetically like a breath of fresh air. It's bright, and wide open in the way it plays out across the screen. Compared to that, the rest of the movie really does play too dark; It really is kind of like sitting with your legs crossed on the floor in the corners of dark apartments while listening to other people talk. Dreary, in other words.

By the way, check out the Canadian video cover for this one compared to the static "3 portraits" cover we got in America. A classic example of how just how puritanical our culture can be sometimes.

Intriguing, eye-opening thriller this, featuring an outrageous, insane and over-the-top performance from Christopher Walken even compared to his usual crazed output. Essentially a romance between the two leading ladies, Walken is the central figure and catalyst of all events as his loopy as hell gangster feller messes around with some women, is picked on by some dodgy coppers, and generally acts like a total loon. Joan Chen and Anne Heche are good as, respectively, his longtime girl and partner in crime, and his newest conquest and hobby, both putting in subtly sensual and remarkably sympathetic performances, and Steven Bauer is impressive (in the first role I've really noticed him in since Scarface) as the totally twisted, corrupt undercover cop on Walken's back, but this is really all Walken's show, as he chomps at the scenery with massive gusto. The atmosphere is dark and warm and a little steamy, there's plenty of expensive looking whisky about the place and people leading lives on the edge of sanity; the tragic Cammell's last film is a dark, intense, often inspired and occasionally hilarious gaze into the wilder side of sexuality and empowerment. Definitely one to watch with an open mind.

Donald Cammell's final film, the censorious treatment of which, probably drove him to take his life, is a stupendous tour de force, the likes of which you are unlikely to have seen before. Steven Bauer is scarily violent and believably ruthless. Joan Chen is beautiful and commanding while Anne Heche is astonishingly effective in a complicated and ever changing role as she interacts with the other three main participants. Christopher Walken allows his character to take him over almost completely and occasionally seems to struggle to stay this side of sanity. This is a nightmare of a performance in which he turns himself inside out to portray the true horror of ultimate power and greed. I will not divulge the simple plot as Cammell tells it so well it is far better that this terrible tale unfold as he intended. Suffice to say, the aforementioned acting is faultless, the direction sure footed and the editing an object lesson and for once the word 'sensational' is most apt.