User reviews

Barbara Loden, the wife of film director Elia Kazan, wrote, directed and stars in this portrait of a born loser in blue-collar Pennsylvania. Wanda is the perfect bad example: she's poorly educated, unemployed, a doormat for any available man...and when she walks into a bar one night to use the bathroom, she has no idea the lone man inside is actually robbing the place. Loden, who looks like a bedraggled version of Joanne Woodward in some of her hick roles, also helped to raise the funds for this picture, which played film festivals and garnered good critical buzz yet wasn't widely distributed. The uneven sound is fuzzy, the camera-work is all over the place, and the lenient editing allows scenes to ramble on far longer than necessary (also the baby screaming during the film's opening five minutes was a big mistake). However, despite these serious faults, the movie has a realistically squalid, hopeless ambiance that is, at times, touching, pathetic, ingenuous and very natural. A bumpy ride, but worthwhile for fans of character studies. **1/2 from ****

Saw 3/13/17, TCM on demand. Robert Bresson/Chantal Akerman/Frederick Wiseman come to the Pennsylvania coal country. "Wanda" prophetically showcases a world inhabited by a class of people Charles Murray would write about forty years later, as neglected and marginalized then as now. Maybe it's not a film for everybody, but I found myself involved in Wanda's story, a tale of drabness set in a world in a state of persistent, low-energy panic. Loden placed supreme confidence in camera, microphone, story, and her people. And the movie worked for me. The film TCM showed had been lovingly restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive in 2010.

At last! An American director who can ingest European influences maturely, not as a superficial and desperate plea for depth. In its tale of a woman drifting through a barren landscape, falling in with abusive or indifferent men; in its distanced style, its pared down performances and dialogue, its long takes of nothing in particular, or rather, of everything, of life, mundane actions, of people looking and finding and doing; in its use of the crime genre for anti-generic and anti-narrative ends; in its restrained use of religious symbolism culminating in an enigmatic scene in a catacombs, one is reminded of Bresson - less rigorous, maybe, but less misogynistic too, more open.

The central relationship and road movie format reminds me of 'La Strada'; the bank robbery an absurdist take on 'Gun Crazy'. Mostly, this is a wonderful one-off, and it is a real crime that its maker only made this one film, while her husband was allowed over twenty.

There is a scene, near the beginning, that shows our main character from a distance walking through mounds of coal to get to her father to ask him for some money. The shot stays on her for what seems like several minutes. The camera simply and slowly pans forwarded as she progresses. Some may say this is boring, others the work of a amateur that doesn't know when to cut. Yet this is a very brilliant shot that shows the true essence of what this film is about and the plight of our character. In life she is constantly walking. Unable to fully grasp the true dissolution of her existence she continues to search for something, anything. She is the victim of life's cruel riddle. A riddle that has no answer.

This is a very sad movie, probably one of the saddest movies you will ever see. It is sad because Wanda's condition is not unique and probably makes up more of the working poor than we care to think. It helps clarify the desperation that people in these circumstances both live and feel. It also helps explain why they will get into such stupid situations and at times make such dumb and illogical choices.

Here drifter Wanda meets up with a two bit crook named Mr Davis. The two create a very odd relationship and actually prove beneficial to each other. She brings out his long dormant tenderness, while he, in one truly touching moment, actually gives her some confidence. Of course it doesn't last, but it is an inspiring piece nonetheless. It shows that even the most pathetic of people, in the most bleakest of situations, can still transcend themselves.

This is actually quite a powerful film. It's very stark, grimy, almost home movie look is actually an asset. No stylized interpretations here. The dingy bars, restaurants, homes, hotels, and factories are all very, very real. You start to feel as trapped in their grayness as the characters. This is a far more billiant and manipulative film than one might initially believe.

A fairly low budget effort but not without some interesting scenes, made even more interesting by decent performances from its two principals actors. Towards the end it seemed to wander a bit unsteadily, but then it ends in a haunting and memorably sad, final scene. Overall I would say its worth a watch, even though it falls short of being truly great.

...as I recall, this one was recommended as a cult classic by John Waters, the co-king of cult movies; he is only matched by Andy Warhol, who produced all those movies with Paul Morrissey; Wanda (written, directed, starring Barbara Loden) shows a couple days in the true story of a life of a lazy, un-motivated mother, who finds trouble, and is just glad to be included in the conversation. It starts out with the husband divorcing her, then sinks down from there... I should have known how it was going to go when there was more writing in the DVD liner notes than in the actual script itself. L-O-N-G pauses in the script, and Wanda hooks up with Norman (Michael Higgins, who had been in TV and film for 20 years already)who is robbing a bar, and she goes along for the ride. He's about 50, treats her like crap, and sure doesn't look like the usual young crook. Reading the liner notes, the story ends a little differently than it did in real life, but c'est la vie! Not a lot going on, but extra credit for being the cult classic that it is! Too bad Barbara Loden died so young;she might have gone on to do more - she was married to Elia Kazan (Streetcar Named Desire, East of Eden, America America) and was in the process of divorce when she died of cancer.

These sort of movies tend to be or get pretentious and annoying pretty easily but not this one though, which makes this simply a good and perfectly watchable little movie.

I wouldn't even call this movie an independent one. It's being more one that feels and look like it got shot guerrilla style, so without any planning and preparations to it. They simply shot stuff on the spot, with the available equipment and actors and would also improvise most of their lines. That at least was the feeling this movie gave me but I don't actually know if this truly was the case for this movie.

The approach definitely adds to the realistic feeling of the movie. It's being a random slice of life if you will, though it still is very much following a type of story that you will only see in a movie. The characters and the way how they are handling certain situations still make sure that the movie feels like a realistic one.

But because of it that the movie feels like it got done guerrilla style, the movie also doesn't have the best looking and sounding quality to it. The sound is simply just bad at times and the cinematography also really isn't being anything all too special or stylish to watch. Guess they thought that in this cast the story and the storytelling would be enough to create a great movie with but I just still missed far too many (basic) movie-making ingredients in this movie, that can make a movie of this sort great for me.

And lets face it, the main reason why this movie still floats around is because it got directed, written and stars Barbara Loden, who was married to legendary film-maker Elia Kazan, making this a bit of a curiosity piece perhaps. But really, there is not much about this movie that stands out. It's being a good and original little movie within its genre but I only wished that the movie also would had had more to offer, with its main story and characters perhaps. I simply didn't got an awful lot out of this movie but I can at least say about this movie that I was never annoyed or bored with it.

Definitely a watchable and good movie but just nothing to run out for, in my opinion.

7/10

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...WANDA is nonetheless a stirring portrait of a woman who has lost her direction in life; that is, assuming she wasn't just going through the societally-mandated paces from the start, which I suspect.

Abandoning her husband and children without a second thought, she sets off on a journey to...nowhere in particular. Latching ignobly onto any man who will pick her up for a quickie, Wanda, played with remarkable veracity by the film's director Barbara Loden, drifts for a while until she stumbles upon a nomadic, dyspeptic robber, whom she meekly accompanies in his run from the law. After a series of escalating events which could have led to tragedy for her, Wanda is given a reprieve. Instead of taking advantage of her second chance, her detached indolence is too strong to overcome, and the cycle of soul-searching is apparently ordained to continue ad infinitum.

Recalling such contemporary cinematic works as FIVE EASY PIECES (1970), A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE (1974), the great GOIN' DOWN THE ROAD (1970), and TWO-LANE BLACKTOP (1971) in its characters' aimlessness and blind existentialism, "Wanda" also has echoes of Bresson's oeuvre; most of all, the film seems to have been a direct influence on Susan Seidelman's SMITHEREENS (1982), an equally good picture.

To the film's detriment, its characters are such pathetic no-hopers that they are not easy to relate to, especially since they are given no biographical framework whatsoever. Moreover, the cinema verite direction is a little too self-consciously austere, lingering unduly on some scenes. Loden seems unaware of the misconception that merely letting the camera run on automatically lends a scene profundity; sometimes the film seems as hollow as its characters. Then again, that's the point. I liked "Wanda" quite a bit, but it takes patience to tease out its nuances, and is hence not for all tastes.

A film I never heard before from the early 70's. A recent divorcee wanders aimlessly through life until she falls in w/a petty thief hoping to give her life some meaning in any way, shape or form. Written & directed by Barbara Loden, this film tries to work as an exercise in neo-noir which it falls flat as but as a think piece in regards to feminine independence it does strike some successful notes, I may have to give it another glance.

Sheez, what a depressing film. I think a lot of people can identify with it. A woman has no direction and no hope. She just sinks lower and lower without anyone to help her.

The film is slow and has quite a few unneccesary scenes, just like Wanda's life.

It is amazing a woman got this project made and was allowed to direct. I'm glad it exists as tribute to her. She passed away far too young. I hope her life wasn't as bleak as this story.

"Wanda" has been hailed in the film critic community as a movie that made a huge leap forward for a certain brand of realistic method cinema. That might be true, but despite that, or maybe because of it, it's still a very frustrating viewing experience.

I literally cannot get in the head of a person like Wanda, played by the film's writer, producer, and director Barbara Loden. She's so meek, so directionless, so submissive. I don't understand how people can let themselves be treated so badly by those around them. This is two relentless hours of that, and nothing at the end of the movie is different from the beginning. Many laud Loden for her performance, but she very often came across dead in the eyes to me. But then again, maybe that was an acting choice and hers is actually a brilliant performance, because maybe that's how someone like a real-life Wanda would come across.

After the movie, which I saw on TCM, host Ben Mankiewicz was talking about how Loden based this movie and character largely on herself. She felt like there were a lot of people out there in the world who were like her, just waiting to be abused, and she wanted to make this movie so they would know they're not alone. I believe she's right, and hearing that made me appreciate the film's existence and her motivation for making it. But it didn't make me enjoy it any more or make me want to ever revisit it.

Grade: B+

Relentlessly grim and depressing, which is of course the point. Is this woman trapped because of the limited options in her gritty, blue-collar world, or because she's so mind-numbingly passive? It's hard to say, but probably some of both, and she's hard to empathize with. The film feels honest to a sad life experience, with the title character (Barbara Loden) listlessly falling under the sway of men and with the director (also Loden) avoiding big Hollywood type moments, but it wasn't an enjoyable watch.

Mousy, uneducated, impoverished Wanda falls for a sleazy small-time crook, and they hit the road together. This movie has everything going against it--it's very low-key, cheaply made (dig that shaking camera), and paced only a little more swiftly than your average Andy Warhol film. But even though it plays like a cut-rate "Badlands," it succeeds powerfully in evoking sympathy for its pathetic title character. Its slow pace gives it a meditative quality for the patient viewer. Depressing but memorable; it should be more widely seen.

Not sure if I heard about this from the UCLA Film School (it has a sort of "Killer of Sheep" at the start) or was it in connection to Chopin's "The Awakening" which maybe Loden was going to try to film.

Anyways, the film does launch with a scene that feels like Kiarostami transplanted to coal country in Pennsylvania. The coal oppressively comes right up the characters' doorsteps. The film does have 70's gritty verite vibe, and is definitely distinct from say "Bonnie and Clyde" or "Natural Born Killers" despite sharing a sort of "meet brute" crime spree.

The character of Wanda is sort of a tumbleweed, rootless and and renounced by everyone including herself. Weirdly, Mr. Dennis is a very very misguided way sort of builds confidence in her, but it may be a con man's confidence.

So while I'm kinda fond'a Wanda it is a despond'a - well-suited for my Sunday evening blues watch. Despite a relatively simple story, it is somehow a compelling watch. And not just for the old cars and hairdos.

There is an unshakeable sense that there might be more to Wanda then meets the eye.

And maybe that's where Barbara Loder steps in. The end credits, I did not know the multiple nature of Loder in this. And listening to the supplemental DVD items, she puts Dick Cavett in his place gently but firmly. Now diving into the "I am Wanda" documentary, and reading about Elia Kazan and other family facts.

However vulnerable Wanda may have seen, I am impressed by the strength and resolve of Barbara Loden. Sure wish she had lasted longer, but would welcome hearing about her off off broadway plays in her latter years. I will look for her two other short films.

I expect elements of grace under pressure and neglect.

I do think Ms Loden was in multiple ways Wanda, although on the surface the role was lifted from an old newspaper crime report of a woman who was arrested as a criminal accomplice and given 20 years in prison and thanked the judge. Wow.

Maybe there is a divide of Wander / Wonder - the portrayed character her certainly is a wanderer while the creator of this remains quite a wonder. RIP 9/5/1980.

Please do seek out the documentary if you at all are drawn to the main film.

TCM made its debut showing of Wanda tonight -- which also happens to be the day Barbara Loden passed away in 1980. Coincidence or not, this film just blew me away. No doubt the cinema verite feel -- and sense of grittiness -- is enhanced by use of the hand-held 16mm camera and having the print blown up to 35mm. That grainy enlargement process just adds to the feel of the dying rust belt goal region around Scranton circa 1970. The image of Wanda, dressed in white, walking through the barren landscape of mined out areas and the piles of black coal and slag around her, is surreal. It's a jarring image, an angel gliding amidst decay. Is she flotsam on the ebb tide, with no course or direction? The fact she participates in the hostage taking of the banker's family shows she has some resolve, when called upon to make a choice. I could watch this movie a dozen more times and find something new each time. The long-gone scenes of Woolworth's and other extinct businesses just adds to the melancholia for me. A must see, and re-see, and I wish Ms. Loden had left us with more films she directed.

The disenchantment of blue collar folk in America's rust belt stands front and center in Barbara Loden's minimalist drama about an impoverished divorcee who falls in with a small-time armed robber. 'Wanda' taps into a generation of discontent, from which its helpless female protagonist seems desperate to break free.

Model and Broadway actor Loden takes on multiple roles in the film-directing, writing, as well as playing the eponymous lead, an unsophisticated, dolled-down housewife who surrenders custody of her children to her ex-husband and takes a one way ticket out of her dreary coal mining town. She has a one-night stand with a man who promptly ditches her by the side of the road, but it isn't long before she hooks up with another man in a bar, unaware that he was robbing the place. She becomes his companion as the pair move from town to town, committing petty crimes.

Wanda seeks validation from men-any man, seemingly-even if it means enduring humilating abuse. The sparse dialogue between Wanda and the criminal Dennis (Michael Higgins) shapes their dominant/submissive dynamic. After their first night together, Dennis sends Wanda to bring back burgers and a newspaper. Loden brings a shy, childlike naiveté to her muted performance.

The sombre backdrop of middle America is a setting populated by factory workers and ex-cons who have been cast off to society's fringes. Loden's choice of shooting with a single handheld camera captures the stark economically barren landscape with the realism of cinéma vérité. 'Wanda' doesn't offer much in the way of hopeful resolution. Despite lacking polish and punch, its existential brooding is quietly affecting.

It begins with the office clerk telling Wanda she is "too slow in every working process". Wanda loses her job. Her husband also doesn't want her anymore. He wants the divorce and the children. Wanda is asked by the judge if she agrees with the divorce. She says it doesn't matter. Wanda makes a journey. She goes to the cinema, meets a guy, sleeps with him and he leaves her. The movie goes on.

Wanda goes into a bar. There is no barkeeper but a robber who ties the barkeeper. He tells Wanda to leave. She stays. The man, Mr. Dennis, takes her into his apartment. There is something like a relationship that develops between Mr. Dennis and Wanda though Mr. Dennis is very rude. He plans a bigger robbery. Wanda wants to help.

Barbara Lodens "Wanda" is a road movie on the road to nowhere. Wanda wants to be part of something and she doesn't know of what. In her eyes we can see the whole emptiness of a not self-determined woman's life. There is not much hope, the last picture of the movie is frozen.

'Wanda' is a low budget American film released in 1970, directed by and starring Barbara Loden.

Loden plays 'Wanda', a poorly-educated bored wife and mum living in a ugly spot by a mining spoil. When her husband files for divorce Wanda appears completely unmoved and, as per her name, sets out on an aimless wander herself.

She ends up in a bar where a robbery is taking place, which leads to a road trip style journey with an on-edge, small time thief - played by Michael Higgins and referred to only as 'Mr. Dennis'.

When 'Mr Dennis' reveals a plan to rob a major bank, using Wanda as his accomplice, the film appears to be heading toward 'Bonnie and Clyde' territory, but in fact never quite gets there. Instead it stays rooted in it's oddball, low key and rather grubby space.

Wanda is certainly a troubling character. She leaves her home and children seemingly without a care; she feels underserving of her children or of any self esteem; she drifts aimlessly from one situation to another; she is seemingly numb to the events that happen to her.

She is also used and abused by the men she stumbles across, yet seems willing to allow this (maybe she is the one using the men, trading the only commodity she feels she has in exchange for a meal and attention? Through choice, or through need?).

This makes for an intriguing, unusual and at times rather uncomfortable watch and certainly raises questions about what the film maker is trying to say. Is Wanda a victim of her upbringing and of the male dominated world around her, or is she simply a lazy, ultra-passive loser managing to scrape a life of sorts against the odds?

This is a relentlessly bleak film that is certainly unrefined in its production, but its unpolished edges are quite possibly what leads to its appeal.

Wanda is a young wife, who abandons her family after losing her job. She never made much money anyhow. Wanda then drifts around aimlessly, penniless and seeking shelter. She goes to a seedy bar one night. Once there, Wanda talks the bartender, into giving her some food and a beer, for free. He's nasty to her from the start, but does give her the free food and beer. His name is Mr. Davis. And Wanda goes to his place for a tryst, and a place to stay for the time being.

With no where else to go and no plans, Wanda stays with Mr. Davis for a while. He treats Wanda like dirt. He starts ordering her to get his food, calls her 'stupid', slaps her around, and even tells her how to dress. Mr. Davis turns out to be a deranged criminal, who's wanted by the law for murder. So he and Wanda hit the road together, so Davis can evade the cops. But when Mr. Davis wants Wanda to participate in a bank robbery with him, she has to decide if she can go through with it or not.

When this movie was made, it was basically unheard of, for a woman to skip-out on her family completely. So in this regard, this movie has quite a cutting-edge plot premise. Wanda is obviously a troubled soul, with very low self-esteem. When asked by Mr. Davis why she abandoned her family, Wanda tells him it's because she's 'no damn good'. Whatever brought on Wanda's intense angst, is never addressed. Wanda appears to be a docile, shy person. And yet, she makes the incredibly brave decision to just ditch her family, and cope alone in a precarious world. One thing is for sure; Wanda is definitely an enigmatic character.

The cinematography in this film, is very fascinating. The scenery has a remote, barren quality, which seems to convey the poignancy of Wanda's empty life. This movie is a unique account of one woman's inner turmoil, and her unusual quest to try and resolve it. If you like ground-breaking films that center around complex, female characters, then you're sure to like Wanda.

A depressing film of a woman who abandons her husband and children for a life of whoredom and lassitude. Through it all Wanda is a sympathetic if not a completely lost woman. She chooses her fate and it's a pathetic one.