In Wild, Reese Witherspoon stars as Cheryl Strayed. We join as she embarks on a hiking trip along the Pacific Crest Trail. She’s a novice, struggling to lift her absurdly overstuffed pack after spending one last night in a hotel, her final evening in civilization. As she gathers her gear, we see flashbacks of Cheryl in another seedy motel somewhere (and some-when), freebasing heroin and engaging in degrading sex.
As we come to understand during her forced march, Cheryl is fleeing her past. We see the traumas, self-inflicted and other, that she is running from in fragmented flashbacks. There is her marriage—broken because she spent much of it abusing drugs and having sex with literally anyone who asked ("I’m the girl who says yes," she tells her counselor). There is Cheryl’s relationship with her mother, Bobbi (Laura Dern), a source of strength and inspiration who suffers physical abuse at the hands of her drunken husband and emotional abuse at the hands of Cheryl.
Bobbi’s untimely death from cancer is the catalyst for Cheryl’s tailspin, the spark that sends her into a self-destructive spiral. Her misbehavior is a form of regression to adolescence, a rejection of adulthood and responsibility. On the PCT she is left with nothing but her thoughts and regrets—and, finally, her aspirations.
In a way, Wild reminds me of a Judd Apatow flick. Or, at least, the third act of a Judd Apatow flick, the portion of the picture in which the man-child is forced to put away his toys and reckon with coming adulthood. Wild is not as funny, certainly, though there are some great moments of quiet comedy, such as the aforementioned wrestling match between Strayed and her backpack. Witherspoon turns it into a deft bit of physical comedy, straining first to lift the pack before collapsing under its weight; finally, she turtles her way up, triumphant. The moment is made all the funnier when, a short car ride and a few minutes later, she finds herself on the side of the road, pack on the ground, her head cocked to the side. "This again?" she seems to be thinking. "This for the next several months?"
Wild may not be a great flick—it’s a little episodic, a little too elliptical—but Witherspoon is great in it, offering a strong case for her second Oscar in a year that is relatively light on standout lead actress performances. She is utterly believable throughout: as the bratty college teen telling her mom that feminism dictates she stop cooking dinners; as the strung out junkie rutting her way through the Northwest; as the confused woman struggling to make it through the arduous hike she has chosen as a means of purifying herself.
If Witherspoon doesn’t at least garner a best actress nomination, it’ll be a darn shame.
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Witherspoon’s status as an Oscar frontrunner is on my mind because it’s awards season. The Washington Area Film Critics Association (of which I’m a member) votes this weekend on its awards. And that means I’ve been watching lots of movies. Lots and lots of movies.
Lots of middling middlebrow historical docudramas about complicated men changing history (Selma and The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything). Lots of quirky indies that got lost in the shuffle earlier in the year (Frank and Enemy and Big Bad Wolves). Lots of animated films that this childless film snob couldn’t find time for (The Lego Movie and How to Train Your Dragon 2 and The Boxtrolls). Lots of artistically ambitious awards season fare (Inherent Vice and Birdman and Interstellar).
Lots and lots of movies in a very short amount of time, mind you. One of the great perks, and great horrors, of this gig is the unending wave of screeners sent by studios large and small trying to get an awards season shout-out from critics. The DVDs start coming in November and don’t stop until, well, around now. It is a daunting task, especially for those of us with full time jobs.
But someone has to do it. And we do it for you, the people. Make sure to watch this space (and this site!) for the announcement of WAFCA’s winners on Monday. It’s been a great year for movies. The wrangling over awards will be fun to watch go down.