‘Something Wild’ or — Jump In?
It hits you unexpectedly like the best sex you ever (or never?) had as it’s not so much that you want it but that it wants you, and there’s nothing more erotic than being wanted. It knows to take you further than you’d ever normally go, when to pass you the controls and when to rip them back. Then, just before you have time to consciously think the fun might be winding down, Ray Liotta pops up for a terrifying threesome. It’s truly ‘Something Wild’ (1986).
There seemed to be a period in the 1980’s when no other director knew exactly what was as cool and hip as Jonathan Demme. His eye for colour, fashion and music didn’t just tap into the zeitgeist as practically create and define it. Yet it’s not just his grasp of style that’s so stimulating but the physical reaction his movies ignite in the viewer — they make you want to burst into exuberant constant motion (try watching ‘Stop Making Sense’ without resisting the urge to leap up and dance)!
‘Something Wild’ starts at a hurtle and hardly ever slows down as Jeff Daniels is ripped from his safe little world by an irresistible Melanie Griffith (she looks like Louise Brooks but is closer in nature to a hand-grenade with bangs). He needs new horizons and experiences. She needs a form of support to shed her artificial skin and the chance to re-start from scratch. What follows is both an adventure into the unknown and a returning to what has been attempted to be forgotten, along with the feeling we’re watching two people who genuinely care about each other.
And that might be Demme’s greatest achievement because despite all the thrill of reckless abandon, the ultra-cool glide of driving a convertible to a Laurie Anderson soundtrack or the exhilaration of being chased out a diner it’s the human tenderness contained here that hits the deepest (can you imagine if Tarantino had made this picture? It would’ve been a facile living hell).
It’s why our concern sky-rockets when Liotta ultimately oozes his way between these two and we realise with a jolt just how much we care about this mis-matched couple. Liotta also reveals Daniels’ secret which almost destroys Griffith’s trust in the poor guy, but it’s also exactly what the audience needed to hear to fully endear him to us. From here to the end we’re completely hooked, as if we weren’t already.
Technically the film is a joy with the cinematography, editing, music and production design (the jewellery!) all creating a delirious vibrancy that many following filmmakers would’ve killed to come close to matching (give me 5 minutes of this over Fincher’s entire filmography any day).
It’s not just that ‘Something Wild’ is vigorous fun but that it’s one of the great satirical movie portrayals of 1980’s America. It also represents a tender energy we’ve permanently lost and can never recover. But notice the movie is still with us, waiting just outside your window with the motor running and smiling at us to dash out and jump in. Well, what are you waiting for?
