Wild

(Jean Marc Vallée/2014/USA)

An adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s memoirs about her mother, her mother’s death, the ensuing grief which leads to a fall from grace and Strayed’s redemption, embodied in an 1100 mile hike on the Pacific Coast Trail. Wild works well enough with fleeting, suggestive flashbacks leading to a gradual, impressionistic building of the back story being the best of it. Where it lags is in the present tense of the hiking scenes. A lot of the emotional pull is too obvious and contrived and there’s far too much mid to close up shots of Reece Whetherspoon and not enough of that spirit lifting landscape. Good performances from Laura Dern and Wetherspoon carry it and even though the final scenes are ruined by an awful CGI fox there’s enough of a heartfelt lift to have you come away smiling. It could have been much more than it is but it’s a decent watch nonetheless.

(2.5/5)