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The Wild Side | Directed: - Donald Cammell Actors/Actresses: - Christopher Walken - Joan Chen Lesbian Passion-Self Discovery Overall, the story line and acting are not really that good. Hence the 3 star rating. BUT! , I give the lesbian romance 5 stars. Compared to other passionate love scenes in lesbian movies, such as in GIA, I haven't seen passion between two women portrayed as well as Anne Heche and Joan Chen did in The Wild Side. Their union was tastefully filmed and closely resembled lesbian sex. I am anxiously awaiting the 2000 release (The Wild Side-Director's Cut) which is reported to have a different love scene. All too often, lesbian love and sex is misrepresented by actresses who truly do not understand lesbian romance. It is a rare find when you can capture lesbian romance in its raw form. Other movies which do this effectively, regardless of the plot and acting, include, Bound, When Night is Falling, and Claire of the Moon, to name a few. If you rent or buy this film, I suggest you do it for the lesbian theme. I believe you'll find it quite stirring! It has to be seen to be believed! IMHO, this movie contains one of the most priceless moments ever graced the silver screen: Anne Heche is sitting on Christopher Walken's lap, who is trying to demonstrate to her how to seduce a woman, says -- with the straightest face possible, of course -- to her: "Imagine, I've got eyelashes, right?" Then the two just stare at each other. I just couldn't stop laughing. It was so precious I felt for sure if this moment had a physical shape, it must be warm, furry, and very pettable! Seriously though, this feels very much like a Christopher Walken kinda movie. It's just so odd, so off-beat, so eccentric -- just so weird! It at first makes you believe it actually has a serious plot: banker-by-day/callgirl-by-night Alex (Anne Heche) gets herself tangled in a web with a money launderer Bruno (Walken), falls in love with his wife Virginia (Joan Chen), while trying to outwit an undercover cop who's also a rapist. But then everything just starts to get weird. I can't quite explain it: the plot is not discarded (this is not a porn movie), but later it just feels like the plot is constructed to build up these "moments" for the viewers to savor. Such as one I described above; or an extended sequence where Bruno tries to get justice for Alex (one of the most outrageous events I have ever seen in a movie); or the "enigmatic" ending (one of those things where you go "hmm, that must have meant something -- but damned if I know!"). This is certainly not everybody's cup of tea, but if you like Christopher Walken and his style of stuff, this is just perfect. But of course, the star of this movie is actually the gorgeous Anne Heche. Looking at her must make every straight man sigh -- what a tragic loss for mankind! =) Also, the chemistry between her and Joan Chen is just magnificent: finally, somebody getting this lesbian seduction business right! To watch the scene of their first kiss is like witnessing magic -- you know they are acting, but it sure doesn't look like it. To watch their love scene, a fire extinguisher might be necessary -- your TV could catch fire because it's that hot. I'm absolutely not kidding. The ending is weird. But fear not, it's a happy lesbian ending, with Anne Heche looking as handsome as can be in a white shirt and a hat, and Joan Chen happily chewing on an apple with Anne's arm around her. Now, how can you beat that? More mild, than wild, but Anne Heche did look fairly good. This strange mix of money, lesbian sex, and a plot that (at times) was a little hard to follow, did feature a fairly decent looking Anne Heche (Ellen Degeneres' former girlfriend, and I could see why) and Joan Chen, who have a few fairly steamy scenes together (too bad Ms. Chen didn't show more). The always strange Christopher Walken and Steven Bauer flesh out (pardon the usage) story, such as it is. I give it four stars for Heche, who can't really act, but did look good; I might have given it five, if Chen had shown more, other than that, ok, but not great. [Supposed to be the unrated edition, but I'm not so sure]. Buy The Wild Side at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on The Wild Side Search with the Priority Search Engine on The Wild Side This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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