The film is narrated from two lines, while recording the heroine's hiking trip, while using a lot of flashbacks to explain her backstory and explain why she chose to embark on this journey. From a storytelling standpoint, I don't think the film is very successful. The biggest problem is that the flashbacks are too many and too fragmented. A film review said that memories are originally fragment by fragment, so that it is more realistic. It makes sense, but I think on the one hand the fragmented flashbacks make the pacing of the whole movie feel very dragged, and on the other hand, the flashbacks that are too stereotyped make the story very rigid. Another problem is that it takes 1/3 of the movie to really explain why the heroine chooses this journey, which makes it difficult for the audience to understand why the heroine wants to walk in the wilderness in the first 1/3 of the movie, and it is difficult to resonate. And when the reason was finally revealed, the os in my heart was I just knew it, so there seemed to be no need to bury this burden.
The story itself is actually nothing new. Many people say that this is a story of chicken soup for the soul, and they are roughly right. Fortunately, the end of the story did not fall into chicken soup for the soul mode. I really like this ending. There is no crying or catharsis, and there is no sudden realization. The 1,100-mile road has come to an end without knowing it. Maybe it is only after time has passed and then look back that you will understand that suffering is part of life. .
I especially watched Reese Witherspoon's performance because of the Oscar nomination. Overall, Reese's performance is definitely worthy of this nomination. The difficult shooting environment, a large number of scenes of walking in the wilderness with heavy loads, and the appearance of beauty, this is not something that ordinary actresses can do. Reese is really dedicated. In addition, she also managed to retract and release several important emotional scenes freely, which is indeed an excellent performance. But to be honest, before watching the movie, I didn't think she was the best actor for the role. In terms of age, Cheryl Stayed, the prototype of the story, completed this trip when she was 26 years old, and the flashbacks occurred when she was about 22 years old. Reese was born in 76, and it is really a big challenge to play the little sister in her early 20s. This is also a big reason why I think Reese's performance is more successful in the main story than in the flashbacks, and the age thing when I was watching the movie made me act a few times. I'm thinking maybe the '85 Roony Mara is a good choice from an age perspective alone? Another Oscar-nominated female supporting actress, Laura Dern, has a small but important role in the film. Laura has clearly portrayed an optimistic and strong mother with very few scenes, and her nomination is logical.
In addition, the film's photography and soundtrack are good, especially a few soundtracks are very impressive. (The singing little boy is crying)
In short, this is a sincere movie, and the performance is worth watching. But unfortunately, there are some problems with the rhythm and narrative style of the film. 3 and a half stars recommended.
View more about Wild reviews
