Wild, the new American movie directed by Jean-Marc Vallee, starring actress Reese Witherspoon, is set to be released December 5. The movie is a biographical drama based on the memoir Wild: From lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail written by Cheryl Strayed. Credits for the screenplay go to well-known writer Nick Hornby. The movie had its premiere at Telluride Film Festival August 29.
The setting of the movie takes place in California, Mexico and Canada. Reese Witherspoon is playing Cheryl, the writer of the best-selling memoir. Her mother dying from cancer has led to a difficult moment in her life, making her resort to heroin and even sex with strangers. Her ex-husband Paul, played by Thomas Sadoski, is there but he doesn’t know what do to for her or help her in any way. The grief and the pain have taken over and it only takes a 1.100-mile hike in the wilderness to bring her back to the real life. Director Vallee managed to create a fantastic universe in the two-hour movie, accompanied by the songs, phrases and poetry that the main character recited during her hike.
Reese Witherspoon declared that this is by far the hardest movie she ever made in her life. The movie received mainly favorable reviews, rating 82% on Rotten Tomatoes and scoring 75 out of 100 on Metacritic. The Hollywood Reporter acclaimed Reese Witherspoon’s performance, as well as the director Jean-Marc Vallee, saying that he managed to create a memorable adventure in the wilderness, being at the same time a family and a survival story. Justin Chang from Variety mentioned that this is the first significant and emotional work Reese Witherspoon did since ‘Walk the line’ in 2005. Peter Hammond of Deadline.com agrees somehow with Justin Chang, stating that Reese Witherspoon can enter the race for an Oscar with this monumental portrayal of a woman trying to find herself.
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