Donald Cammell's final film, the censorious treatment of which, probably drove him to take his life, is a stupendous tour de force, the likes of which you are unlikely to have seen before. Steven Bauer is scarily violent and believably ruthless. Joan Chen is beautiful and commanding while Anne Heche is astonishingly effective in a complicated and ever changing role as she interacts with the other three main participants. Christopher Walken allows his character to take him over almost completely and occasionally seems to struggle to stay this side of sanity. This is a nightmare of a performance in which he turns himself inside out to portray the true horror of ultimate power and greed. I will not divulge the simple plot as Cammell tells it so well it is far better that this terrible tale unfold as he intended. Suffice to say, the aforementioned acting is faultless, the direction sure footed and the editing an object lesson and for once the word 'sensational' is most apt.
Review of Wild Side
