Something Wild

Τhe film will be screened with a newly restored digital print.

Entry to audiences over 17 years of age.

Director: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Melanie Griffith, Jeff Daniels, Ray Liotta, Margaret Colin, Tracey Walter 
Runtime: 113'
Year of Production: 1986
Language: English
Subtitles: Greek

Five years before being honored with the Academy Award for Directing the “Silence of the Lambs”, and belatedly receiving the wider recognition he always deserved, Jonathan Demme was quietly signing one of the best and most unexpected movies of the ‘80s. It took time, however, for “Something Wild” to be appreciated as the risky film it always was. Because in telling the story of the wild Lulu, who nearly kidnaps a conservative yuppie and, during the course of an adventurous journey, teaches him some useful lessons about love and life (and almost death), Demme flirted with the audience’s expectations and the unexpected moods of his own film, attempting to aggressively fuse together incompatible film genres.

Thus, what begins as a sexy road movie quickly transforms into a screwball comedy before abruptly derailing into the grounds of thriller. Romance gives way to horror, a carefree tale of seduction becomes an impetuous ride on the wild side, the audience is unable to predict where the film will take them next and throughout the whole frantic ride the director not only never loses his tempo and destination (despite the many detours he takes) but directs with an enthusiasm and an invigorating ignorance of danger that have sadly disappeared now from American cinema.

Even better, he colors the script with his temperament, his wonderfully sashay take on American reality, his uplifting new wave music selections, his humor and spontaneity, making “Something Wild” a film with grit and personality that belongs as much to him as it does to its three wonderful leads: Melanie Griffith and Jeff Daniels in the best roles of their careers and, of course, Ray Liotta in one of the most memorable performance debuts we have seen. Loukas Katsikas