Lost Highway (1997)
Lost Highway (1997), co-written and directed by David Lynch.
What's it about? My theory:
Free Jazz drives you insane.
No, that's not it. How about:
A man meets the Devil at a party, who says "I'm at your house now. Call home and see."
Or maybe:
The same man in prison has headaches so terrible that reality is deformed...
When I first saw this I was befuddled. I figured out Mulholland Dr while watching it, but this one just lost me. Since then I have read the general consensus is that it is about a man who has done something so awful (the horrific murder of his wife) that his mind cannot accept it, and he creates an alternate life and becomes a different person. And yet: characters, incidents and even music cross over between the realities.
Even his wife. Is she now the way he always wanted, or the way he always feared? No escaping the self, even by psychotic breakdown.
Ok, maybe. I couldn't tell you when the murder actually occurs.
A lot of the nightmare Lynch in this one. He lets you know with that deep bass drone. Scary stuff:
Videos made by someone watching your house, entering at night and photographing you in your sleep.
The creepy Mystery Man who knows things.
The moment that made me jump: Mr Eddy (the always great Robert Loggia) calls to say "I'm really glad to know you're doin' okay. You're sure you're okay? Everything alright? I'm really glad to know you're doin' good, Pete. Hey, I want you to talk to a friend of mine..."
Patricia Arquette and Natasha Gregson Wagner contribute significant nudity and passion. It's a sexually powered nightmare.
The score is harder, more brutal than other Lynch projects. Angelo Badalamenti gets credit but other musicians contributed. I recognized This Mortal Coil's cover of "Song To The Siren" which made me feel extra-hip at the time.
Notes:
You see how Frank and Pete have the same shiny black sheets? Their homes have similar color schemes, too.
Pete and Alice start to win us over: young people are Wild at Heart and we want them to make it. Then she turns fatale.
Does she call him by the wrong name once, and does he correct her?
Girlfriend Sheila says "You have changed! [to his Dad] Tell him!"
Does Pete really not remember his other life? The way he checks his face in the mirror...
Frank: "I like to remember things my own way. How I remembered them. Not necessarily the way they happened."
Robert Loggia wanted the part of Frank Booth in Blue Velvet (1986). His rage when he didn't get it inspired Lynch to cast him in this film.
Lynch likes brains. Other people's, on screen.
Last film for Robert Blake, Jack Nance and Richard Pryor.
The thumbnails are from a German import Blu-ray: Concorde Home Entertainment. No English subtitles. Quality seems only fair to me, but I'm not remembering what it is supposed to look like. Often dark, and not meant to be vivid or sharp, is it?
