"I like to remember things my own way"

Goddamn it David Lynch is confounding. But in a good way. Lost Highway would have to be one of his more abstract and demanding films. I'd also put Mulholland Dr. in this category, but to a slightly lesser extent. Most of his other films are reasonably straightforward and have characters that are at least somewhat likeable. Lost Highway really doesn't have anyone to sympathise with, or at least doesn't give you the time to get to know the characters.

The first half hour is watchable but annoyingly distant. Fred Madison (Bill Pullman) and his wife Renee (Patricia Arquette) keep receiving disturbing videotapes left on their doorstep and eventually call in the police to investigate. Fred also begins to suspect that Renee is having an affair with their friend Andy (Michael Massee). At a party hosted by Andy, Fred meets a strange man (Robert Blake) who tries to convince him that they had met before. Fred eventually receives a tape showing him murdering his wife and his sentenced to be executed. While incarcerated, he bizarrely transforms into Pete Dayton (Balthazar Getty) and is then released. Pete returns to work, a shell of a man, and begins an affair with Alice Wakefield (Patricia Arquette again) behind both his girlfriend's back and her boyfriend, Mr. Eddy (Robert Loggia in a frightening performance). Events catch up with themselves, and Fred eventually reappears to rendevous with the strange man, Mr. Eddy who is also known as Dick Laurent and Alice who may or may not also be Renee at a place oddly inspired by Robert Aldrich's film Kiss Me Deadly.



As we all know, Lynch is obsessed by dreams and sometimes his films themselves get lost in a perpetual dream within a dream state. We could interpret that Fred is using Pete as a way of escaping his crime. Alternately, it could be that Pete is escaping from his own reality. However, it becomes even more confounding during scenes in which it is apparent that in this film "reality" both characters do exist - for example, the scene with the police at Andy's death scene, has both sets of cops, the set looking for Fred and the set who have been following Pete. This is just one of many examples of double identities in the film. Fred/Pete, Renee/Alice, the 2 cops investigating Fred/the 2 cops following Pete, Mr. Eddy/Dick Laurent, there are two jail guards, two hotel rooms etc. This may be a long bow to draw, but Lynch in general likes to do this. There are also 2 detectives in Mulholland Drive and 2 FBI Agents in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me for example.

Whatever you make of Lost Highway you cannot deny it's filmic qualities or the conviction with which everyone floats through the movie. My impression is that Lynch films a reasonably straightforward film and then turns it inside out using montage, sound design and music. The soundtrack design is integral to any Lynch film, and this is one of the few times he has used significant pieces of music outside of his core people headed by Angelo Badalamenti. Trent Reznor contributed three songs to the soundtrack (and was also unofficially a producer of the soundtrack as a whole), plus there is music from David Bowie, Smashing Pumpkins, Lou Reed, Marilyn Manson and Rammstein. And there is the usually playful and ominous score from Lynch regular Badalamenti.

The cinematography is by Peter Deming who has worked with Lynch on a number of productions since the failed tv series On The Air. He imbues his widescreen image with deep penetrating blacks and populates the frame with wonderful compositions, often utlising extreme angles. The quality of the Lost Highway transfer has always been a bone of contention and this new DVD is easily the best it has ever looked (outside of a cinema). The picture is reasonably sharp (for low def dvd) and full of colour (check out the red of the Luna Lounge or the green grass in the Dayton's backyard).



Patricia Norris has always been an important key to the success of a Lynch film (since she was Costume Designer on The Elephant Man; and her first Production Design gig was on Blue Velvet) - her sets are often sparse, Fred and Renee's house being the perfect example, but always reflect the characters inhabitating them - check out the richly textured Barnie's Complete Car Service, Andy's mansion or the Dayton's house.

The acting ranges from sublime to maniacal to truly awful in this film. Getty probably comes off best in a dazed, confused but empathetic performance as Pete. Pullman has a quiet cool that some might confuse with sleepwalking. Arquette and Natasha Gregson Wagner are ok as the femme fatales/victims but it is Blake and Loggia who give the craziest performances. Blake (in surely an ironic twist of casting) gives an outrageous performance as the Mystery Man who bears more than a passing resemblance to the villain in Twin Peaks, Bob. Loggia is the real star here though, giving Mr. Eddy a gruff presence that is intimidating right up until his final moments.

Thank god the transfer on this 2 disc R4 release is mostly exceptional (the DTS is especially rich) for the disc 2 extras are frustratingly brief. They consist solely of various miscellaneous EPK featurettes and a brief recent interview with Lynch. Why is it that the recent R1 of Wild At Heart has been the only substantial special edition to date? Let's hope that the forthcoming Season 2 of Twin Peaks is more substantial.