LOST HIGHWAY ***1/2 of **** grade is B+
David Lynch is a great director, his films include Eraserhead and Blue Velvet. Lynch continues to push the limit with Lost Highway, a film that dares to be different and definatly does. This is the kind of film that Lynch fans will eat up and others will be frustated to tears. This film doesn't follow the truths of hollywood film and will piss of most audiences expecting it to.
This film is also a powerful peice of atmosphere and mood setting. We get the setup of a troubled couple getting videotapes on their steps that become unpersonable (a few seconds of their house) to a later tape with them sleeping. The first twenty minutes are the best as the mood of tension and horror are powerful. Then the movie changes gears to a plot involving a mob bos's mole (Patricia Arquete), who was also he wife of the first troubled couple. Is this the same lady? What is going on here?
The more the film goes on the more credibility it throws to the wind. After a while the film looks like it may never reach a satisfactor ending - and it doesn't even try.
The direction is very good, and so is the acting. The actors are forced to reach levels of emotions or logical blandness that they handle it quite well. It seems like Lynch can direct anyone to give great performance, remember Hopper's tour de force in Blue Velvet.
It you are not disturbed by the films lack of satisfing normal standards you may be by certain S&M scenes that are reminiscent of Rossilini in Blue Velvet. Instead of Rossilini's forced public nakedness, we have Arquete being forced to strip by Robert Loggia as the mob guy. She ends up with noting but bikini panties and a very humiliated look on her face. I wonder if Lynch has something against women. Does he find humiliation sexy or is it a way of establishing power.
You may get the answer to that tough question in the film, Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch. In that film we get an inside look at Lynch, Lynch's relationship to the cast and crew, and a breif interview with Arquete. She says that one of the reasons she chose the film was because she had a huge phobia of nudity, and she thought the nude scenes in Lost Highway may help her to get over it. More importantly, in that film, you will find a look inside Lynch's art. He loves dark images and is fascinated by decay and pushing the limit. I am highly recomeding Lost Highway because it pushes that limit and I will not befall the same ambuitity as other critics. Often critics call for originality and imagination but when the get something too new and fresh they dismiss it, I won't!
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews