LOST HIGHWAY (1996) A film review by Nick Schaden Copyright 1997 Nick Schaden
David Lynch's movies have always been an eccentric, bizarre take upon life and society. Ever since Lynch's masterpiece, "Blue Velvet" came out in 1986, Lynch's pictures dropped in quality dramatically, with both "Wild At Heart" and "Fire Walk With Me" being below average pictures. Luckily, David Lynch has bounced back with a great mystery/noir film, "Lost Highway".
I won't dig deep into the plot of this movie, because frankly, I'm still having trouble piecing the whole thing together. The movie starts with a married couple Fred (Bill Pullman) and Renee (Patricia Arquette). The couple get a series of videos, and then BANG, we're suddenly getting into metamorphosis, mirror images, double lives, time going backward and forward. By the end of the movie, I was left with plenty of unanswered questions, and while the plot line seems to ravel together in a bizarre, "Vertigo"-like fashion, the knot is not even close to fully tied by the end of the movie.
As is a trademark characteristic of Lynch's films, the movie is breathtaking, with amazing visual and audio art, which pulled me into the movie. The movie is original, fresh, and incredibly scary and disturbing. I'm usually not the kind of person that gets spooked, but "Lost Highway"'s visuals, and sounds (especially in the first third of the movie) were absolutely haunting to me.
The cinematography by Peter Deming pushes the limits of this film's motif. Not only are certain scenes dark but people appear to vanish and suddenly appear out of the darkness as though they materialized from thin air. In certain first person perspective camera angles, the camera jars, blurs, and shakes, as though the audience is on some strange hallucinogen. It's unbelievable.
"Lost Highway" has to be taken at it's full visual and artistic impact, the movie isn't made to be fully comprehensible. Other critics have blasted the movie, blowing off the bizarre plot. However, to truly enjoy this movie, you can't expect warm, fuzzy and wrapped up endings as in most mainstream movies, as Lynch refuses to provide answers for any of the many mysteries deep in "Lost Highway"'s plot. We may get clues, but no answers. To me, this bizarre approach worked, I was fascinated by the plot, and still many days afterward I'm still trying to piece this movie together in some sensible fashion. On that same note, it's my belief that some of the audience will be more frustrated by the plot than satisfied. If it weren't for that large percentage of viewers, I'd probably give this movie a +4. Thus I warn fans of definite and linear plot lines (i.e. people who hate movies like "Pulp Fiction", "Reservoir Dogs" because non-linear plot) that you may be disappointed. However, for the rest of you, "Lost Highway" is a captivating and wonderful movie, Lynch's best since "Blue Velvet".
Nick's Rating: +3 (Recommended)
*** Movies rated from -4 (worst) to +4 (best), 0 = average movie ***
-- Nick Schaden Send your comments to: cpunut@uslink.net Check out all of Nick's reviews at: http://uslink.net/~cpunut/movies.html
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