Lost Highway (1997)

nTitle: Lost Highway (1997)

nDirector: David Lynch

nCast: Patricia Arquette, Bill Pullman, Balthazar Getty,nRobert Blake, Gary Busey, Robert Loggia

nI’ve been re-watching all of Lynch’s films these past fewndays for my Lynch blog-a-thon and watching Lost Highway it dawned upon me how muchnLynch had been playing with the same themes ever since he made Twin Peaks: FirenWalk With Me (1992). You see, in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me Lynch told a storynabout a secret group of people hell bent on taking over other people’s bodies,nkind of like possessing them, so they can live forever. Then there’s MulhollandDrive (2001) which some people seem to interpret the same way, Betty wants tonturn Camilla into herself. So while watching Lost Highway (1997) I realized it alsonplayed with this premise of people taking over other people’s bodies. In manynways, Mulholland Drive was the result of Lynch playing with these themes fornyears, it was the culmination of many years of ruminating these premises, whichnis why Mulholland Drive is so damned perfect in my book. This of course is notnto say that these films are all the same, in fact, they aren’t, they vary innmood and look, but they do play with similar ideas. In fact, Lynch stated in anrecent interview that Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and Lost Highway exist innthe same universe, so I guess I’m not that far off with my assumptions. So whatnsets Lost Highway apart?

nIn Lost Highway we meet Fred Madison, a Jazz musician who’snexperiencing marital troubles. Though not entirely obvious at first, littlenthings let you know that they’ve grown apart. She won’t go to his Jazz showsnbecause she’d rather stay home and read a book? We see she feels kind of sorrynfor him during sex when she taps him in the back while having it, as if saying “there,nthere”. Fred tells his wife “I’m glad I can still make you laugh” the key wordnbeing “still”. Finally, he remembers her walking away with some guy during onenof his performances at the Jazz club, so he suspects she is also being unfaithful,nwhich fires up a furious jealousy. All these negative feelings in hisnrelationship bring forth an unusual situation in his life! A mysterious manndressed in black begins to visit him in his mind and his dreams. Who is thisnMystery Man? And how and why does he keep sending ominous video tapes of Frednand his wife sleeping in bed? How does the Mystery Man invade their home?

nSo once again Lynch visits the world of relationships, Lynchnhas been commenting on the intricacies of relationships since his very firstnfilm, Eraserhead (1977) which was all about that awkward situation of suddenlynfinding yourself entangled with someone you do not love. On Lost Highway Lynchnexplores a similar subject manner, the little tattle tale signs that let you knownsomething is just not right in a marriage, signs that let you know in annindirect way that though this person is still with you, she or he has alreadynmoved on to the next relationship and is actually already contemplating how tondump you. In Lost Highway Fred has already detected this in his wife Renee andnso he welcomes a dark being into his mind, the creepy ‘Mystery Man’, the onenwho can help him escape and become somebody else, somebody younger! Thendifference on this film though is that Lynch focuses on how we don’t have tonstay in this situation, Lynch actually comments on how we can and probablynshould change our life before the darkness takes over, but this being Lynch,nwell, he goes into dark, dark territory to tell this tale.

nSo once again we enter the realm of switching bodies andnlives. Remember how in Mulholland Dr. Diane changed her dark depressivenlife as a wannabe actress, for the life of Betty, an up and coming actress whonblows everybody away with her acting abilities? Something similar happens onnLost Highway with Fred the Jazz player. As we can see by these films, Lynchnlikes telling stories about people who aren’t happy with their lives and wantnto change them somehow. In Twin Peaks we get a whole group of people trying tonposses others lives, but in that film these mysterious people want to possesnbodies so they can live out their own lives. So this is actually a verynpositive thing about Lynch’s films, he tells us that we can become whoever wenwant to become, no matter how dark the situation.

nLynch transmits his ideas through a very dark and disturbingnprism and that’s one of the funny things about Lynch, his films aren’t horrornfilms, but they have horrifying elements to them that make them scarier than anynhorror film you’d see. I think this trio of films, Mulholland Drive, LostnHighway and Twin Peaks are some of his scariest ones, they all deal withnsupernatural elements, and they all stir up dark situations and emotions. Othernsimilarities that these films share: females as central characters of the story,nwhich is really a Lynch staple. In all three films women are either femmnfatales you don’t want to mess with, or women in peril at the hands of abusivenpsychotic men. In Lost Highway’s case, it’s an incredible mixture of both; awomannin peril desperately trying to escape the grip of a gangster/mad man, but also,na femm fatale, a woman with great allure, leading men into dangerous situations.nIn Lost Highway’s case, the femm fatale is played by the beautiful PatricianArquette. I want to take this time and point out just how obvious it is thatnLynch loves and appreciates women. I mean, he not only makes them the centralncharacters in many of his films and shows sympathy for them, he also choosesntrue beauties for his films. I mean, Laura Dern, Naomi Watts, Laura Harring,nall bombshells in my book, we can addnPatricia Arquette to that list. On this film she looks incredibly beautiful; anwoman that any man would do anything for. So out of Wild at Heart, MulhollandDr. and Lost Highway which one is the most erotic? That’s a tough one, Inthought Mulholland Dr. would be it with it’s amazing sex scene between Wattsnand Herring, but after having seen Lost Highway, I think Lost Highway wins, PatricianArquette is just too stunning. I can now see why Nicholas Cage proposed to hernon the spot, the first time he saw her!

nSo anyhow, that’s my two cents on Lost Highway. It’s a verynslow paced movie, but then again, that’s the way most of Lynch’s films are,nslow, sultry and seductive, and then blamo, he hits you in the head with disturbingnimagery. At the end of the day it’s a satisfying film. By the way, though Lynchnusually works with the same group of actors, most of the actors on this film werenworking with Lynch for the first time. Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette,nBalthazar Getty, Gary Busey, Robert Loggia and Robert Blake are all Lynchnrookies; the only Lynch regular that I spotted was Jack Nance in a cameo as anmechanic. By the way, this was Nance’s last performance before he passed awayntwo months before the film was released. Look for an avalanche of amusingncameos from guys like Henry Rollins, Marilyn Manson, Giovanni Ribisi. Even RichardnPryor cameos here in his last on screen performance as a guy running an autonshop. Last words on Lost Highway: it’s another spooky unsettling gem in Lynch’sncrown of masterpieces. My only true problem with it is the open ending; thenfilm ends rather abruptly which leaves you sort of begging for more, this smallnquibble aside, Lost Highway is another Lynch masterpiece, I gotta say, I’ve yetnto be disappointed by a Lynch film.

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nRating: 5 out of 5