16/06/12: Lost Highway [1997]

 Once again David Lynch is able to create the strangest of stories in the first 10 minutes, with the dial cranked all the way up. Then suddenly he is able go beyond the dial and create such an inexplicably weird movie that is undoubtedly surrounded by hundreds of theories with everyone frantically piecing together the story in any way that makes sense. That is why I love David Lynch and why you should expect some spoilers ahead. But even with those, Lost Highway will turn you around enough times you still won’t know what happened.

I think it is safe to say that I loved David Lynch after only seeing one of his movies. The first one I saw was Mulholland Drive about half a year ago. That movie showed me that no matter how crazy some movie plots can be, David Lynch can put them to shame. While I still haven’t been able to figure out what happened in Mulholland Drive, if there was one thing I took away from that movie it was that David Lynch was awesome, and a master storyteller. It was either that or else he might just be batshit insane. 

As much as I decided I loved David Lynch after only watching one of his movies, I somehow didn’t get around to seeing anything else of his until tonight. Finally it was time to check out Lost Highway. I’m not sure why I picked Lost Highway over Blue Velvet. Something in the IMDb summary must have swung me one way. Either way I don’t think I would have been disappointed. In the first five minutes of Lost Highway alone I was already lost in awe and had already formulated a couple dozen question in my mind. At that point only one line had been spoken however; “Dick Laurent is dead... ” but how important that line is, well, I’m not even sure.

I'm not sure if Bill Pullman can actually play the saxophone, but he gave it one hell of a shot.

I think the first act runs about 30-40 minutes, I can’t remember for sure. This is where David Lynch started to piece together a rather strange mystery. With our not quite so happily wed couple receiving mysterious tapes on their doorstep, the questions abound and the strangeness seeps into you. Then, things peak with an even stranger party, with an inexplicable encounter with a man only credited as Mystery Man. I’ll be honest, the movie was already intriguing as hell and I was ready for whatever might unfold in the next hour or so. Then, David Lynch, in one hell of a quick and partially understood plot twist, takes  Lost Highway’s crazy train right off the tracks.

When I started watching this movie, I had forgotten about the online summary I read. However, as I tried to comprehend what happened in the jailcell, my mind keyed up the sentence “inexplicably morphs into a mechanic.” As weird as that sounds, it is exactly what happens. For some unknown, uncomprehendable  reason, our main character, who for some unexplained reason had murdered his wife, just suddenly becomes a 24 year old mechanic. A completely different character and actor, it seems like David Lynch just got tired of his story and switch midway into a different one. Yet, he doesn’t lose you. I think that would be a hard feat to achieve. To completely switch what the hell the movie was about to what feels like a different unrelated movie and not lose your interest.

I definitely read to far into the black nail polish. Or maybe I didn't?...

But then again, is it really unrelated? Slowly we are given pieces. Yet for some reason those pieces just give us more and more questions, and what feels like fewer and fewer answers. There was everything from large hints, to subtle clues, to things that might just have been red herrings, or maybe even clues I just made up. Such as the black nail polish. Things got a little hokey when you coupled the headaches with the strange reaction to saxophone music. Then, when we first got our glimpse of what happened to Pete that night, I thought I had something’s figured out. Then of course it turns out I’m completely out to lunch again. Just as things ramp up for the finale, you finally feel like things are getting answered, and then they get insane again, and you go dump another can of theories out the window.

In the end, I’m not really sure what the hell happened. All I know is that I enjoyed the hell out of it and can’t wait to go online and start sifting through all the theories that have undoubtedly cropped up over the years. However, up until this point I have only praised David Lynch’s writing, but as a director he also succeeds. One of the most perfect things I noticed about this movie was the soundtrack. The one element that didn’t come with a mystery or more questions, the soundtrack was absolutely perfect. While the background suspense and mystery music appeared when required, every time an actual song came on, it was at such a key moment, an exciting moment, a powerful moment, and yet, none of them required anything but a song playing. No words were necessary beyond the lyrics, and I mean, there is even some Rammstein to pound away with the violence.

Also in Lost Highway: Gary Busey gives "the talk".

Then there is the cast. Patricia Arquette is really the shining star here. Playing what was at first two completely different characters, that instead might just have been one character, Renee or Alison I will never know. Bill Pullman plays Fred Madison, who, I didn’t think was going to make a return after his inexplicable morphing into Pete. I don’t really want to get to bogged down with the cast, as I didn’t recognise anyone besides Patricia and Gary Busey.  However, they all did great jobs.

Overall, Lost Highway is a movie in which I have no idea what the hell happened in it. Yet, that if anything makes me only like it more. In my opinion, David Lynch was one of the best writers and directors ever, and has failed to disappoint. I can’t wait to both watch more of his movies, and re-watch them all a second or third time, just so maybe. Maybe. I will one day understand them. Until then I will fill my head with all the theories out there floating around the internet, but unfortunately, I’m not even sure David Lynch himself could fully explained what happened on that Lost Highway.

 Link:

Lost Highway IMDb