Bill Pullman and Patricia Arquette star in David Lynch’s cryptic classic
After spending much of his career making stories about small towns like Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks, director David Lynch created one of his most bizarre pictures and his most surreal film since Eraserhead: Lost Highway. Lost Highway is as unique a film Lynch has ever made, and also is one of his best. Like many David Lynch movies, it received mixed review in its initial opening but only by now has it been recognized for its ingenuity.
Describing the story of Lost Highway will be difficult, as it’s even more cryptic than Mulholland Drive. The film begins with a couple, a sax-player named Fred Madison (Bill Pullman) and his wife Renee (Patricia Arquette). They live in a small, stylized home that echoes the Red Room from Twin Peaks as well as Henry’s apartment in Eraserhead. One morning, Patricia discovers a videotape of their house and the next day, another tape arrives showing the couple asleep.
Confused and baffled? So are Fred and Renee, as well as the pair of detectives who are sent to investigate this case. The film grows even more surreal and bizarre as one day Fred finds another tape that shows him killing his wife. He is imprisoned and sentenced to death, but overnight he disappears in his prison cell and a teenager named Pete Dayton (Balthazar Getty) is there instead. The police, who are stupefied by this occurrence, release him, and Pete returns to his normal life. He works as a mechanic for gangster Mr. Eddy (Robert Loggia), and his life becomes intertwined with a whole new series of circumstances he has never experienced before.
Lost Highway is a very complex and intricate movie, even for a David Lynch film. I could barely understand or comprehend the plot, written by Lynch and Barry Gifford. Yet like David Lynch’s other films, Lost Highway is so engrossing that it doesn’t matter and like Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway’s thrill is its story. Lynch directs scenes that are so claustrophobic that he matches the visual perfection of Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock. As the movie progresses, Lynch paces the picture quicker and quicker to its conclusion, which is as unpredictable as endings are made.
Lost Highway is full of the director’s hallmarks. While Lynch doesn’t direct the movie in a campy style a la Blue Velvet, it is full of dark humor. He also calls upon the supernatural through a mysterious character played by Robert Blake, reflecting Bob from Twin Peaks. There are callbacks to his earlier movies, such as the typical David Lynch shot of a car speeding down the road. Another scene is reminiscent to when Isabella Rossellini stood undressed in public in Blue Velvet. But the most similar films Lynch has made to Lost Highway are Mulholland Drive and Eraserhead. Though Mulholland Drive debuted four years after Lost Highway, both share the loss of a character’s identity as well as similar camerawork. And like Eraserhead, Lost Highway is a horror picture, though it also could be classified as a thriller.
But Lost Highway is different from Lynch’s other movies. Most of Lynch’s other pictures are rooted in the 1950s, as they reference the decade through old vinyl rock songs and a sitcommy feel. Lost Highway, on the other hand, is based truly upon the 90s. Lynch’s soundtrack is primarily made up of heavy metal songs and I would argue it features a better selection than even Blue Velvet. The film entices the audience as Martin Scorsese’s GoodFellas did, that I felt that I could watch the picture untwine forever.
Lynch is lucky to have a superb cast in his movie. Pullman is superb, as well as Arquette and Getty. But Robert Blake steals scenes as his character, an unnamed man who appears as an open threat. Blake originally wanted to star as Frank Booth in Blue Velvet, and his role here is similar, particularly in a profanity-filled scene. Blake’s character is one of Lynch’s most eerie, frightening, and best creations.
Lost Highway, like David Lynch’s other pictures, will not be in everyone’s taste. It is dark, bleak, and very harrowing. But it is a superb movie that will transport the viewer into a world of evil of vileness. It is a fantastic and very misunderstood classic.
Great review. I don’t like everything that Lynch does but I love this film. It’s amazing how you can be so gripped by a movie that appears to make so little sense and have so little logic. I haven’t seen it for a few years but I think I’ll have go and watch it again… might even force the GF to sit through it 😉
By: beautifulorange on April 8, 2013
at 7:09 am
Thanks! It is an amazing film, even though it’s definitely a very confusing movie. All of Lynch’s movies have an endless rewatchability, well except Dune.
By: ckckred on April 8, 2013
at 6:37 pm
Great review mate. I’ve still not seen a single David Lynch film, one of my biggest movie gaps!
By: Terry Malloy's Pigeon Coop on April 8, 2013
at 7:47 am
Thanks! I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on Lynch, he’s a very decisive director.
By: ckckred on April 8, 2013
at 6:38 pm
Very nice review. I STILL haven’t seen this film!
By: keith7198 on April 8, 2013
at 7:54 am
Thanks! I highly recommend it.
By: ckckred on April 8, 2013
at 6:38 pm
Nice review. Not my favorite Lynch film, but still a good one.
By: mediarray on April 8, 2013
at 8:34 am
Thanks! This is a superb film.
By: ckckred on April 8, 2013
at 6:38 pm
Brilliant review, man. You really are on a Lynch kick at the moment aren’t you? 😉
It’s great to see. He’s my favourite director after the Coen’s and I completely agree that this is a misunderstood classic. I’m still trying to work it out after so many viewings and Robert Blake is the epitomy of creepiness. Superb film.
By: Mark Walker on April 8, 2013
at 11:35 am
Thanks! Lynch has definitely become one of my favorite directors. With the exception of Dune, I’ve loved everything I’ve seen by him.
This really is an addictive movie and Robert Blake is great in it. I read that he originally wanted to be Frank Booth in Blue Velvet and Lynch decided to cast him in this film after an argument with Blake.
By: ckckred on April 8, 2013
at 6:40 pm
It’s been a while since I’ve watched this but I do remember it being very obscure. But I liked it. Nice review man.
By: filmhipster on April 8, 2013
at 11:40 am
Thanks! It is a very bizarre movie but it is great.
By: ckckred on April 8, 2013
at 6:41 pm
Love David Lynch and this film is one of the many reasons why. Nice write up.
By: Mark Hobin on April 8, 2013
at 6:47 pm
Thanks! I love Lynch’s work as well and this is one of my favorites by him.
By: ckckred on April 8, 2013
at 6:54 pm
I’ve only watched the first act of this; i didn’t like it much. Does it make sense at the end? Is Blake’s character ever explained, or does he remain a huge mystery? Blake could have been given a supporting Oscar in that role. So damn creepy! I just wasn’t sure what he was. I guess that’s the madness of Lynch. lol.
By: GaryLee828 on April 9, 2013
at 1:19 am
The movie never really fully explains itself but that’s the thrill of it. Blake’s character isn’t fully detailed, and I also think he should have been nominated for an Oscar. Thanks for commenting.
By: ckckred on April 9, 2013
at 6:55 am
Thank you for the review. My favorite Lynch movie. Exploring Identity and the building madness from inside the mind of the murderer is a tradition going at least as far back as Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Blake’s performance is right up with the likes of Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh, though totally different movies/bad guys..
By: Jeff Wissman on April 9, 2013
at 4:32 pm
Thanks! My two favorites by Lynch are Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet but I think I’d tie this with Eraserhead for third. Lynch really does explore identity loss and this and Blake is just as committed to his role as Bardem.
By: ckckred on April 9, 2013
at 6:35 pm
I’ve never watched this before but I like the soundtrack. Your view makes me want to check it out.
By: sidekickreviews on April 9, 2013
at 10:39 pm
I highly recommend it.
By: ckckred on April 11, 2013
at 8:44 pm
I always confuse this one with Inland Empire, which is (I think) David Lynch’s most recent film. I still have to finish Twin Peaks (I need time!), but once I do so, I’ll probably try to finish off a few more David Lynch films, including Lost Highway. Nice review.
By: The Cinemaniac on April 11, 2013
at 8:54 am
Thanks! It’s a great movie, but be prepared. It’s a crazy movie, even for a David Lynch film. I also recommend seeing the Twin Peaks film. I saw that a few weeks ago and thought it was a very underrated film.
By: ckckred on April 11, 2013
at 6:52 pm
Nice review, enjoyed it! You can definitely see themes in this that he expanded on a bit with Mulholland Drive (mainly playing around with the idea of identity). I just about prefer the latter though too.
By: Popcorn Nights on April 16, 2013
at 11:26 am
[…] 5. Lost Highway […]
By: A Discussion of David Lynch | Cinematic on February 20, 2014
at 6:02 am