Lost Highway
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Lost Highway is a 1997 film directed by David Lynch. It is arguably an example of contemporary film noir. Lynch also co-wrote the script together with Barry Gifford; the soundtrack is by Angelo Badalamenti. Throughout the film, Lynch is constantly trying to push the physical properties of celluloid to their limits, giving the film a unique look. Dealing with the fallibility of human memory, the film is to most a confusing but unforgettable experience. Infamously, the film received "two thumbs down" from Siskel and Ebert - though Lynch used this to his advantage by claiming it was "two good reasons to go and see Lost Highway".
The film's makers have compared the structure of the film to a Möbius strip. A little more helpful is David Lynch's comment in the screenplay that the story is about a murderer with multiple personalities, told from the different points of view of these personalities. The plot of the film becomes less incomprehensible if much of it is seen as a failed wish-fulfillment dream by the protagonist in which he tries to suppress his memories of what he has done.
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Comparisons
It is arguable that Lynch has more or less successfully tried with increasing success to make thematically related movies from the conclusion of Twin Peaks to his most recent work in Mulholland Drive (movie), with subject matter driven by a variably conscious psychoanalytic perspective focused on a hallucinatory expressions of wishes animated by fierce desires that finds expressions at once erotic and violence.
While much less surreal than Lynch films, Christopher Nolan's Memento also deals with the fallibility of memory animated by desire and violent wish fulfillment.
Notable cast
- Bill Pullman as Fred Madison
- Patricia Arquette as Renee Madison/Alice Wakefield
- Robert Blake as Mystery Man ("I'm there right now")
- Robert Loggia as Dick Laurent/Mr Eddy
- Balthazar Getty as Pete Dayton
- Marilyn Manson as Porno star #1
- Twiggy Ramirez as Porno star #2
- Henry Rollins as Guard Henry
Soundtrack
The soundtrack features a number of contributions from (consistent Lynch collaborator) Angelo Badalamenti, Barry Adamson, and Trent Reznor. Also appearing are tracks from David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, The Smashing Pumpkins, Lou Reed, Marilyn Manson, and Rammstein.
Book
Lost Highway was released as a novel by David Lynch and Barry Gifford by Faber & Faber (ISBN 0571191509).
Further reading
- The Art of the Ridiculous Sublime: On David Lynch's Lost Highway, (ISBN 0295979259) Slavoj Zizek, 2000; text used by Lynch in his course at the European Graduate School and arguably the most articulate book of film criticism on Lynch
Other uses
Lost Highway is the title of a 2003 BBC documentary series in 4 episodes on the history of country music.
External links
- Lost Highway (http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:154436~C) at All Movie Guide
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- Lost Highway (http://www.lynchnet.com/lh/index.html) at lynchnet.com (http://www.lynchnet.com)