Film Review: Lost Highway

Secrets Travel Fast


To this film's detractors who are accusing it of not making any sense, I ask: Except for one character inexplicably turning into another at two points in the film, what exactly don't you understand?

Fred Madison (Bill Pullman) is a sax player who doesn't trust his wife. She doesn't answer the phone when he calls from the club, is friends with unsavory pornographers and patronizes him during sex. To make matters worse, someone is leaving videotapes on their doorstep, someone who obviously has access to their house and likes to tape them while they sleep. When Renee is brutally murdered, all evidence points to Fred. Despite his claims of not remembering committing the crime, he's imprisoned and sentenced to death. In his cell one night, Fred transforms into teenager Pete Dayton which results in his release from prison. Back at work, Pete befriends local gangster Mr. Eddy and is slowly drawn into an affair with his lover Alice (who, wouldn't you know it, looks just like Renee). Is Pete destined to make the same mistakes as Fred or can he change his cosmic lot in life once and for all? Come to think of it, are Fred and Pete the same person? Is the Renee/Alice persona a spirit determined to haunt this one soul throughout all of time? Is any of this happening outside of Fred's mind? And what's the deal with the Mystery Man?

Director David Lynch has never been interested in merely telling a straightforward story and tends to lose his way when asked to; just check out Dune, the second season of Twin Peaks or it's film follow-up if you doubt that. Instead, he masterfully creates worlds in which explanation and reason exist just outside our peripheral vision. Like a great painter, his aim is to invoke pure emotion and then let the viewer interpret the work from there. I don't know what love is but, after listening to This Mortal Coil perform Song to the Siren over a key scene at the end of this film, I know what it sounds like. When was the last time a filmmaker gave such a gift?

One of the pleasures of the film is watching elements from Fred's world slowly creep into Pete's: A sax solo on the radio gives Pete a crippling headache, minor characters from one pop up in the other and mention the same locations, Mr. Eddy's offering of videotapes. And no discussion of this film would be complete without mention of the character referred to only as the Mystery Man (Robert Blake, eyebrow-less and in white Kabuki makeup). His first meeting with Fred early in the film is eerie, mysterious and refreshingly silly all at the same time. It's the high point of the film and instantly one of Lynch's best scenes to date.

This film's production values are all excellent. Gone are the cringe-inducing elements from Blue Velvet and Fire Walk with Me that us fans had such trouble defending him from. In fact, one would be hard pressed to label anything in this film gratuitous or exploitative and the restraint on display here suits Mr. Lynch just fine. Sure, there's still the occasional death by coffee table and throat slashing now and then but there's nothing here that isn't appropriate to the milieu. Considering how difficult the material is, all of the actors do excellent jobs. Specifically Gary Busey and Lucy Butler as Pete's parents, who manage to be clueless without being annoying, and Robert Loggia's Mr. Eddy, who manages to be monstrous without making the same over-the-top mistakes Dennis Hopper made in Blue Velvet. Sound-wise, Lynch continues to experiment and evolve. Yes, Angelo Badalamenti's beautifully lilting melodies can still be heard here and there but the majority of the soundtrack consists of Goth and Industrial with the occasional classic (Lou Reed's This Magic Moment) thrown in for good measure. One only has to listen to a few moments of the song over the opening credits (David Bowie's I'm Deranged) to get an idea of what exactly they're in for.

And as for the Fred-to-Pete transformation that has so many people crying foul: A psychogenic fugue is a mental condition in which a person completely forgets his past identity and replaces it with a brand new one. Also, in musical terms, a fugue is a piece that starts off one way, takes off in another direction and then returns back to it's original form. You figure it out...