View image "I'm there right now": The lost highway goes down Mulholland Drive and through the Inland Empire...
It is possible that many people would not describe David Lynch's movies as "straightforward," but they're really pretty simple to grasp if you think of them as meditations on states of consciousness rather than chronological narratives (or, uh, "straight stories"). They still have beginnings, middles and endings and they take you from one place (or way of seeing) to another. "Inland Empire," for example, is about a Hollywood actress (who may or may not be unfaithful to her husband -- but is that the actress or the Southern gal she's playing or someone else?), a suburban wife married to a former animal handler in a Polish carny, a mistress, a Polish whore... And all of them appear to be aspects of the same woman, played by Laura Dern. Or, perhaps, all these women are aspects of one another: the actress feels like a whore, the wife is also a mistress, the whore is also an actress, the actress's character is having an adulterous affair, and so on and so on.
I think "Lost Highway," "Mullholland Drive" and "Inland Empire" are ("Twin Peaks" aside -- that's in a realm of its own) Lynch's strongest work, and they also feel like extensions of one another. The saxophonist played by Bill Pullman and the mechanic played by Balthazar Getty, the actresses played by Naomi Watts and Laura Harring, the actress played by Laura Dern -- they all seem like variations on similar ideas.
In Lynch's book "Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity" he describes "Lost Highway," for example, in a way that seems perfectly clear when you watch it:
At the time Barry Gifford and I were writing the script for "Lost Highway," I was sort of obsessed with the O.J. Simpson trial. Barry and I never talked about it this way, but I think the film is somehow related to that.(The fact that Robert Blake, who appeared as the chilling Mystery Man in that film, was latter tried for the murder of his wife, adds another sinister dimension to the film, or the atmosphere surrounding it.) Dave McCoy, Editor of MSN Movies, has summarized the movie this way: "It's about a guy who kills his wife and is so horrified by what he's done that the only way he can deal with it is to become another person... and a character in a film noir, no less, where women are evil and violence can be easily rationalized."What struck me about O.J. Simpson was that he was able to smile and laugh. He was able to go golfing with seemingly very few problems about the whole thing. I wondered how, if a person did these deeds, he could go on living. And we found this great psychology term -- "psychogenic fugue" -- describing an event where the mind tricks itself to escape some horror. So, in a way, "Lost Highway" is about that. And the fact that nothing can stay hidden forever.
Hey, what more do ya need? A map? Just remember: DON'T YOU EVER F---IN' TAILGATE!!! I'm sorry about that, Pete, but tailgating is one thing I cannot tolerate....
When will a nice quality dvd ever be released for this wonderful film?
Forget the Inland Empire DVD. I want to know when I'm going to get my Season 2 of Twin Peaks on DVD.
Luke: Season 2 of "Twin Peaks" is coming March April 10, 2007. In Seattle, Lynch said the pilot episode is owned by another company and there are still "legal issues" to be resolved -- but you can buy good quality, region free overseas DVDs of it on ebay, half.com and elsewhere.
You know, I've always found Lynch's films to be pretty easy to grasp, because they are about psychological states, whereas a lot of the trite "narrative" films of Hollywood don't make sense, because they lack the simple idea of human psychosis... say "Gone in 60 Seconds" or "Primeval" ... these movies go straight over my head. I wonder why characters do things, what motivates them, because nothing seems to be. In Lynch's films, there always something pushing the characters forward. I found "Mulholland Drive" easy to piece together. As he said about "Lost Highway", it's about a person trying to escape the thing they've done by creating something else, and in that creation they are able to twist the facts to fit what they want. It confounds me why people don't see these things... probably why people don't always understand my own writing.
I'm so glad to see you giving praise to Lynch. I'm seeing "Inland Empire" in Chicago this Saturday and I'm absolutely thrilled. I certainly agree that "Lost Highway" needs an American DVD release because the full screen Canadian version with terrible sound is NOT acceptable. Like you, Jim, I absolutely think that these three Lynch films are certainly connected. I think you would definitely be intrigued by the connections Amy Taubin makes between the plot structure of "Inland Empire" and the way Lynch's films connect thematically, emotionally and philosophically, particulalry the three you've mentioned, in her article about "Inland Empire" in the January/February issue of "Film Comment."
NoPIX, if you're willing to go outside Region 1, there are several excellent DVDs of Lost Highway, through England, France, and Germany, from a video/audio transfer and mix supervised by Lynch.
The picture is the same on each (probably as good as it's ever going to get; there are parts of the film that will NEVER look right on video), the German supposedly has slightly better audio. The French and English ones are 2-DVD editions with additional stuff that's apparently not all that interesting. I got the German, which was much cheaper, and is more than acceptable.
No word on this coming to Region 1 anytime soon.
jim:the release date for that set is actually April 10th. Don't chum the waters yet!
us Hungarians are lucky, we got a pretty decent R2 version of Lost Highway (which is unfortunately not available anymore in stores), with additional behind-the-scenes footage. that's right, shots of Mr Lynch setting up shots while smoking non-stop.
Let's not forget The Straight Story.
Indeed the ability for the human mind to "trick itself" in order to soothe itself from horrible thoughts, is a theme that I am passionately drawn towards in movies. And that is why I loved "Mulholland Drive." Clearly "Memento" is another movie in this category, as is Roger's beloved "Dark City." It's also a theme that was in The Matrix, though I found that movie severely lacking compared to the others I've mentioned.
I also believe that human beings need to do this, on some level, to survive - which is why it's practically built into our psyche. The aforementioned movies are exaggerated, or slightly warped, examples, that merely prove the point, though -- and that's why I am drawn to this theme.
Last night during the Q & A in Austin, someone asked about LOST HIGHWAY on DVD and Lynch said he's done all the work on it he wants to do, and that Universal was just sorta sitting on the release. Unless I'm mistaken, he seemed to imply that August was a good probability for R1 release.