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Lost Highway (1997)

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387 comments in total

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125 out of 149 people found the following comment useful :-
For those, who try to understand the Movie, 13 August 2004

Author: knockpasheemore from Koblenz, Germany

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

First of all let me say, that it is not as serious, if you don't get the movies of David Lynch at once (or even never). Lynch is not a film maker who tries to make movies with a problem-solving message, but an artist. Moreover he started as a painter and so he tries to create an atmosphere more than to develop a story.

Most viewers will have realized that "Lost Highway" is a story about a schizophrenic murderer (even Lynch mentioned it). But that is not the complete clue to the movie. Cause everyone is aware of Fred's metamorphosis (although no one seems to really care about). So his mutation seems to be real and till the end no one proves the opposite! But "Lost Highway" is not a common movie about schizophrenia like "Beautiful Mind" or "Das weiße Rauschen" (Which is a must-see, too!). INSANITY IS NOT THE SUBJECT, BUT THE NARRATIVE PRINCIPLE OF THE MOVIE! In other words: The movie is not a presentation of mental sickness, but a complete sick presentation, which means that the subjective perception of the protagonist becomes the objective reality! You'll find this way of telling a story quite often in surrealistic literature (i.e Franz Kafka's "Die Verwandlung" engl.: "Metamorphosis" - just note the title!!).

All Lynch-Movies refer to mental illness or the state of dreaming: No character ever seems to care about the illogical and irrational twists of the plot(just like in dreams), the landscapes are unrealistic and change appearance or size and the story takes place at deserted areas (forests, claustrophobic rooms, industrial areas, desserts) far away from civilization or reality!

Insanity - Sanity/ Evil - Good/ Reality - Fiction are no longer categories one can rely on. The protagonists see their surroundings and environment always threatening, but they never question it! They act with such a matter of course, that one has to ask whether it is ignorance, naiveté or self-deception. Perhaps you don't have to ask yourself how far you are able to UNDERSTAND the message. Perhaps you have to ask yourself how far you are willing to ACCEPT the message. Be aware, that once you started seeing the world at a different way you will follow that white rabbit right the way in his burrow...

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109 out of 134 people found the following comment useful :-
Weirdness overload!, 11 February 2004

Author: Coventry from the Draconian Swamp of Unholy Souls

I believe it was the legendary Homer Simpson who once gave the ideal description on David Lynch productions. During watching a ‘Twin Peaks'-episode he said, `Brilliant…but I don't get it'. Too true…you love what you're seeing and you want to be a part of the mysterious Lynch universe! You actually feel the urge to search for solutions, you want to solve the riddle that is Lost Highway and you desperately try to do so…until you realize it's in fact a puzzle that cannot be solved. Therefore, my advice would be: Don't try to be Einstein and develop too many ‘theories'… just get overwhelmed by Lost Highway and enjoy the mixture of weirdness, violence and erotica you get to see. It's amazing what David Lynch pulls off here! He serves an absurd and impossible structure that involves an inexplicable metamorphosis of the protagonist and he actually gets away with it!! Meanwhile, he introduces a bunch of bizarre – but extremely fascinating – characters of which you don't know they're real or just creations of a mentally ill mind. Lynch in top-condition, in other words…you almost start to suspect he's laughing with his audience. The quality of Lost Highway is brought up to an even higher level by the terrific musical score (Angelo Badalamenti), a blasting soundtrack (Rammstein!) and sublime acting. Bill Pullman and Balthazar Ghetty supply each other terrifically, even though they don't have ONE scene together. And Patricia Arquette…either blond or brunette… looks gorgeous. No wonder men in this film fall into madness over her.

Lost Highway comes with my highest possible recommendation, yet I still prefer the David Lynch of the lat 70's and 80's. Can't really give a reasonable explanation for this… Films like Blue Velvet and Eraserhead had something extra.

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105 out of 132 people found the following comment useful :-
Lynch's most bizarre movie to date....[Possible explanation, only for those who have seen the film], 11 November 2002
Author: tmensamaster-2 from Calgary, Alberta

David Lynch is known for his art films; films that defy the rules and rubricks a movie should follow. Of course, Lynch isn't one to follow any kind of Hollywood Rule. His films always have a general sense of the surreal, of emotions only understandable to the characters and actions that defy comprehension. They always have lurid eroticism or at least one character with a sexual perversion. And, for the most part, his films are incomprehensible to a mainstream audience. 'Lost Highway' has just been defined for you, though not explained. Perhaps the film is not meant to be explainable, perhaps it is just an abstract work meant to involve us and toy with our emotions until we forget it right after we leave. But the film is memorable so that cannot be the reason. Maybe Lynch is just working out personal demons and only he is meant to benefit from doing the film. I'll explain what I mean.

'Fred Madison' [Bill Pullman] is a sax player who performs at the local club. He and his wife 'Renee' [Patricia Arquette] live in a funky Lynchian house that seems designed specifically to disturb the audience. Their marriage and sex life is not going well. One day, 'Renee' finds a videotape on the doorstep. When they play it, it is almost like a promotional video for their house, moving down every hallway before entering the bedroom where 'Fred' and 'Renee' are shown sleeping. The tape abruptly shorts out to snow. 'Fred' and 'Renee' are obviously quite bothered by this. They call the police, who don't really impact the situation in any way. Later, at a party, 'Fred' meets an ingratiating pasty-faced man [Robert Blake] at a party who calmly explains ''We've met before, haven't we'' and then goes on to explain they met at 'Fred's house and that the man is ''There right now, phone me''. He does seem to be at both ends of the line. 'Fred' immediately grabs 'Renee and they leave to go home. This leads to one of the most tense and terrifying sequences I have ever viewed on a piece of celluloid since Hitchcock. Since we know Lynch is directing, we know anything could happen......And does.

I have not given away anything. In fact, the events I have described might have never happened. In fact, any event or character that enters the film may or may not have happened. The film exists in it's own queer dimension. Lynch shots the film like a noir, with 'Renee' as the femme fatale. The colors are pitch-dark and lush which helps structure the film into what it is, a psychological nightmare. It manipulates our emotions to a shocking extent and we don't know how Lynch is doing it because nothing in the movie makes sense. Lynch himself uses the phrase 'psychogenic fugue' when describing the movie as he says the hero is 'inventing a fantasy because his real life is so screwed up.' Patricia Arquette is more blatant when describing the film; 'Fred Madison is a f@#$ed up guy who invents a fantasy because his real life is so f%$#ed up. But Fred is so f%$#ed up that his fantasy falls apart...'' Makes sense to me. It would explain the bizarre events and would explain the ending. Fred is so angry and so paranoid that he has a fit in his car, twisting and whipping his head around in circles because his fantasy has gone wrong and collapsed. The film reveals clues that support this explanation. At one point, the pasty-faced man says of Renee ''Her name is Alice, if she told you her name was Renee, she was lying. And you, who the f$#@ ARE YOU!'' This suggests that Renee has used him and that 'Fred' doesn't even know who he is. If you were inventing a fantasy about yourself and you wanted to create a given persona, isn't it possible that you could forget who you were in the first place?

Some people have suggested that the 'Mystery Man' [Robert Blake] is a manifestation of 'Fred's' illness. But then why does it seem that the 'Mystery Man' is trying to help 'Fred'? Perhaps 'Fred' has created the 'Mystery Man' in the hopes that this being will solve the mystery for him, to egg him on until he saves himself. And the mob boss 'Mr Eddy' [Robert Loggia] is the real villain: cold, calculating, abusive and spontaneously violent, just like a virus. And 'Renee/Alice' is just one of the virus' cohorts, reproduced from the DNA of the virus to spread the illness and incapacitate the victim.

Or perhaps the most likely explanation; It is a Lynchian fantasy designed to screw the mainstream audience and entertain open moviegoers.This makes the most sense. People will always want to explain this film, to dig up it's secrets. Maybe the secrets will never be uncovered. Maybe there are no secrets and it is just a Lynch film calculated to please his fans. Any way you see it, it will never be solved. I wish you good luck if you try to solve the film in its entirety,... But you will certainly have fun doing it.

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82 out of 99 people found the following comment useful :-
An intense experience, 21 June 1999

Author: mst-2 from New Jersey

Clearly, as with most of David Lynch's films, Lost Highway is not for everyone. It is, as Lynch intended it to be, a film realization of a dream. In this regard, it is comparable, in terms of artistry and raw intensity to Kurosawa's _Dreams_. Indeed, in terms of sensory experience - cinematography and sound, for example - Kurosawa and Lynch have few rivals. However, the comparison falls away rather quickly in consideration of the film's content. Lost Highway is really no dream, but a nightmare.

Let's face it, like it or not, everything Lynch does is intentional. This film has inspired polarized reviews here on IMDB. Those looking for a plot-heavy movie that they do not necessarily have to pay attention to tend to despise it. Those who are open to allowing this manipulative, intensely disturbing and thought-provoking film to carry them into its own parcel of hell love it. This is, in my opinion, what good art can do.

Like a dream, Lost Highway has as many plots as it does viewers with their own individual interpretations and perspectives. It forces itself upon you with a vengeance, but simultaneously encourages the kind of disengagement you experience when you are conscious that you are dreaming.

I recommend Lost Highway highly. See it with intelligent, open-minded friends who like to talk about film experiences. And expect that the conversation will keep you up way past your bed time.

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75 out of 112 people found the following comment useful :-
An amazing movie experience, 1 February 1999

Author: Clayton Bolger from Perth, Western Australia

This was the first time I was in anticipation of the release of a David Lynch film. Having only discovered his movies (and Twin Peaks) in the period of 1992-1997. I became a huge fan, owning several films on video as well as the complete Twin Peaks series.

I was not disappointed with Lost Highway. A film that left me totally stunned. A film that I did not want to end, in the hope that I could figure out what was going on. A film that left some scenes imprinted on my brain like a tattoo. A film that is a dream.

This film is what dreams are. There are times when you feel you control the dream, and times where you feel it escapes you. Slow and rapid events. Images that don't make sense. Fantasy. Horror. Surrealism. Symbolism. All part of a long dream, that I doubt anyone can decipher, including Mr Lynch.

Seeing this film for the second time with a person who truly did not "get it" (though I thank her for her patience to watch the whole film), made realise that there are two kinds of people in this world. I love this film. I can't wait to watch it again.

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53 out of 70 people found the following comment useful :-
An incredibly well-done film... but not for everyone's tastes, 11 June 2005

Author: Grann-Bach (Grann-Bach@jubii.dk) from Denmark

This is the first film directed by David Lynch I've seen, not counting The Elephant Man, which is another great film, but is an outsider in his career, since it is not surreal. This film is, however, making it the first typical Lynch film I've seen. And I'm honestly not sure what to make of it. I had heard a lot about Lynch's films before watching, but I guess I hadn't heard enough. I went into this film hoping for a good mystery, an interesting puzzle to solve. As the end credits rolled I didn't know what to make of what I had just seen. I didn't get an answer to the question I kept asking while I was watching; "What exactly is this film about?". As soon as the credits were over, I read a comment or two by Lynch fans... and the truth dawned on me. It's not supposed to be solved. It's not a movie where you, when you see the very end, exclaim "Ah! Now I get it!". This film won't provide you with some twist ending or have a character come up to the lead and explain it all. It's not supposed to make perfect sense or be easily explainable. It's not real. It's fantasy. Fiction. The whole film is like a dream, or, more appropriately, a nightmare. The film is great; it's just not for me. I won't let that affect my rating, however. This was an excellent example of masterful film-making. Lynch's direction is eminent, evidenced by the fact that I kept watching, despite not understanding half of what was going on or being able to sympathize with any character(something we are much too used to from mainstream movies). The lighting is great. Lynch really plays around with it, and it's always interesting to look at. It also really adds to the mood, nicely set by careful editing and music usage. The acting is flawless, and that is not a term I use lightly. All in all, a wonderfully well-done film, but definitely not for everyone. Wasn't in my tastes, but I enjoyed how well-made it was regardless. I recommend this to fans of art films, rather than conventional ones. Fans of Lynch should enjoy this. Very surreal and loose. 10/10

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53 out of 72 people found the following comment useful :-
Possibly the strangest film ever made., 23 July 2004

Author: popeman89 from Brighton, England

The thing that's great about Lost Highway is there is no absolute solution to the events in the film, everything about the film is open to interpretation and after you watch it you either need to thing and talk about it for a couple of hours or watch it again. In Mulholland Drive, people say that it needs to be watched twice to be fully understood. Lost highway needs to be watched about 3 or 4 time to be slightly understood and will probably never be fully understood. All the clues are there in the film but to include all of them to make sense is very difficult. However it is very rewarding to try and find out the meaning of Lost Highway.

Although it is described as a modern film-noir, it's more inspired by Alfred Hitchcock. The use of music to increase the suspense of the film is used a lot here and in many Hitchcock films such as Psycho. Even if you cant work out what it is about, it is still a very tense thriller.

Final Score – 10/10

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40 out of 53 people found the following comment useful :-
Very eerie, very disturbing, very nightmare-ish and very entertaining!, 17 June 2003

Author: Troy (Troy2Slick) from Toronto, Ontario

I absolutely loved this movie. I have always loved to watch a good flick that puts my brain to the test. Maybe the film isn't suppose to make much sense, but that's what I love about it. You have to try and analyze it and make your own theories about what just took place. This movie isn't for a lot of people and I mean a lot. You have to like movies like Mulholland Drive, Memento, The Man Who Wasn't There, etc.. to even begin to like this one. I'm not necessarily a big David Lynch fan, but this movie rocked big time.

One of the most eery parts of the film is when (Bill Pullman) is making love to his wife (Patricia Arquette) and her face turns into the mystery man (Robert Blake). A very freaky looking individual, indeed. In my eyes, he represents the devil. But, that's my take on it.

Another great scene is when Pete is making love to Patricia Arquette in the Desert. The lighting, music, camera angles, emotions and everything is just one of the best pieces of cinemtography I've ever seen in my life.

My recommendation is this: If you liked Mulholland Drive, Memento, Pulp Fiction, Fargo, The Man Who Wasn't There, Blue Velvet, then this movie is your cup of tea. If not, don't waste your time, cause you'll hate it, more than likely. 3 1/2 *'s out of 4 *'s.

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51 out of 76 people found the following comment useful :-
I remember an episode of The Simpsons..., 27 October 2001

Author: narrator15 from Sydney, Australia

...when Homer was sitting at his couch watching "Twin Peaks", during a scene where a man was waltzing with a horse under a tree with a traffic light swinging from a branch. The words "That's some damn good coffee you got here in Twin Peaks. And some damn good cherry pie" accompany this scene. Befuddled, Homer says "Brilliant! I have no idea of what's going on". This statement perfectly reflects how I felt about "Lost Highway"; I really liked the film, even if my reaction throughout was "what the f**k?". The trick to understanding a David Lynch film isn't to try and decipher each individual scene, but rather to try and find out what the 'message' of the film is, or what Lynch is trying to say, and see how this message fits in with each scene. This is what made "Lost Highway" so much fun. It's undeniably one of the most terminally wierd films I've ever seen (maybe even more so than Eraserhead), whether you get it or not, but it's so deliciously cryptic and bizarre that you can't stop watching. At the end, you'll wish Lynch was sitting beside you so you could ask him "what happened", but what you made of it is probably the right answer.

The one thing I thought was a little off with "Lost Highway" was it's overall 'MTV-ish' feel, with it's guest appearance from Marilyn Manson and it's soundtrack including Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails, at times I just thought that maybe Lynch was just making a really wierd video clip the MTV kids will eat up. Still, I rate this film an 8/10. Not Lynch's best, though (that'd be Blue Velvet, though I can't wait for Mulholland Drive").

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43 out of 62 people found the following comment useful :-
Stunning., 1 December 1999

Author: p_monkey (prz99@newnorth.net) from Hazelhurst, Wisconsin

Lighting. That's the thing I remembered most from the first time I saw this film. Amazing lighting. Certain directors, Lynch included, are able to tell the story using camera movement, what's seen/not seen. Lynch, however, has taken that a step further with the way he chooses to light his scenes - he sculpts his shots in a manner that seems almost more like a theatrical lighting designer's work. The use of shadows within the home, the stark colors that accompany certain scenes, even the car lighting in the titles - all of this is used to draw the audience's attention to a certain point, and all of it thrills. With the terse, "European art-film" dialogue style (at first the most distancing thing I found in Lynch's work, it is now one of my favorite elements), sharp sound work, a strong cast, and the marvelous, spiralling structure of the film only reinforcing it's strongest feature - its atmosphere - this is a work that will be discussed long after the credits fade. In my short 22 years, the best film I've seen, bar none.

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