I don’t have a wide area of research for this post (I’ve only seen one of his movies), but that movie, The Lost Highway, had to be the shittiest movie I’ve ever seen in my life, including Troma films. At least those are mildly amusing (at least) most of the time.
The Lost Highway, simply put, is basically a bunch of random events connected by a series of supernatural situations. Now, that’s not necessarily the problem with it, as there are many movies with that formula which I enjoy, but for some reason The Lost Highway just didn’t do it for me (granted there was plenty of nudity ;)).
Since I havn’t seen his others, maybe I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about here (maybe?..). But I thought I’d voice it anyway, maybe let some Lynch fans try to get me to watch another one of his movies…Lynch redemption we’ll call it.
While I am a fan of Lynch, I didn’t enjoy Lost Highway. If you want to catch him doing the same thng- but better, a bit more digestible- try Blue Velvet or Mulholland Drive.
Oh, Lynch’s Dune is fantastic if not an almost perfect departure from the actual Dune book.
I’m a pretty big Lynch fan if only because he is a filmmaker that is guided by intuition and doesn’t seem afraid to take chances. He’s definitely an artsy director as opposed to just a strict “tell a story in film” kinda guy. Sometimes this makes for very powerful and strange films like Blue Velvet, sometimes it makes for confusing stories of non-linearity like Lost Highway or Mulholland Drive.
Would it help you to know that Lost Highway is only the story of a man in trouble? With Lynch you often have to sift through what is staring you in the face, reject it as literal, and shift into a mode where one must interpret what one sees in a more imaginary vein.
I think most (if not all—I haven’t seen all of his works) of his work is absolutely fantastic and has a high reviewing factor. Lost Highway continues to inspire thoughts in me the more I watch it.
Oh, I only slag Dune in a somewhat jesting spirit. I think with Lynch it helps–at least it helped me–to get acquainted first with him as a more traditional film narrative director and then move on to the more metaphorical, supernatural, and literally fantastic works. I kind of got the feel for the types of stories Lynch likes to tell, then watched the more out-there stuff like Lost Highway. Dune suffers as a piece of narrative cinema (maybe because I loved the book so much, maybe because of all the annoying voiceovers), but some of the visuals are great. And I think I’ve plugged this here before, but read David Foster Wallace’s essay on Lynch if you get a chance and want to get a good critical synopsis of Lynch’s career and appeal. And the essay itself focuses on the making of Lost Highway. It’s in Wallace’s A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again.
“Bring me the floating fat man.”
i liked lost highway, if only for the creepiness of it. robert blake wierded me out, and that’s before he killed anyone.
i kind of like movies that you have to discuss afterwards. even ones that really have no “right” interpretation. sure, it can be frustrating, but i’d rather watch lost highway over star wars: aotc any day.
blue velvet is amazing. pretty easy to follow, as well. mullholland drive is nice as well, if you can figure out what takes place after the first hour and change.
i wasn’t too fond of wild at heart, but lynch’s trademark kooky characters kept it from being unwatchable.
i kind of liked dune, but it seemed to drag on, and i never did see the straight story.
You know, I don’t like Denmark. I’ve never been to the country or met anyone from there, but I heard someone say ‘Denmark’ at a party once, and that’s enough for me.
It is tough to judge any person on one movie, no matter how good it is.
I’m a David Lynch fan…I like everything he has done including Dune. I thought Dune was fantastic…a remarkable vision of the book.
Lost Highway was a movie that exemplified Lynch’s excess. He pulled out all the stops in this movie. It is a feast. An over the top masterpeice.
I don’t know why all these people want to dis Mulholland Dr. (except for the “lesbian scenes”). I swear, if I hear one more person say that movie sucked except for the lesbian scenes I’m going to…sit here, I guess, and do nothing, but I’ll be steamed, let me tell you.
It’s a LOVE STORY, people. It may be outside your realm of understanding, but two women can fall in love. That is what this movie is about.
Anyway, screw starting out with the “easy stuff” that Lynch did. It is all good and all different, so plunge in and enjoy!!
(but, I would recommend Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart and Fire Walk with Me)
David Lynch geeky fanboy checking in here. I even used to subscribe to the TP fan mag “Wrapped in Plastic” and bought the TP trading cards, and I could not stand Lost Highway or Wild at Heart. Blue Velvet is a masterwork, Mulholland Drive still good but not as good. Dune was a bloated mess but consider the source, and it did have Sting in those little metal pants so there’s a point in its favor. Twin Peaks was genius.
Anyway, to answer the OP, let me channel Ming the Merciless for a moment: “Why not?”
I’d rather sit through the worst thing Lynch has ever done than sit through the festering piles of crap that are most movies by Woody Allen.
My favorites are Eraserhead and Blue Velvet. Both classics. I never saw much of Twin Peaks, but I think the earlier episodes were on a par with those two movies.
To me it’s basically about atmosphere. Both movies are nightmares. Not “horror”, a la Nightmare on Elm St, because real nightmares aren’t like that. Real nightmares are frightening for reasons that can’t be explained. There’s much that’s familiar, even banal. But you just know there’s something disturbing, something wrong.
After seeing Blue Velvet, I remember going straight into a bar and asking for a Scotch (not something I’d normally do).
I enjoyed Lost Highway. Wasn’t the best movie ever, but not a complete piece of crap. But then last night I saw Mulholland Drive. I swear this is the exact same movie. Only the person who is having sex with the severe-looking brunette changes.
I like Lynch generally. I wouldn’t call Dune a good movie, but it’s an honorable failure – Lynch tried hard, but it fell just short.
Blue Velvet, The Elephant Man, and Wild at Heart were fine movies, though, and Twin Peaks was a great and groundbreaking TV show. Lynch and – oddly enough – Diane Keaton did a great job on the episodes they directed.
I didn’t care for Lost Highway, either, though I have a friend who claims to love it. There are so many minor things in it that get on my nerves (Lynch’s mafia characters, who I’ve never liked, for one). However, the first 15 minutes of it are really, really cool. I think the thing is, Lynch had this idea of the first section, and then tried to build a whole movie around it. The rest of the movie doesn’t really work, IMO.
Actually, the Mulholland Drive that I saw - ahem SPOILERS - was the delusions of what one woman wanted her life to be like after her obsession with the other woman led to murder then suicide. End Spoilers
But other that that, yeah I agree, there was much more to Mulholland Drive than the lesbian sex. If other people didn’t get anything more out of it than some jollies at watching two woman really enjoy each other’s company (and let’s face it, the film is rather incomprehensible and needs more than one viewing to get an idea of what’s going on) then at least they get isome enjoyment out of it.
I hear ya there, but to my mind this pretty much is what David Lynch would consider a “love story”.
But, that is a minor point. I wish people could get by the love scenes…you’d think that never appeared on film.
Lesbians are not an urban myth, people!
It’s just one of those irksome things you note when you like a movie. I loved this film, yet all I hear about is how terrible it was except for the 5 minute love scene.
Well, it was a nice love scene and all, but there was also some other interesting content in the movie.
