Review of Lost Highway (1997) by Thomas D — 13 Aug 2010

Lost Highway was a trip! I can't really provide an accurate review or explanation of what happened in the movie, but I can try to guide you through just a little. I watched the whole thing too. Okay, so Lost Highway starts with Bill Pullman as a mid-life jazz musician.

He is married to Patricia Arquette. Their marriage is very quiet and boring. One day, they start to receive packages on their doorstep that contain video tapes of somebody filming the front of their house.

The next one is somebody filming inside their house. It keeps getting weirder until one of the video tapes shows Bill Pullman murder his wife and chop her up into pieces I think. He is considered the prime suspect of the murder and found guilty for the murder, he goes to prison.

While in prison, he wakes up one day as somebody different. A kid named Pete (Balthazar Getty) who was a mechanic. In memories and flashbacks Pete meets Patricia Arquette and begins an affair with her, her jealous lover becomes suspicious of her affair and begins threatening Pete.

So by this point in the film, I was thoroughly thrown off and confused. is there two Patricia Arquette's? At the beginning she is a quiet red head. Later on in the Pete segment, she is a wild, crazy blonde who does porno's! Pete even see's a picture that shows two Patricia Arquette's.

Later on, the same picture is shown but there is only one of her. Strange. There is also this creepy little bald dude who fucks with everyone throughout the film. I'm not sure if this is a split personality of Bill Pullman's or a hallucination.

So it's kinda crazy, kinda off beat. It leaves you wondering just what the fuck is going on. I'll have to watch it again. It's like Pulp Fiction, certain characters know other characters in the film, but they cross paths very oddly.

It reminded me of a nightmarish version of American Beauty as it captures the crossing paths of characters, yet it also has a noir'ish even dreamy like grime to it. Like an older Alice in Chains video.

The atmospheres are stylish and quite a few famous faces showed up like Gary Busey, Henry Rollins, Marilyn Manson and fellow band member Twiggy Ramirez. The soundtrack was dark and memorable and matched up really well with the dark environment of the film.

It even features some Marilyn Manson on the soundtrack as well. Appropriate. Director David Lynch definitely has a copy of Antichrist Superstar somewhere in his big huge house. An interesting and confusing watch.

3.0 starz.