Review of Lost Highway (1997) by James C — 23 Apr 2009

I like it a lot. It's ideas are more transparent than some others of Lynch, and sometimes the execution is less than perfect (some of the clumsiest use of sound in the ouvre) but it is structurally note perfect - doesn't miss a beat and with the usual precise sense of rhythm.

If Pullman isn't the most convincing jazzer, everything seems to be in the right place. His impotence is searing, and his fantasy perfectly foreshadowed. The symbolism ties together a few Lynch tropes - I thought the red curtain, the use of real dark, and the usual slow fire and explosion motifs potent.

Some of the anxieties that pour out toward the end elicit great empathy, and some of the image/sound composition toward the beginning is affectively distressing - look out for one or two moments, particularly the face overlay, which have as significant a physiological impact as those jolts in Wild at Heart, Inland Empire, and that revelatory episode of Twin Peaks.

Does similar sound balancing to W.a.H. too, so I'd expect it to be quite a visceral experience in the cinema. If you like the better ideas of Mulholland Drive, and the aesthetic choices of Twin Peaks, this is the ideal middle ground.