Review of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) by Camille L — 29 Apr 2013

A mean, ugly movie compared to its source material, Fire Walk with Me explores the week leading up to Laura Palmer's death. It lacks the complexity of tone that made the series so compelling; without Frost's mitigating influence, and without most of the cast, this is Lynch in pure nightmare mode.

The story is negligible, while the viewer is assaulted by one bit of inspired insanity after another. There are some extremely well conceived set pieces here: David Bowie's entrance, the green ring, Cooper's doppleganger, any and all scenes from the Black Lodge.

Despite the imbalances mentioned, the main weakness is that, for me, the suggestion of what happened to Laura Palmer the night she died, the suggestion of how wild and out of control she was, and how she was hounded by BOB, created impossible expectations.

While the movie is quite lurid and brutal, the brief appearances of BOB in the series were more visceral for their brevity; the movie tries but fails to show what cannot be shown. For my money, the last episode of the series, also directed by Lynch, is truly horrifying.

At the same time, call me a nerd or whatever, but I would rather have seen the story continue from the series' endpoint than dwell, for 2+ hours, on Laura's miserable fate.