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Lost Highway (a space by David Lynch)
by Mail Dass

Lost Highway-like a plum without a stone.

The film has a vacuum that allows you to wonder (or just wander) what was there, where has it gone and what's to come? Ever wondered why sugar and salt look the same? Well it's to make the most dreary breakfast an experience you will never forget, salt dissolving on your tongue, mixing with the spit, where a sweetness should be. Nothing like it.

 Chewing the air, I cannot taste David Lynch's new film but it's inside me now. I cannot tell you if this self proclaimed "21st Century Noir Horror Film" is good or bad but if you want to know "what' s out there" or even in there, go ride the highway. David is taking Scully from behind the radiator and seems to be enjoying himself, as only he does!

 Most film directors do not have the vision, wit or tenacity to rip up a plot with special effects and silly preoccupations and retain any grace or substance, although most try. Similarly most Surrealists wouldn't be able to give life a welcome twist if they hung themselves upside down in a gallery. However Lost Highway's indulgences and 30 second pop video moments have an inner logic that forcefully presents life, sex and death with a style, betraying a knowledge of hidden experiences. Lynch has a devastating knack of making the bizarre a reality that one may know.

 It's the way the film can destroy tension, atmosphere and it's own narrative (Yes, it does have one) that makes it such a frustrating thing to grab hold of. When compared to the cohesiveness and sweep of Blue Velvet and the empathetic and warm characters and locations of Twin Peaks, it can seem like a mess. One response is boredom, a woman next to me fell asleep (The dreams!) the other is to jump on board like a sucker. It is in the film's scratchy, unsatisfactory, but compelling presentation of people and it's ritual, trance-like displacement of time, logic and emotions that I get a kick out of. You have to search deeper and follow your fears further than his previous films. Lost Highway has a whole (or hole) that is much greater than the film's sometimes scary, often startling and occasionally glib parts.

3 POINT TURN

1) The soundtrack is amazing and practically vindicates David Bowie's recent work and Trent Reznor (well nearly!). With free jazz, spooky lounge-hop and  isolationist pieces continually accompanying the lush cinematography you can see why Lynch regards sound-design as an integral part of his work.
2) How did he get Patricia Arquette to do that?
3) Remember that night, I do.