Lost Highway (film)
| Lost Highway | |
|---|---|
| File:Lost-Higway-01.jpg | |
| Directed by | David Lynch |
| Written by | Barry Gifford David Lynch |
| Produced by | Mary Sweeney |
| Starring | Bill Pullman Patricia Arquette Balthazar Getty Robert Blake |
| Distributed by | October Films |
Running time | 135 min. |
| Budget | $15,000,000 (estimated) |
Lost Highway is a 1997 film directed by David Lynch. It is a crime film, arguably an example of contemporary film noir, but with surreal imagery and themes. Lynch co-wrote the screenplay with Barry Gifford; the soundtrack is by Angelo Badalamenti. Perhaps dealing with the fallibility of human memory, the film is to many a confusing but unforgettable experience.
Structure
The filmmakers have compared the structure of the film to a Möbius strip. A little more helpful is David Lynch's comment in the screenplay that the story is about a murderer with multiple personalities, told from the different points of view of these personalities.
Responses
Infamously, the film received "two thumbs down" from Siskel and Ebert - though Lynch used this to his advantage by claiming it was "two good reasons to go and see Lost Highway".
Comparisons
Lynch's creativity in Twin Peaks, Lost Highway, and Mulholland Drive have a common ground, one of characters struggling to make sense of the dark and gloomy crime-ridden worlds they find themselves in. His directorial freedom has increased over the years, commensurate with the success he has realized in his projects, allowing him to take ever greater chances in throwing together desperate characters in shady scenarios, and then seeing what happens to them when the carpet gets yanked from under them.
While lacking the surrealism of Lynch's films, Christopher Nolan's Memento also deals with the fallibility of memory.
Principal cast
- Bill Pullman as Fred Madison
- Patricia Arquette as Renee Madison/Alice Wakefield
- Robert Blake as Mystery Man ("I'm there right now")
- Robert Loggia as Dick Laurent/Mr Eddy
- Balthazar Getty as Pete Dayton
- Marilyn Manson as Porno star #1
- Twiggy Ramirez as Porno star #2
- Giovanni Ribisi as Steve 'V' Vincencio
- Henry Rollins as Guard Henry
- Richard Pryor as Arnie
- Gary Busey as William Dayton
Soundtrack
The soundtrack features a number of contributions from Angelo Badalamenti, a consistent Lynch collaborator, as well as Barry Adamson, and Trent Reznor. Also appearing are tracks from David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, The Smashing Pumpkins, Lou Reed, Marilyn Manson, and Rammstein.
Some tracks were recorded at a sound studio in Prague.
Screenplay
Lost Highway has been published as a screenplay by David Lynch and Barry Gifford by Faber & Faber (ISBN 0571191509). The book also includes a 15 page interview of Lynch by Chris Rodley.
Further reading
- The Art of the Ridiculous Sublime: On David Lynch's Lost Highway, (ISBN 0295979259) Slavoj Zizek, 2000; text used by Lynch in his course at the European Graduate School and arguably the most articulate book of film criticism on Lynch.
Other uses
Lost Highway is the title of a 2003 BBC documentary series in 4 episodes on the history of country music.
External links
- Lost Highway at All Movie Guide
- Lost Highway at IMDb
- Lost Highway at lynchnet.com
- Comparison between Lost Highway and Mulholland Dr.
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