Taking the Long Way: David Lynch's Cinematic Puzzles

DAVID LYNCH is a weird one for DVDs.

While most filmmakers cram their releases with bonus features, Lynch values mystery. Occasionally, he throws in a making-of or a trailer, but he generally disdains commentary tracks. "Mulholland Drive" even lacked scene selection, forcing viewers to watch the film in order.

That a new edition of his 1997 creepfest "Lost Highway" comes with no special features is neither surprising nor disappointing. (There is scene selection, which shouldn't be taken for granted, and interactive menus.) All you need, Lynch insists, is the movie itself.

In the case of "Lost Highway," that's saying a lot. Upon its release, the movie was largely dismissed by critics as being too opaque and mannered, with split characters and an impenetrable storyline that doubles back on itself and eat its tail.

Lynch opens with Fred and Renee Madison, a Los Angeles couple who favor strained conversations and save on their utilities by keeping their bare house spookily underlit. Fred (Bill Pullman) may murder Renee (Patricia Arquette).

In his jail cell, Fred morph into Pete (Balthazar Getty), a young mechanic who works for a gangster named Mr. Eddy (Robert Loggia, who finds the scenery especially delicious). Pete falls for Mr. Eddy's moll, a platinum blonde (Arquette again) who may be Renee.

Presiding over these head-scratching events is the Mystery Man, played by a pre-trial Robert Blake slathered in kabuki makeup and shorn of eyebrows. Exuding truly creepy menace, he may enable the characters' real or unreal acts of evil. Even if you never figure out the may and may-nots, you'll remember everything Blake says.

"Lost Highway" is a film as puzzle. The director gives us all the pieces we need to consider and understand the movie, but he doesn't show you how to put them together. After all, what fun would that be?

Written by Express contributor Stephen M. Deusner
Photo courtesy October Films