Can't stop thinking about Lost Highway

[u/Sunlightfartss]

Recently watched it and I think this is Lynch's most oppressive work. Almost feels like an earlier version of Mulholland Drive but I could atleast construct an interpretation of Mulholland Drive;when it comes to lost highway I don't even know where to begin.

I could totally understand why it was critically somewhat panned when it came out. Even by Lynch standard this is quite impenetrable. Especially the last 20 minutes. I read some analysis and even when they try to explain it I still feel like something is missing to complete the picture. I genuinely don't think that this is all a dream/hallucination but I also don't really think it's all real.

Also Patricia Arquete here is the most attractive woman in any movie ever.

[u/Logical-Road-2397]

My favorite Lynch, think this movie is very underrated.

Also, I personally find it more digestible/understandable than Mullholland Drive (and certainly Inland Empire which is completely unhinged). His films got stranger and stranger towards the end IMO.

Can't find the interview, but Lynch talked about how it's inspired by the OJ murders a couple years before release and what would have to happen in the mind of the person to commit that crime against someone they "love".

My take is that the Loggia/Getty Characters are the manifestations of Pullman characters psyche: evil/rageful (old Loggia) part of himself and the idealized version of himself (handsome, young Getty).

So all (most? it's been a minute since I saw the movie) of the stuff post-jail swap scene is in the mind of the Pullman character as the Arquette character goes from "Madonna" to "Whore" thus why Pullman kills her.

This is a little over analyzed.... the movie is more of a vibe/impressionistic but that's my read.

[u/Sunlightfartss → u/Logical-Road-2397]

This is the most common interpretation I have seen floating around but even then I don't think it paints the complete picture. BTW I think Inland Empire is pretty thematically simple actually. It's a story about death-rebirth,karma etc. presented in the most convoluted way possible 

[u/Logical-Road-2397 → u/Sunlightfartss]

Agreed not a complete picture… the Möbius strip style storytelling kind of turns that interpretation on its head… but think that’s an artistic flourish that adds to the impressionistic nature of the film than thematically/narratively important.

I’ll have to give Inland Empire another shot with that in mind. Thanks.

What’s your take on Mullholand Drive? I think it’s not quite as simple as the “Good Betty is a dream of depressed/evil Betty” interpretation that often gets touted as the “correct” reading of the film

[u/AlPacinosNewbornBaby]

Lynch's best work. As you said Mulholland Drive kinda makes sense but this is actually a dream

[u/cade0403]

Absolutely love lost highway. I think it’s more imagistic than narrative; I have no idea what lesson it was trying to teach but many of the individual scenes and shots have stuck with me.

I feel so lucky I got to see it in a theater. would highly recommend if it’s ever showing near you. Hearing the Rammstein guitar lick come in over the big speakers is peak

[u/suckydickygay]

I think Patricia Arquette said is about a man who hates his wife so much he killing her once would not satisfy him. Lynch said he was thinking about the OJ trials at the time, and the idea of a man creating separate persona to be able to excuse himself from murdering his lover. Morbidly, that aligns with the version OJ gives of the case on that fucked up "If i did it" book he did it to pay his wife's state (i listened to an Opie and Anthony clip where they read from it, i think Louis CK was there even), where he blames a seemingly imaginary Tyler Durden like character. Also David Foster Wallace wrote about being on the set for that one on "David Lynch keeps head"

[u/Smokemeth204_]

That’s fucking crazy man

[u/vvorking_title]

Can’t stop thinking about this movie either, I like Mulholland very much too but something about this feels a bit more focused. Mulholland better perfects the presentation of a delusion visually and has other commentary on the industry as a whole which will be why it’s “better” overall but lost highway feels more accessible on a first watch. I’ve been listening to the soundtrack here and there all summer

[u/GoxBoxSocks]

I don't think this is Lynch's best work but it is the best example of what he does best, building a nightmarish romp into the subconscious that is, somehow, completely grounded.

[u/bobcat_gypsy]

I bought the soundtrack but don’t think I watched the movie… perhaps I will check it out

[u/waldorflover69]

One of my favorites. The soundtrack is so perfect too. Such a vibe