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Twin Peaks - Fire Walk With Me
DVD Extras include a featurette, theatrical trailer and cast interviews
RRP: £19.99
Our Price: £9.99 (subject to change)
Editorial
DVD Description
A small and tranquil town, snuggled into the hollow of a valley. A mysterious death, a puzzling investigation. A secret diary, a pact, a double and an unlucky ring. Dreams, hallucinations, premonitions. Loves without a future, a singer who goes through the memory of times past. A Red Room, white "lines", a high school girl in ankle socks who ends up incinerating her life away. This is the world of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. The last seven days of Laura Palmer.
Editorial
Special Features
* Digitally Remastered * 16:9 Widescreen * Dolby & Digital 5.1 Surround Sound * 40 Page Collectors Booklet * Special Edition packaging
Editorial
Synopsis
Prequel to the cult television series 'Twin Peaks'. This feature tells the story of the last seven days of the life of Laura Palmer.
From the TV highs to the motion picture lows
Review date: 2008-05-09 Rating: 4 out of 10
After watching this film for the first time, I think my overall reaction is one of disappointment. A lot of footage is missing from the evidently epic vision that this movie originally had in mind. It makes me wonder why Lynch released it at all, because the absent elements are clearly vital to the story he had intended to tell. As it stands, this is an unfinished piece of cinema and definitely comes across as such.
I am not going to dissect this film in critical detail, but merely offer up the chief points that I felt cheated on:
Laura Palmer has become uninteresting. Fans of the series came to know Laura through other characters and watched her grow into a tantalising enigma. Actually seeing her in the flesh, acting out her wayward (and by now overly familiar) downward spiral was something of a letdown. I thought Sheryl Lee gave a distinctly amateur performance, although she did deliver some unsettling moments. Her final death scene in the abandoned railway car confirmed everything we already knew. I was hoping for something revelatory at this crucial tipping point.
Brief scenes featuring James Hurley, Bobby Briggs, Harold Smith, Leo Johnson, etc, feel tacked-on merely to maintain continuity with the TV series. They were integral to the storyline - even more so in the light of a prequel - and really deserved more of a presence.
Conversely, Mrs. Chalfont and her grandson were unnecessary carryovers from one episode of the television series...and really didn't deserve a presence.
We learn nothing more about Bob and his relationship with Mike and nothing enlightening about the Black Lodge. I think this was the crux of the entire Twin Peaks concept and the subject matter that most people want to know more about. The Red Room scenes have become carried away with their own genius and try so hard to be otherworldly that they almost no longer are. As for the random appearance of an angel: why bring such an obvious Christian symbol into the murky spirit-world of Twin Peaks?
The Teresa Banks interlude at the start seemed to carry a lot of weight and, to my mind, could have been an excellent subplot. However, Chris Isaak dampens it with comatose acting and is overshadowed by an under-used Kiefer Sutherland. As for David Bowie's cameo - this intense flash of surrealism arrives too soon, way before the sinister atmosphere has been set. It's gratuitous and will only confuse the audience rather than entice it.
There are about 100 other elements that don't add up and I can only assume that these are dealt with in the 3+ hours of deleted scenes (which we'll probably never see). I bought the Region 1 version of this film, which includes a shallow documentary infuriatingly shot as an out-of-synch montage.
Similar Products
- Twin Peaks: Complete Season 1 [1990]
- Lost Highway [1997]
- Blue Velvet [1986] (David Lynch)
- Wild At Heart [1991]
- Inland Empire [2007]
Reviews
Better than the series
Review date: 2008-01-23 Rating: 6 out of 10
I must admit, I liked this film more than I expected to, and more than most Twin Peaks episodes (if not all). I sat and watched the whole series along with this movie in about one month and a half, and while I got bored for most of the second season, I enjoyed the movie.
This actually goes beyond the TV series. It's bigger, freakier, weirder, scarier, and better I guess. Sheryl Lee plays good enough, and she is really leading the whole film, although the director lets us think at the beginning that we're watching a completely different story, which is cool all in all (just consider the first 20 minutes of Psycho, and you'll know what I mean). The two storys final mix together, but don't get fooled: The movie ends with so many unanswered questions and completely out of place scenes, which even if you've watched the full series, you still won't understand. And I'm more than happy that the movie left out so many characters of the series that practicaly had nothing to do with the murder, and their stories were just, so, boring.
If someone asks me, "Should I watch Twin Peaks"? (series or movie), I would answer to him: First watch the pilot episode, then the movie, and then forget about all the others 'cause it's really, not that much worthing it.
"DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM," - TRANSLATED FROM REVERSED SPEACH SAID BY THE LITTLE MAN
Review date: 2008-01-12 Rating: 10 out of 10
Doesnt quite answer everything featured in the stories in both seasons of this excellent show but ties up the main story very well. Disturbing and surreal and typical David Lynch style of telling a story in a way of "work it out yourself" Every actor is on form here albeit a pointless cameo from David Bowie that really doesnt serve the story just confuses matters. The quippy agent featured allot in the series is hardly in this which surprisingly doesnt harm the film.
So, what's it all about then?
Review date: 2007-07-10 Rating: 8 out of 10
Because I'm none too sure. I've had this on DVD for about five years waiting for the reissues of the TV series because I wanted to watch them again before I watched the film. The film is rather typical Lynch territory, bending the seemingly normal into something strange and often unpleasant and is *much* stronger stuff than the TV series.
The film starts with something approaching a plot, but it's plain early on that it's not going to be easy to follow, after Gordon Cole sends two agents on a difficult case by having additional instructions given to them by a female mime in a red wig. On the car journey to the crime scene the senior agent explains to his side-kick what the mime was telling them. It's complex, but makes a certain kind of sense once its explained. Pretty much like this film.
This isn't twin peaks the film, it's not funny, but it is confusing, almost distracted, as if Lynch had ideas for powerful scenes, but wasn't sure how to string them into a movie. The acting of some of the main characters is strange, but I suspect that's them following directors orders rather than incompetence. One scene in a nightclub manages to be erotic, and deeply disturbing all at the same time, all the while the dialogue is (intentionally) almost inaudible because of the row the band is making. It's probably the best scene in the whole film, though there are others nearly as good.
Watch it, be mystified, don't expect a linear plot or a answers to many of those questions you were left with at the end of the TV series. Not Lynches finest, but you can't watch the TV series and not watch this.
Twin Peaks reaches its nadir
Review date: 2007-05-16 Rating: 4 out of 10
The show that revolutionised television gets a shot at the big leagues here, with director David Lynch taking the world of Twin Peaks out of its little box to tell the full story of Laura Palmer's downward spiral into death.
I have two major problems with this film, the first of which is entirely personal, and that is that I can't stand prequels. A prequel is always a dramatic dead end, with no surprises on offer and its outcome always assured, and Twin Peaks proves itself no exception to the rule. Anyone who has seen the series already knows what happens here, from Laura's drug use to her sexual escapades to her final grisly demise. The film is, in a word, redundant. With the bulk of this one feeling like a dull trudge over ground we've already covered, all that's left to offer is some kind of insight into Laura Palmer's suffering, and that brings us to problem number two: Sheryl Lee. Cute she may be, but a good actress she is not, and any attempt to explore Laura's character is undermined by Lee's horribly overwrought performance. There is not one single emotion that Lee doesn't convey via some kind of acting megaphone - "I AM SAD!" her eyes scream at you, "AND NOW I AM FRIGHTENED!" - and it turns what should be a tragic story into a near laughable one.
Fire Walk With Me is something of a forgotten David Lynch film, and perhaps it's best that it stay that way. It adds nothing to the TV series that spawned it and it pales in comparison to Lynch's big screen masterworks like Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive. I suppose it will always be a must for Twin Peaks fans, but everyone else would be advised to steer clear.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Moira Kelly
David Bowie
Harry Dean Stanton
Sheryl Lee
Ray Wise
Creators:
Sheryl Lee (Primary Contributor)
Moira Kelly (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: Cinema Club
Manufacturer: Cinema Club
EAN: 5014138301590
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2005-08-08
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 129 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1989
Language: English (Original Language)
Brand: Cinema Club