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Lost Highway [1997] (REGION 1) (NTSC)


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

David Lynch's Lost Highway is one of the most puzzled over movies of the 1990s. After Twin Peaks and Wild at Heart audiences were prepared for more questions than answers. But this mystery is without doubt the most sinister and disturbing of all his work, which is to say it's arguably the most worthy of puzzling out.

Bill Pullman goes to jail for murdering his wife Patricia Arquette the Brunette. He metamorphoses into Balthazar Getty who falls for Patricia Arquette the Blonde. They're involved in many bad things. Getty morphs back to Pullman who's left with neither girl, but a lot of explaining to do about how Robert Loggia was involved with both and who/what on earth Robert Blake is. There are no straight answers.

It might just be possible to twist the film into a Moebius strip and work out half the chronology, but that would be missing the point. Lynch makes paintings that move and if they happen to tell a tale (thank you The Straight Story), that's just a happy by-product. This film is "about" a lot of things: obsession, the impossible notion of owning a partner, why tailgating is wrong. Beyond that, it's about nothing more than enjoying just how sensually delicious everything looks and sounds on Lynch's Highway.

On the DVD: Lost Highway is presented on disc in Lynch's preferred 2.35:1 ratio (anamorphically enhanced), even if it isn't the cleanest of transfers. Sound however, is only two channel stereo, whereas 5.1 mixes do exist elsewhere. The teaser trailer is hardly worth the effort. --Paul Tonks


The Unexplained
Review date: 2008-08-27 Rating: 8 out of 10

This willfully mysterious 1997 movie from David Lynch has been most convincingly described as a fugue - in music, a piece in which one theme is followed by another, with the first lingering in the backdrop as a counterpoint, or alternatively as a flight from reality into amnesia.

I frequently watch Lost Highway every year and i still walk away from it scratching my head in utter confusion yet i still feel entertained by it.

Dr Clarke 7.5/10


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Reviews


Classic David Lynch - see it repeatedly and still not know what's happened
Review date: 2008-05-05 Rating: 8 out of 10

I've just watched this for the third time (in it's DTS-soundtrack version) and I still don't know exactly what went on. That's the appeal of a David Lynch film. You can watch them repeatedly and come to a different conclusion each time.

One guy is a jazz musician, Fred, with a beautiful wife Renee (Patricia Arquette). The other guy is a grease monkey who keeps a gangster, Mr Eddy's (Robert Loggia) powerful Mercedes in tune. For car fanatics, as he runs a prat who tailgated him off the road, Mr Eddy says it has 1400bhp under the bonnet. That is of course total fiction, especially in an un-modded saloon body, as is the way it accelerates from 40 - 100 in a couple of seconds (which is via trick photography). The actual car was a 1976 Mercedes 450 SEL 6.9 (W116).

Someone drops a black and white video on the jazz musician's doorstep. It's of the front of his house. In a later video drop is a view inside showing Fred and Renee sleeping. When he watches the last video drop, it shows him killing Renee and bursts into colour, at which point he finds himself by his wife's dismembered body with the cops there to arrest him for murder. He ends up in a police cell.

The mechanic, despite having a beautiful woman himself and knowing the gangster to be violent, starts an affair with the gangster's moll, Alice, a blonde version of Fred's wife. She suspects that the gangster knows and at that point things start to come off the rails.

People apparently change places with each other and are able to be in two places at once. The red curtains from "Twin Peaks" are there too.

Confused yet? You will be by the time you finish watching this, even with heavy use of the rewind button. As it says in the slipcase notes, the answers to the questions raised may be discovered at the end of the Lost Highway ... but is there an end?

Not of course family viewing, being rated 18 as there is murder, gore and Patricia Arquette getting her kit off for good measure (what a surprise!).

The soundtrack includes music by Rammstein, This Mortal Coil, Lou Reed, Barry Adamson and David Bowie.

Talking of the soundtrack, regrettably this old edition has only a stereo one. Track down the 2 DVD special edition if you can. It has Dolby 5.1 and DTS soundtracks and some nice extras including interviews with Lynch, Arquette, Bill Pullman and Robert Loggia. Don't pay over the odds though as it simply isn't worth more than the full price of a new DVD.



Classic David Lynch - see it repeatedly and still not know what's happened
Review date: 2008-05-05 Rating: 8 out of 10

I've just watched this for the third time and I still don't know exactly what went on. That's the appeal of a David Lynch film. You can watch them repeatedly and come to a different conclusion each time.

One guy is a jazz musician, Fred, with a beautiful wife Renee (Patricia Arquette). The other guy is a grease monkey who keeps a gangster, Mr Eddy's (Robert Loggia) powerful Mercedes in tune. For car fanatics, as he runs a prat who tailgated him off the road, Mr Eddy says it has 1400bhp under the bonnet. That is of course total fiction, especially in an un-modded saloon body, as is the way it accelerates from 40 - 100 in a couple of seconds (which is via trick photography). The actual car was a 1976 Mercedes 450 SEL 6.9 (W116).

Someone drops a black and white video on the jazz musician's doorstep. It's of the front of his house. In a later video drop is a view inside showing Fred and Renee sleeping. When he watches the last video drop, it shows him killing Renee and bursts into colour, at which point he finds himself by his wife's dismembered body with the cops there to arrest him for murder. He ends up in a police cell.

The mechanic, despite having a beautiful woman himself and knowing the gangster to be violent, starts an affair with the gangster's moll, Alice, a blonde version of Fred's wife. She suspects that the gangster knows and at that point things start to come off the rails.

People apparently change places with each other and are able to be in two places at once. The red curtains from "Twin Peaks" are there too.

Confused yet? You will be by the time you finish watching this, even with heavy use of the rewind button. As it says in the slipcase notes, the answers to the questions raised may be discovered at the end of the Lost Highway ... but is there an end?

Not of course family viewing, being rated 18 as there is murder, gore and Patricia Arquette getting her kit off for good measure (what a surprise!).

I had a minor problem with the audio. I was pleased to see a very good Dolby and DTS 5.1 surround mix as opposed to the original stereo. The DTS mix is absolutely stunning (as is the picture) except for the fact that some of Arquette's dialogue was so quiet I couldn't make it out. As there were no subtitles (a disgrace really) turning up was the only option but my ears were blasted off the next minute once the quiet dialogue was over.

Track down this 2 DVD special edition if you can. It has some ace extras including interviews with Lynch, Arquette, Bill Pullman and Robert Loggia. Don't pay over the odds for it though - even new, never mind second hand, it simply isn't worth more that the full price of a brand new DVD.


Dont believe the hype of David lynch
Review date: 2007-08-29 Rating: 4 out of 10

Dont believe the hype of David lynch, seriouly i dont understand why david lynch is so wellknown. This film is called his best but when i saw it i was sevrely unimpressed. From all the comments i read i believed that this would be a amazing arthouse type horror from a great director but its the opposite. The film is mind nuimbingly boring with dialog kept to a minimum and when it is used its bearly worth it. The acting is ok but the story line was boring and incredably preditable and people dont believe the other comments about a great soundtrack becasue the only word for the soundtrack is laughable. The effect in this film are laughable and you can see where david kynch has attampted to include various filming techniques but just turn out to look like window movie maker effects. Seriously if you are fans of good horror films, arthouse, thrillers or psyological films dont even bother with lost highway.

Excellent image & Sound...Finally!
Review date: 2007-02-15 Rating: 10 out of 10

Like many others here in the US I had only seen this film on TV and on the rather poor pan & scan DVD available in the US prior to purchasing this edition.

This was the 4th time I'd seen the movie but it was a completely new experience!
For the first time I saw details that I'd missed on other poorer versions of the film some of which were key to the plot.

The video and audio are top notch and looked beautiful on my hi-def TV.

I would strongly urge any David Lynch fans to grab this terrific edition of one of his best films.


Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Patricia Arquette
Scott Coffey
Lou Eppolito
Balthazar Getty
Gary Busey

Creators:
Patricia Arquette (Primary Contributor)
Gary Busey (Primary Contributor)
Peter Deming (Cinematographer)
Angelo Badalamenti (Composer)
Angelo Badalamenti (Conductor)

Recording label: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
EAN: 0025195018111
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Colour, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC,
Release date: 2008-03-25
Universal product code (UPC): 025195018111
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Region code: 1
Running time: 120 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1997
Language: English (Original Language)

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