Lost Highway

(Some of) The Cast: Bill Pullman (Fred), Patricia Arquette (Renee), Balthazar Getty (Andy), Robert Blake--looking like a vampire.

The Plot (sort of): It's a strange case of dual identities, focusing on Pullman's Fred and Getty's Andy, but also between Patricia Arquette's two character's Renee and Alice. The pace of the movie is (as usual) slow like molasses and the dialogue is sparse beyond belief; there are long, great moments of silence . . . intended to instill dread, I guess, but it's also just the way that Lynch does things.

There is a lot of blackness on the screen--not all attributed to my laptop screen angle. Pullman's character comes in and out of darkness a lot. (It's thematic, you see). I wonder if they use Getty's character sometimes when Pullman's back is turned, to enhance the body switching effect?

Someone (Renee?) is murdered and Fred is jailed for it. But, during the incarceration, he transforms? into Getty and is set free. But does he really transform or is it some sort of fantasy?

There is one classic "Lynchian" moment about halfway through the movie. A mobster played by Robert Loggia is driving on a windy mountain road and lets a car behind him pass. Then he guns the engine, drives the man off the road, jumps out of the car with his goons, guns drawn, and proceeds to scream for ten minutes about the dangers of tailgating while administering a pretty severe beating. Out of place, completely over the top and emotionally unhinged. David Lynch, ladies and gentlemen.

Overall the movie has an interesting mystery quality to it, but even so, I was checking the time as I watched, preparing for it to be over.

Oh well.