Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me Review

        You’ve probably guessed once again that I skipped over another David Lynch film. You can already say that this whole initiative isn’t doing the late director any favors as I accidentally skipped over two of his movies. I want to apologize for the slight hiccup, although this isn’t something where I wasn’t expecting from the beginning. I was unaware that both films would be out of print and unavailable to rent digitally or stream. Compounding it, is that I have a limited amount of funds to hunt down a used copy on eBay. Rest assured that I will cover the two films, but I strongly advocate that all movies should be available to stream by any means. 

1. Twin Peaks

        We’ve already covered partially David Lynch’s work. It’s always interesting to see the progression of the director to see the highs and lows of his career. Little did I know that he also had a hand in television. From the start of the decade, Lynch and co-creator Mark Frost created the show Twin Peaks for ABC. A detective story that, keeping in line with what David Lynch is known for, is a surreal detective story about finding a killer who murdered a young woman in a sleepy town known as Twin Peaks. 

        The show was a critical darling and was a record breaker in terms of how many people watched the show. The unfortunate part is that the show in its initial run only had two seasons. Due to pressure from the channel wanting to reveal the mystery killer and Lynch’s insistence of his vision caused the show to be cancelled. Albeit that was one of the key reasons, there were more due to the quirky nature of the show and how it was completely unorthodox to the casual viewer who were turned off by the many Lynch motifs. I personally haven’t seen the show but will talk about the film just on its merits. 

        It would be years after the fact that the show would return through Showtime. The third season dubbed “The Return” continued the storyline of finding the killer and expanding its scope from just a mystery. To say that the show didn’t influence any new show isn’t true since there were others that were inspired by the weirdness of the program. You have shows like The X-Files and True Detective that were inspired by Twin Peaks and owe the show some credit to having an unorthodox narrative approach. Usually, I’d talk about this info in the Legacy tab, but I’ve decided to get everyone up to speed with what the show is all about and its impact on television.

        The movie on the other hand, is a prequel of events that led up to the first episode of the show. And I was surprised to read that the film was met derisively by critics and even some fans of the show. Digging deeper, a lot of people thought that the movie would be a continuation after Season 2. Immediately, the content that the movie presented was such a turn off that some had felt that it was way too ambitious of a project and that it would’ve just been left alone. I’ll admit that I was lost since the quirky nature of the director weirded me out, but I see this film as a steppingstone to the series. 

2. Laura Palmer’s Demise

        So yeah, the premise of the show is that we follow FBI Agent Cooper as he investigates the death of Laura Palmer and it’s links to the town of Twin Peaks. The film is what we see prior to Cooper’s involvement as we see the life of Laura before her death. Just prior to that, we see a preceding storyline that follows two other Agents investigating a death. I felt that we get a small dose of the supernatural element as both Agents gradually disappear from their investigation. I felt that the beginning section was kind of pointless since the whole story is supposed to be about the girl in question.  

        We see Laura as she’s the seemingly typical girl in Twin Peaks as she goes to school and meeting up with her friend. What is surprising is that she breaks that stereotypical mold as she snorts drugs and is a prostitute. Not to mention that she gets abused by this demonic manifestation named BOB. Stick with me here, I know that this is weird but that’s only because it is David Lynch we’re talking about. What I will say that this is a continuation of sorts from Lynch’s Blue Velvet as he highlights the muck under the seemingly normal. 

        With this film, we see that Laura isn’t a good person but is doing all these things because of what’s been going on with her. This film is a character story but one where we see the events that are leading up to her demise. It’s one thing to make a prequel be engaging is that it must really sell the characters that we’re following. Like, for anyone who watches a prequel of an existing series, it’s a thing where seeing the prequel end and where the initial storyline picks up has to feel earned. 

        Aside from everything that Laura is doing as far as her vices, what I really like about her whole character is that she's has some goodness in the inside where she doesn't want anyone to follow in her footsteps. There's one moment that I like where she and some associates are at a bar. Laura's friend Donna follows her and immediately copies what she's doing. Being abused and having her drink spiked, makes Laura want to leave with her. I especially love it when she tells Donna to not follow in her footsteps. It's like she's dealing with this internal trauma and doesn't want her friend to be a part of it.  

        One example I can think of on how not to do a prequel is the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Where that storyline details the fall of the Jedi and the rise of Darth Vader. What makes those movies not work is that the characters aren’t engaging and the tragic fall of one Jedi feels rushed more than anything. Although the animated series kind of rectifies the mistakes of the trilogy, I feel that it’s more of a band aid covering an open wound. This film makes everything that we see engaging where we get to see Laura prior to her death.

        My apologies, so yeah my point is that seeing Laura do these actions and the malevolent force terrorizing her makes her demise more tragic since she’s not an active character where she can’t change her fate. It gives us a clear idea of who she was and making her death tragic as we see that Agent Cooper is connected to her supernaturally speaking. I’ll elaborate more on that motif, but making a good prequel must make the characters engaging to make the initial series more engaging. 

3. Red Room and the Surreal

        It wouldn’t be a David Lynch movie had he not included any recurring motif of the unnatural and weird. This is probably the first instance of Lynch going full throttle with the surreal since there is an evil manifestation that kills Laura and another woman named Teresa. I feel that with how it’s handled is keeping in line with the show, because with how quirky the first two seasons are. This movie is like an opposite where we see a mean spirited approach to the surreal. All of it is horrifying to Laura as she doesn’t know what this manifestation wants and why it’s targeting her. 

        There’s many interpretations as to what the Red Room is and the inhabitants are there for, but I like to think that the Red Room is sort of like a purgatory place where we see that Agent Cooper has some sense of supernatural. I also like the touch of having him looking at Laura in the end. Although, for the other stuff that is presented, I find it weird that the film has moments where there’s actual subtitles of what people are saying. Due to loud noises or the characters seemingly speaking backwards. 

        I feel that this is probably the most David Lynch thing that I’ve seen where he gets to unleash his whole creativity. While it can be confusing watching it and feeling hot when we see the abuse taking place. I will give Lynch credit that this isn’t like the show where it’s the exact same thing, but a completely different experience where we see the flipside of what made the show great. Whether intentional or not, I feel that it’s one of those rare prequels where it sets up the former show perfectly with what’s about to happen. 

4. Overall

        Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is one of David Lynch’s best and one where it’s clearly made for his fans of the show.