Fire Walk With Me - First impressions

[Buck's Student]

I watched Fire Walk With Me for the first time today, and I cannot believe the negative hype. It is a really good film, and a great visual of all the stories of Laura Palmer. Leeland came off as an even worse character than before, but I still find him to be sweet. David Bowie's character only confused me, and I don't know why Laura Flynn Boyle wasn't recast. Same with the rest; I would have liked to have seen all the rest of the TV cast.

I expected more on the investigation side of things, and I was hoping for some kind of ending to the TV series. Too bad David has given up on making more Twin Peaks films.

[piero]

We want the complete movie with deleted scenes!!!

[Mb3]

I watched Fire Walk With Me for the first time today, and I cannot believe the negative hype. It is a really good film, and a great visual of all the stories of Laura Palmer.

That's also what I thought after I watched this film for the first time and I think it's about time for me to view it again. It's actually one of my favorite movies from David Lynch.

[TheArm]

It does feel though that it is a film where the critics have revised their opinion and softened toward it over time. While yes, I remember how reviled it was when it was first released, when the DVD came out a few years back, it seemed to give critics a chance to re-visit it and appreciate it a bit more, now that it was removed from what was then a pretty big backlash, against both Lynch and the "Twin Peaks" franchise as a whole.

I remember I had to tape it off of Showtime really late one night because my parents forbade me from watching it. It was early '94 and I was 14 or 15 (in my parents' defense, I was pretty young). I remember then waiting to watch it one night after my parents were asleep with the volume super low so that it didn't wake them up, and wound up being so frightened and so disturbed by it that I had to shut it off halfway through, and came back to it a few days later to finish it. I hated it at first for feeling so different from the show, but on my second viewing I began warming to it, and now I absolutely love it!

[Buck's Student]

The only big difference from the show is the lack of lightheartedness. It's pretty intense the entire time.

[human germ]

^ indeed.


was watching steven king's 'christine' this afternoon on a rented dvd from netflix. there was a law enforcement guy who was played by the same actor who'd played the manager of the trailer park in FWWM. the actor looked pretty much the same 10 years or so earlier.

[gavriloP]

Yeah, Human Germ! Harry Dean Stanton has some strange transylvanian thing going on... he was also in Ridley Scott's original Alien from 77-78 and looked just the same. And last time I saw him in Lynch's INLAND EMPIRE and still the same. Spooky!

BTW, I really like him a lot. He has warmth. He had a lead role in Wim Wender's Paris, Texas and I can vouch for that film (tho, it's been years since I saw it...). It has also beautiful soundtrack. Also Der Himmel über Berlin affected me deeply when I was young (haven't seen it since). They made some hollywood remake from this film but I will not ever watch it (City of Angels if I recall right). It seemed very different from the original.

[mixomatosis]

There was a period of about a year where I just couldn't watch it, as I was far too depressed. As for the first time... I was taken by just how much darker it was to the series. Seems obvious to say it now, but it caught me completely off guard back then. A good film, but much more sinister. In fact I'd venture this is the darkest film he's ever made, bar none.

[human germ]

gavriloP-harry dean stanton must be a most versatile actor indeed. his character on 'christine' was pretty damned different from the trailer park manager on fwwm, lol!!!
seems he has done a great deal of acting- and in very disparate films/movies.
and, like you'd mentioned, he doesn't seem to age appreciably.

alas, i didn't recognize him in 'inland empire'!

to digress, i do agree, too, with the last poster here that fwwm was very dark. it did have some humerous moments, but not on the order of the TP series. i will say that i found the ending very moving; i truly am in tears every time i see it!

[gavriloP]

I watched FWWM again some time ago and boy, do I love this film! I could even say that it is my favourite Lynch once again. Maybe the fact that I also watched TP before it affected to this.

This film is way darker than Twin Peaks, but it fits to that world very well IMO. It's melancholy gives new angles to that world, makes it more full.

The acting of Ray Wise is very moving but I also adore Chris Isaak in it! I'm actually happy that Coop had diminished role in FWWM. Sheryl Lee is also good, as always and when I was younger she affected me even much more (and on many levels, ehm). But still good.

I hope we see the deleted scenes one day, because I would love to see more TP regulars in it, no matter what trivialities they are doing

I actually think the first part of the film is strongest, I could watch that kind of stuff for hours. But Laura's last days are also very fitting. And the sombre tone of them is essential for the story. Also that picture of Tremonds/Chalfonts and Laura's dream are very interesting.

The music crowns this thing. The soundtrack is just impeccable. I have listened this album countless of times. To me it is the zenith of Lynch/Badalamenti collaborations.

I remember when this was at Cannes festivals and I was listening the press conference report from radio. They played Julee Cruise's version of Summer kisses, winter tears and it was so perfect! (It was actually made to Wim Wenders's Until the end of the world but with Lynch/Badalamenti vibe) Then the gruesome press conference and cornered Lynch came on and I felt so bad. Didn't know what to expect from FWWM, but I trusted the man and he delivered!

Actually some finnish film magazines wrote great reviews about it so it wasn't all bashing. Later I went to Espoo Cine film festivals here in Finland just to watch this one film on big screen. Even though it was dark and melancholy, I loved it totally. Somehow it was so much more serious, almost like an adult version of TP It fitted perfectly to my world at the time and also to the feeling that TP is lost forever. Only in our dreams it continues, as it has.

[evdama]

FWWM was going to be a lot less lighthearted from the outset -Lynch was no longer restrained by the shackles of television censorship-the revengeful smashing of the TV set at the start of the film shouts this out.

Get the "Short films of David Lynch" on DVD if you want to see some classic Harry Dean Stanton.
The most of the disc has the usual abstract weirdness in the Eraserhead style and there is a sort of explanation from DL himself.
H.D.S plays lead in "The Cowboy and the Frenchman" which is the most tangible film of the set.
Quite amusing and also starring Jack Nance (Pete Martell) and painfully typecast Micheal Horse (Deputy Hawk) as a Native American.

He was also in an Xfiles episode as,..well...erm.. a Deputy Hawk /sherrif-type character as well.
I think he possibly was wearing the same uniform....
Actors of Major Briggs and Mrs Chalfont/Tremond have also been {type}cast in the series.

Incidentallly theres a great TP send up in Northern Exposure - the "Russian Flu"epsisode.
Also, a superbly done "Midnight Cowboy" scene amongst others.
This series is well worth a look if you're into TP-much more gentle, not nearly as weird but comfortably quirky.

[Mb3]

I watched FWWM again some time ago and boy, do I love this film!

This film is way darker than Twin Peaks, but it fits to that world very well IMO. It's melancholy gives new angles to that world, makes it more full.

I hope we see the deleted scenes one day, because I would love to see more TP regulars in it, no matter what trivialities they are doing

I actually think the first part of the film is strongest, I could watch that kind of stuff for hours. But Laura's last days are also very fitting. And the sombre tone of them is essential for the story. Also that picture of Tremonds/Chalfonts and Laura's dream are very interesting.

The music crowns this thing. The soundtrack is just impeccable. I have listened this album countless of times. To me it is the zenith of Lynch/Badalamenti collaborations.

After watching the movie for the second time last night I figured out that most of the things gavriloP wrote about the movie two months ago are nearly the same thoughts and feelings that I have about it, that's why I quoted the sentences that I agree with him. Maybe I wouldn't call it my favorite film of David Lynch but it's definetly amongst my top three. I'm especially looking forward to the deleted scenes involving Agent Jeffries in Buenos Aires, I hope we'll get the chance to see that one day but of course I also would like to see the rest of the deleted footage.

[garethw]

I actually think the first part of the film is strongest

I particularly agree with that sentiment. Dear Meadow is like Twin Peaks seen through a much darker lens - there are numerous parallels between the two towns and the events that take place in them, and the pace & mood of those sections are really strong. I could watch Carl and Irene for hours.

I read an interesting interpretation of the blue rose a few years ago by a poster called Trichome on alt.tv.twin-peaks. He argued that the blue rose represented Laura, cyanotic and wrapped in plastic like the bouquet of flowers she never received as the homecoming queen. It wasn't a very popular theory when I last shared it here, but it still resonates for me whenever I see it.

[Black Rose]

I have to confess that I don't care for the film.

The style of the film is fine, but I am annoyed by how the mythos was changed.

I think the mythos in the series is a lot cleaner: There is an evil living in the woods surrounding the town, and it possesses the townspeople to a greater or lesser extent. And I don't think Leland was the only victim.

The film sort of mucks it up. I think adding the details makes it less freaky.

[evdama]

IMHO not mucking it up,just projecting something for the folk who appreciate Lynch-Lynch rather than mainstream-television-Lynch.
Im sure as dammit,too that Leland wasnt the only victim but the nursery school way Series 2 dealt with his exposure was lame in comparison.