Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (Widescreen)

 

 

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I have a lot of friends who despise this movie. To them, it is not true to the spirit of the TV show. While I see where they're coming from, I disagree. While the TV show keeps the darkness under the surface, Fire Walk With Me is Lynch's view into the darkest aspects of human misery and evil. I see nothing wrong with a look at what's under the surface of the quirky Twin Peaks, unhampered by the restrictions of writing for network TV.

The scenes in the black lodge are unforgettably dark and disturbing. Sheryl Lee's acting is unbelievable. The symbolism is stark and memorable. As with most Lynch films, there is so much subtext that repeated viewings are just as revealing. Highly recommended for Lynch fans and anyone looking for a deeper understanding of evil.

I was a Twin Peaks fan, too, but this movie I love.

It may have been an accident: I sometimes wonder how attached to the thing Lynch was, the concept not being his alone but something he shared with Mark Frost. But forced to apply his specific way of seeing things to a pre-existing framework, he created a prequel to the series that was everything the series could not be, and in the process gave us some kind of masterpiece. Maybe it isn't as purely Lynch as Eraserhead or Blue Velvet, and perhaps it isn't as comfortable as Twin Peaks, but it is BETTER than any of them, perhaps because Lynch was forced to find an uneasy balance between that snakepit in his head and the demands of commercial cinema. Straining against the bonds of expectation (and breaking most of them) was good for him, and whether he felt any intimate attachment to the project or not, it seems to me to be the most successful presentation of his inner world.

Fire Walk With Me managed to chill me to the bone more than once in its running time, and I thought I was beyond being frightened by film forever. It also makes me cry every time I see it. The film is also literally thrilling, presenting a frightening and malign universe in which the damaged, angelic (and doomed) agents of a surreal FBI simply prove too delicate to survive with souls intact in the face of the kind of evil that would drive a father to rape his own daughter. You hear the word 'nightmarish' bandied about a lot in regard to horror films, and while I don't think I've ever heard this nightmarish thing referred to as a horror movie, that is just what it is: absolutely the finest horror film ever made. In the world of Fire Walk With Me it is the spiritual natures of the characters themselves that are in jeaopardy, and it is the stakes being so high that lends the story its depth and great power. This is going to sound like a ridiculous claim, but the closest approximation I know in literature is Dostoevsky. Remember the hair raising scene in Brother's Karamazov when the crippled girl who loves Alyosha purposely slams her finger in the door, and the look on her face? Or the scene in the Possessed in which the nihilist has agreed to commit suicide in order to prove that he is free, but is found in his pitch black room apparently trying to disappear into the wall? If those images stay with you, you're wired right to find a new favourite in Fire Walk With Me.

Twin Peaks was good in many ways, but it was also flabby -- most of the supporting characters could profitably have been dispensed with, particularly in the second season (and in Fire Walk With Me they are) -- and if we don't get as much of Dale Cooper as we might have liked in Fire, we should be glad that we at least get Lynch's final, purest meditation on what the series was all about. Strange as it may seem, this bizarre film about the darkest things is also one of the most paradoxically life affirming things I know of. Not only does it make me feel better about the movies and their potential, it makes me feel better about people.

"Fire Walk With Me" may not be David Lynch's best work but it rocks you
straight to hell! Never before have I seen Lynch being so angry and cruel! The opening sequence says it all! This is an art film, not a TV show. It does not exploit. Sheryl Lee gives the performance of her life playing Laura Palmer. She should have been at least nominated! Kyle MacLachlan, Chris Isaak, David Bowie, Harry Dean Stanton and Moira Kelly give memorable performances as well. "Fire Walk With Me" is hypnotic, it's like being inside a dream, just like one of the characters says: "We live inside a dream." It's scary as hell, Lynch's scariest film so far! It takes you places you don't really wanna go and shows you things you may not like. But it does this very well and it has no apologies to make to anyone.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Firewalking with me
The cult show "Twin Peaks" was reknowned for being weird and oddballish, but until fans have seen "Twin Peaks - Fire Walk With Me," they ain't seen weird yet. Read more

Published on Aug 11 2007 by E. A Solinas

4.0 out of 5 stars Firewalking with me
The cult show "Twin Peaks" was reknowned for being weird and oddballish, but until fans have seen "Twin Peaks - Fire Walk With Me," they ain't seen weird yet. Read more

Published on April 28 2007 by E. A Solinas

1.0 out of 5 stars garmonbozia, all right.
See, this movie is yet another intentional turkey in the David Lynch stinkography. When will you people believe me when I tell you the man simply likes to make bad movies?!? Read more

Published on July 17 2004 by mark twain

4.0 out of 5 stars Prequel sets the stage for series pilot
Shot after the series was cancelled because there was a demand overseas for more "Twin Peaks" material, "Fire Walk with Me" gives us a glimpse of what occurred... Read more

Published on July 7 2004 by WTDK

5.0 out of 5 stars The Product of Drugs, Without the Drugs
It occurs to me that David Lynch is the only director that can truly scare me, and he does so without cheap, jumpy camera shots. Or drugs. Read more

Published on Jun 13 2004 by Gregory B. Gilliland

2.0 out of 5 stars A WANT MY DELETED SCENES
I love this movie! I am happy with My Import Disc however I did buy this DVD because I wanted this movie on DVD. Read more

Published on May 31 2004 by S. HECK

5.0 out of 5 stars Pain and suffering = GARMONBOZIA
Upon first viewing, I fell asleep during Twin Peaks- Fire Walk With Me. I hated it. I felt that David Lynch had decided to take a non-sensical approach to the wonderful characters... Read more

Published on April 8 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything I wanted the series to be...
I came into watching the series of Twin Peaks as a fan of Lynch's intuitively absurd filmmaking style. Read more

Published on Mar 23 2004 by Jesse A. Farmer

5.0 out of 5 stars questions in a world of blue
as an advocate fan of lynch, i was appalled at how quickly sundance & so many critics(piranhas) nearly tore peaks to pieces in the early nineties. Read more

Published on Feb 18 2004 by Brian R Yandle

4.0 out of 5 stars it left a lasting impression
I really enjoyed this movie at the cinema back in the early 90s. It has left a lasting impression because it was eeery and well crafted. The famous Lynch style is there. Read more

Published on Jan 20 2004 by William

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