Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me ** (1992, Sheryl Lee, Ray Wise, Mädchen Amick, David Bowie, Miguel Ferrer, Peggy Lipton) – Classic Movie Review 8460

David Lynch’s smart if baffling cinematic prequel to his legendary TV series Twin Peaks (1990) shows the last week in the life of the murdered Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) and her friend (Moira Kelly). It is a startling exercise in inexplicable surrealism. Lynch tells his story in a fashion so bizarre, surreal and stylised that it is virtually incoherent and incomprehensible, at least to anyone who didn’t see the series.

Though Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) is completely swamped by the campy, slick presentation, somewhere in this movie there is a good yarn, a lot of fine playing from a smart iconic cast, swish photography by Ron Garcia and sexy music by Angelo Badalamenti. The estimable Sheryl Lee does very well to turn in a believable performance under these bizarre circumstances.

Spoofy turns from David Lynch as the FBI boss Gordon Cole, Kyle MacLachlan as Agent Dale Cooper and David Bowie as Agent Philip Jeffries add to the movie’s weirdness and entertainment value, but subtract from its credibility.

Also in the cast are Ray Wise, Mädchen Amick, Dana Ashbrook, Phoebe Augustine, David Bowie, Eric DaRae, Miguel Ferrer, Pamela Gidley, Heather Graham, Chris Isaak, Moira Kelly, Peggy Lipton, David Lynch, James Marshall, Jürgen Prochnow, Harry Dean Stanton, Kiefer Sutherland, Lenny Von Dohlen, Grace Zabriskie, Kyle MacLachlan, Frances Bay and Calvin Lockhart.

It is rated R for strong violence, sex, and drug content, and for language.

It was conceived as the first in a film series exploring the mythology of the Black Lodge but this film’s critical and box-office failure caused Lynch to abandon his plans for sequels. It cost $10,000,000 and grossed $4,160,800 in the US.

It runs 134 minutes. Lynch shot about five hours of film but none of the extra footage has ever been released.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) is directed by David Lynch, runs 134 minutes, is made by New Line Cinema, CiBy 2000 and Twin Peaks Productions and released by New Line Cinema (1992) (US) and Guild Film Distribution (1992) (UK), is written by David Lynch and Robert Engels, based on the television series Twin Peaks by David Lynch and Mark Frost, is shot by Ronald Víctor García [Ron Garcia], is produced by David Lynch (executive producer), Mark Frost (executive producer), Gregg Fienberg (producer) and John Wentworth (co-producer), is scored by Angelo Badalamenti and designed by Patricia Norris.

RIP David Bowie (1947–2016), Harry Dean Stanton (1926–2017), Miguel Ferrer (1955–2017) and Pamela Gidley (1965–2018).

Peggy Lipton (1946–2019).

Peggy Lipton, who plays Norma Jennings, proprietor of the Double R Diner, died of cancer on 11 May 2019, aged 72. She also played the character in the original 1990 drama Twin Peaks, and reprised the role in the 2017 re-launch.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8460

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