Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with MeSecrets. Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) has secrets, and those secrets are her undoing. Just as the secrets she keeps destroy her, so do the secrets others keep, like those of her father, Leland (Ray Wise). Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me is the cinematic prequel to the cult favorite television show, Twin Peaks. Intended for audiences which have already seen the show--while remaining accessible to those who have not--the film chronicles the events leading up to Laura Palmer's murder, shedding light on the mystery, while retaining that enigmatic quality that still leaves more questions than answers.
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When I first saw Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, I made the strange decision to watch the film before seeing the show. Frankly, the show was long out of print on DVD, inaccessible by traditional means--time and distribution had not caught up yet with the short-lived but beloved series. However, even without a frame of reference to events from the series, I was engaged by the persistent, dream-like quality that David Lynch's bookend to the series possessed. Even without an understanding of the relationships between the characters or the labyrinthine, delirious plot, certain things were clear, and the elusiveness of the metaphorical fugues and backwards talk was a brief taste of delicious madness fans of the series had come to expect--a cross between a procedural crime thriller and a woeful tale of familial abuse and self-destruction. The film begins with something of a false start, concerning two FBI agents--Chester Desmond (Chris Isaak) and Sam Stanley (Kiefer Sutherland)--investigating the case of a murdered girl in Portland, Oregon. For fans of the show, the parallels between the murder of Teresa Banks (Pamela Gidley) and the doomed Laura Palmer are instantly recognizable, but beyond the obvious implication that Laura's inevitable murder was the result of a serial killer, it creates the sense that the agents of the FBI, who utilize abstract and seemingly metaphysical forms of deduction, as well as the spirits of destruction which stalk the Northwest and destroy wholesome communities and young girls are themselves agents of opposing primal forces, foreshadowing the darkness yet to come--Teresa Banks is merely the beginning of something greater.
One of the criticisms levied against Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me was the idea that since it had an R-rating, it exploited this to graphically display scenes of sex and violence, drugs and language which were otherwise only implied in the show. I would counter that since it is already established that Laura Palmer led a wild life as a hard partying girl, presenting this content in any other way would diminish the gravity of her situation. But in many ways, Laura is a victim of the abuses she has suffered, which have molded her into a person who can not love life anymore. In her diary, Laura remarks that she had begun being molested at the age of twelve, claiming the perpetrator was a person named "Bob", a force of darkness who infects people with destructive thoughts, trying to gain a foothold into reality by possessing others to do evil in his name. Bob is also attempting to infect Laura, possess her, for Bob is a kind of spiritual poison, who thrives on pain and suffering. Like any kind of abuse, the abuser spreads this malice, and something is taken from the victims, which in turn causes them to spread that pain. Bob's existence--and presence in Laura's life--has a lot to do with her father, Leland, whose emotions shift rapidly between tyrannical domineering and extreme sorrow combined with his guilt for his toxic parenting. Superficially, this portrays him as suffering from a kind of bipolar disorder, but series fans will glean more from this performance. My favorite scene remains intense, regardless of your foresight into events of the series: When Laura returns home from a night out, Leland politely demands that she sit down for supper. When he observes that she didn't wash her hands, he menacingly browbeats her and looms over her, his wife and Laura's mother, Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriskie) shrieking at him to end his interrogation of her. It is a scene fraught with menace and sorrow, for it might belong in any dysfunctional home, but it is Laura's home, and Laura's world is already crumbling around her, a heavy weight for a high school girl to carry. Laura believes that she is beyond salvation, and that the angels want nothing to do with her--life has been a series of emotional disasters, and at the edge of the abyss, she stares deep. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me closes the book for Laura, but her legacy remains; I'm eager to see what 2017 holds in store when this one-of-a-kind mythos makes its return after an implausible hiatus.
Recommended for: Fans of abstract mystery with a gorgeous blend of noir and psychedelia, jazzy riffs and red rooms. Although fans will already know the mystery, it still remains a riveting tale filled with loads of riddles to unravel...perhaps we will see a return to some of this content when the series makes its comeback.
One of the criticisms levied against Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me was the idea that since it had an R-rating, it exploited this to graphically display scenes of sex and violence, drugs and language which were otherwise only implied in the show. I would counter that since it is already established that Laura Palmer led a wild life as a hard partying girl, presenting this content in any other way would diminish the gravity of her situation. But in many ways, Laura is a victim of the abuses she has suffered, which have molded her into a person who can not love life anymore. In her diary, Laura remarks that she had begun being molested at the age of twelve, claiming the perpetrator was a person named "Bob", a force of darkness who infects people with destructive thoughts, trying to gain a foothold into reality by possessing others to do evil in his name. Bob is also attempting to infect Laura, possess her, for Bob is a kind of spiritual poison, who thrives on pain and suffering. Like any kind of abuse, the abuser spreads this malice, and something is taken from the victims, which in turn causes them to spread that pain. Bob's existence--and presence in Laura's life--has a lot to do with her father, Leland, whose emotions shift rapidly between tyrannical domineering and extreme sorrow combined with his guilt for his toxic parenting. Superficially, this portrays him as suffering from a kind of bipolar disorder, but series fans will glean more from this performance. My favorite scene remains intense, regardless of your foresight into events of the series: When Laura returns home from a night out, Leland politely demands that she sit down for supper. When he observes that she didn't wash her hands, he menacingly browbeats her and looms over her, his wife and Laura's mother, Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriskie) shrieking at him to end his interrogation of her. It is a scene fraught with menace and sorrow, for it might belong in any dysfunctional home, but it is Laura's home, and Laura's world is already crumbling around her, a heavy weight for a high school girl to carry. Laura believes that she is beyond salvation, and that the angels want nothing to do with her--life has been a series of emotional disasters, and at the edge of the abyss, she stares deep. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me closes the book for Laura, but her legacy remains; I'm eager to see what 2017 holds in store when this one-of-a-kind mythos makes its return after an implausible hiatus.
Recommended for: Fans of abstract mystery with a gorgeous blend of noir and psychedelia, jazzy riffs and red rooms. Although fans will already know the mystery, it still remains a riveting tale filled with loads of riddles to unravel...perhaps we will see a return to some of this content when the series makes its comeback.