ctyankee

A prequel that clearly is not just a prequel and a film that doesn't resolve cliffhangers is a fair assessment.

My own assessment is that Lynch should have left well enough alone. It was poor judgment to tease fans of the series. Additionally, it wasn't that interesting a film. Now, I'm a big Lynch fan but even for me, some of his films are duds. But he has also given us great films. I think in his heart of hearts he thinks he can pound something out on his typewriter and believes that it will be a sweet success when the actors see it the next day. That and I would bet my house he has A.D.D. or the equivalent. But, what artist doesn't have some issues?

Josh Z

Lynch's pet cause is promoting Transcendental Meditation, which is essentially the opposite of ADD.

critterdvd

Isn't there a rumor going around that CW might be optioning this property? Would make sense considering its in the CBS/Paramount family and CW only seems to be able to produce hits that are remakes of something better...

ctyankee

Ah no. Meditation is a technique whereas A.D.D. is a condition, big difference. At Yale University, Lynch discussed meditation and how he reaches a state of "bliss." Of course, he also discussed the idea that getting thousands of people around the world to meditate at the same time would allow for those thousands to "connect" with each other. But, that's neither here nor there (pun intended).

Meanwhile, for anyone thinks that Lynch can stay on task, I would suggest watching the filming extras that came with the Inland Empire DVD. It should be quite eye-opening.

Egon's Ghost

Popular opinion, critical or especially popular, of a Lynch film? What do you expect?
I can't hate anything he does. Michael Chion's book about Lynch helped me appreciate Fire Walk more.

ctyankee

I have no idea what you meant by "especially popular" but except for maybe Elephant Man and Dune, Lynch has never drawn a mainstream audience. And as those weren't his projects perhaps never drawing a mainstream audience is perhaps correct.

So, the audience that went to see Fire Walk With Me is far from mainstream. So if the mainstream didn't see it, the non-mainstream didn't like it and the critics didn't either ... the only group that liked it is the outlying outliers. Which is fine. But to answer your question, I expect directors to not disappoint the bulk of their audience. Is that unreasonable?

Josh-da-man

There's this piece on AICN, but it's more of a suggestion than a rumor.

The little angel on my shoulder tells me to leave Twin Peaks well enough alone.

But the little devil on my other shoulder tells me that there's a "twenty years later" storyline built into Twin Peaks already, that they could probably get quite a few of the actors back in addition to some new ones, and that someone could take the concept and just go nuts with it.

Spiral Staircase

Here is a another defense of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. It briefly mentions Lynch's interest in Transcendental Meditation and attempts to relate it to the film.

MTRodaba2468

That's classic. I remember seeing that as a kid, and naturally, being a kid, not getting all the references (such as "David Finch", for example).

tylergfoster

The same thing that's on the inside front flap of the snapper, with the DVD cover on the other side.

I got it recently at a Half Price Books for $5.96 (one of the surplus titles they actually get new stock of), so try there if you're looking for one.

Living Dead

Oh man...



The conclusion to that storyline is what I would have preferred to what we actually got with Fire Walk With Me, which I thought was mediocre at best. If that means I'm not a "true fan" or I "don't understand the series at all"... then so be it.

JLyon1515

You're forgetting Blue Velvet, which was nominated for two Golden Globes, and one Oscar. Clearly that had a mainstream audience, and it was a screenplay written by Lynch. So would argue that Blue Velvet was the film that pushed Lynch into the mainstream.

islandclaws

I'll stop far short of saying that I don't like FWWM, because I absolutely love it, but I do wish it contained more of the quirky humor the series was known for. Lynch made the film dark, perhaps even too dark, and by doing so he removed it from the world he created on television by a noticeable degree. My hope is that one day he completes the deleted footage to his satisfaction and assembles a longer cut of the film. IMO, you can never have too much Twin Peaks.

critterdvd

I would have to agree with this. While a lot of Lynch film's previous to "Blue Velvet" were given some theatrical run it wasn't until this film (and later with 'Mullholland Drive") that he really broke into the average-joe theater audience.

I have to say that I'm amazed the amount of times I've seen "Blue Velvet" in various Literature, film, psychology and sociology classes.

Josh Z

Lynch has had the right of final cut on all of his movies since Blue Velvet, and has been very clear that he won't extend Fire Walk With Me. The theatrical cut is his director's cut.

However, what he's stated that he wants to do is fashion the deleted scenes from FWWM into a series of short films set in the universe of Twin Peaks.

islandclaws

I know, and I'm ok with that. I'd love to see the footage surface in any form possible and those short films sound like a good alternative. Seeing as how the movie is already 134 min, I find it a little hard to believe he wasn't pressured to cut it down to a more reasonable theatrical length, but I'm also just as sure that he's satisfied with the final product and stands by it.

Oh, and how I would kill to have seen the original 4 hour cut of Blue Velvet.

golden_rod

For years after it was released, he had talked about gathering all of the cut material and reinserting it back into the film. Then he seemed to change his mind and said he didn't want to put it back in. He waffles all the time on what he wants to do.

Dick Laurent

Glad that you can speak proudly about FWWM! It is an absolute masterpiece, and a true "moving painting" as Lynch likes to describe his works. I actually think the film works better if you know nothing about the Twin Peaks universe. It's just a puzzle, like most of Lynch's films. The pieces are there, and they're jumbled. Do what you want with them, or just enjoy the ride.

My wife and I scouted out all of the Twin Peaks locations when we lived up around that area of WA. My only regret was we didn't hop the private fences to track down the train car used in FWWM. I guess when you get older, breaking and trespassing just isn't as cool when your lugging your kids around. Tweeds Cafe does have a damn fine cup of coffee (and pie), though!

caligulathegod

I did the same thing. I didn't find the actual train car (as I think it had been moved), but I did find the general area of the scene. I even found a stack of firewood off to the side of the tracks and snatched myself a suitable log. And one day my log will have something to say about this.

critterdvd

Dude that is awesome! That has to be the best piece of memorabilia possible for this show, haha.

Josh Z

You'll have to dig up a source for this, because I have never heard that claim.

Considering that Mulholland Drive is 2 1/2 hours long and Inland Empire is 3 hours, I don't think Lynch pays much mind to pressure of that sort.

Spiral Staircase

Here is a relevant section from Lynch on Lynch (1997) p.185:

Chris Rodley:
"In part, adverse press and audience reaction to the movie was to do with the fact that much of the humor of the TV series - the coffee, the doughnuts, etc. - had been dropped. All the niceties, and some of the characters, were gone. All that was left was this desperate..."

David Lynch:
"Torment. Yes, that's true. But again I had a limit on the running time of the picture. We shot many scenes that - for a regular feature - were too tangential to keep the main story progressing properly. We thought it might be good sometime to do a longer version with these others things in, because a lot of the characters that are missing in the finished movie had been filmed. They're part of the picture, they're just not necessary for the main story."

At the end of the chapter on Twin Peaks, Lynch laments, "I feel bad that Fire Walk with Me did no business and that a lot of people hate the film. I really like the film. But it had a lot of baggage with it. It's as free and as experimental as it could be within the dictates it had to follow."

golden_rod

I had a magazine interview from the mid-nineties where he spoke about it, but I don't have it on hand.

Whether he had final cut on FWWM is up for debate. Bob Engels said that "the folks in charge wouldn't let them get away with a movie that long" & in 'The Complete Lynch,' Michael Horse said Lynch apologized to him for cutting all of his scenes because he was forced to cut two hours.

sb5

"Final Cut" doesn't necessarily equal "Director's Cut"; there's always contractual stipulations (usually having to due with length, budget, and rating) that the director must follow, or final cut rights will be surrendered.

For example, Lynch did have final cut for Blue Velvet, but he was contractually obligated to turn in a movie that ran under 2 hours (the final film supposedly runs exactly one frame under that limit) and be rated R. Lynch's rough cut ran 4 hours; while the actual finished film with no time restrictions probably wouldn't have been that long, it certainly would have been longer than "one frame under my time restriction".

Dick Laurent

That's cool. I didn't even consider taking wood from the "grounds." Oh, well. By far the hardest place for us to find was the title shot of the "peaks." Once you're there, though, it's breathtaking (mainly for the geekiness factor, other than that, it's just a road).