There is a murderer on the loose

Does David Lynch hate his audience? It seems to me he does, but yet his audience always rewards him because he is such a talented filmmaker, no matter how much he tries abstract the art. I am not saying there is not a place for mind bending, confusing surrealistic movies, but they don't always appeal to me and sometimes I don't know why people don't get more upset that the wool has been pulled over their eyes. This brings us too Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) the follow up to his popular television series of the same name. Going into this film I was not very familiar with the TV series and expected to be able to take the film as its own story. I think however it would have served me better to have seen the television series, maybe I could have filled in some blanks.

I am not going to go into very much detail about the plot because I don't think it really matters for this review or to David Lynch. Lets just say the film surrounds two murders in the twin peaks area and those looking to solve the murders and those who are involved. What frustrated me most about this film is I know somewhere in the recesses of Lynch's mind it all makes sense, there is a reason for everything he puts in here, but had he toned backed the insanity a few notches and left us with some semblance of plot I would have loved the film. I look at his other works that I admire like Blue Velvet or my personal favorite of his The Elephant Man and I know what he is capable of without losing his, for a lack of a better word, quirk. Twin Peaks has some great characters and acting, despite or because of Lynchs' matter of fact dialogue and over the top emotions. The stand out here is Sherl Lee who plays the doomed Laura. Lee gives a breathtaking performance that is both sexual and sorrowful. She somehow manages to get us on her side, despite her off the rails behavior.

The end of the film is really where I sort of had to check out and just observe. At points when characters where being so over-dramatic and almost winking at the camera, I pictured Lynch laughing and saying they will fall for this. I think most people did, but I have my reservations, and where the film really shows its cards is in the fact that despite my confusion I don't have any desire to revisit the material to see if I can pick up on it next time. Twin Peaks becomes a futile exercise in the bizarre.

**1/2