i know what you’re saying, and the only thing i can offer is that mulholland dr had a lot of comedy in it, and lost highway didn’t. so maybe the comedy invited more people to enjoy the mystery and horror of it that just wouldn’t appreciate lost highway. LH is after all very dark and disturbing, and most people aren’t into that
I hear you, Mathias, and I’m interested in hearing how these films were receieved in Europe. I love Lost Highway, and to me the two films are completely different. Lost Highway really leaves reality behind in a way that’s much more extreme than Mulholland Drive. As puzzles go, Mulholland Drive was much more “solvable” than Lost Highway. The way it doubles back on itself at the end, Lost Highway makes you wonder if Bill Pullman was the hired gun and Balthazar Getty the jazz musician. Did Pullman simply hallucinate the whole Getty sequence? But there’s no concrete answer in the film. That’s what’s so amazing about it.
Slavoj Zizek has written a monograph on Lost Highway basically praising it for these reasons as being a very unique film experience. It’s out of print and very expensive to buy, but if you find a copy I’d recommend reading it.
Mulholland Drive I love too, but I would not say it’s similar to Lost Highway at all. Although the theme of killing for jealousy is the same, we feel we know who the characters are by the end of Mulholland; whereas by the end of Lost Highway we really have no idea who these characters are, and how many of them “really” existed or not.
Great idea for a thread.
@ Justin B. – Thanks for your input. I’ll make sure to seek out Zizek’s monograph.
@Mathias: I think the two movies are really quite different. Maybe give MH another few passes and see how your thoughts change about it. In general, I think Lynch’s films (and TWIN PEAKS too) consciously tread a lot of the same thematic and symbolic territory, and MH and LH are no exceptions. What about the films seems overlapped to you more than BLUE VELVET or INLAND EMPIRE if they were brought in for comparison? Tell us more.
@Johnny
I agree that MH is much funnier than LH which is generally very upsetting. There’s plenty of very funny material in LH, but I find it arises often out of equal parts comedic intent and viewer discomfort. In MH, something like the scene where the hitman has to dispose of the fat lady or Justin Theroux thrashes the car with his golf club are just much more overtly funny.
“Lost Highway” is a good film, it just doesn’t make itself as accessible to people. It’s darker (visually and content-wise) and more ambiguous. I don’t know if critics knew what to make of “Lost Highway” at the time, but in light of “Mulholland Dr.” we have better hindsight as to what’s going on. I wish I could remember the details of the plot, I need to see it again some time soon. Though I don’t know if completely putting together the puzzle pieces is really desirable or necessary. It’s kind of a theme and variation on a guy’s mid-life crisis, sexual inadequacy, and paranoia of his wife’s marital infidelity. It’s probably best viewed in that way.
“Mulholland Dr.” is one of my favorite films ever, if not my favorite. It’s much sweeter in how it treats everyone. It’s more about Hollywood and how actresses get used up and spit out than it is about one person’s jealousy. The character of Diane/Betty is more sympathetic because we sense that she innocently wishes for things to be better. She’s not a completely jealous psychopath. One of the big reasons that the ending is so sad is because the film has set us up to really care about the characters. It’s like “Twin Peaks” where you recognize the goofy Lynchisms in the acting but still feel attached to what’s going on.
I’ve thought about this myself, but from the other direction in that I love Mulholland but think Lost Highway is the weakest film perhaps in the Lynch’s oeuvre. I think some differences for me include the acting: by and large I tink the ensemble in MD much stronger. There is also a way where the experiments in narrative form feel too self-conscious and even gratuitous. I feel that Arquette’s character is pretty gratuitous, especially in the “audition” that happens later in the film. MD for me works because there is something underneath that is being investigated—specifically filmic representations: the first part of the movie is really no more Hollywood conventional than the second. In that way, there is a constant attempt to foreground that artifice of representation or how we make sense of "reality.’ For me the cenrtral trope of the movie is Rebekah Del Rio singing “Llornado” and it seems like she s actually singing and then she collapses, and the music continues.
LH does some of this of course but it seems less tied to a structure that it is questioning other than the general idea of narrative or memory or a continuous consciousness. I do have to say that the scene with Bill Pullman and Robert Blake at the party is genius. For me it isn’t an issue of accessibility—I think Inland Empire is DL’s masterwork—nor a question of darkness. The darker the better. When it comes down to it there is not the same kind of control and motive, etc in LH as in other films.
For me, though, Lost Highway is a very exciting, enjoyable watch. I’ve seen it numerous times and it’s still one of my favorite Saturday night go-to’s. It just pulls out so many stops and has so many cool action scenes and wild moments. Great use of Rammstein/Lou Reed/David Bowie/Marilyn Manson songs, too. In fact, it’s like a glam rock noir — The Postman Always Rings Twice by way of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. A total original.
Mulholland Drive is far far better than Lost Highway in my opinion.
I think Lost Highway is Lynch’s worst film.
i like both films. but i think “lost highway” is a little better to me. the mood and tone seems more consistent. there are some great cinematic moments that stand out. that party scene, and the arquette audition is extremely sexy. the best lynch films have a steamy, torrid love affair that just burns into the screen. “lost highway” is very erotic, and very emotional.
I’m actually watching Lost Highway for the first time tonight. Mulholland Dr. is one of my favorite movies though.
@ Nate – How is Lost Highway Lynch’s worst film? Could you explain this?
I prefer Mulholland Dr over Lost Highway. I think it’s the much stronger film altho I still enjoy Lost Highway, but then I’m a big Lynch fan I even like Wild at Heart which most people don’t so much dislike as ignore. Although I’ve problems with Inland Empire and will have to watch it again. Just didn’t care much for the way it was shot.
I prefer Mulholland Dr over Lost Highway. I think it’s the much stronger film altho I still enjoy Lost Highway, but then I’m a big Lynch fan I even like Wild at Heart which most people don’t so much dislike as ignore. Although I’ve problems with Inland Empire and will have to watch it again. Just didn’t care much for the way it was shot.
I prefer Mulholland Dr over Lost Highway. I think it’s the much stronger film altho I still enjoy Lost Highway, but then I’m a big Lynch fan I even like Wild at Heart which most people don’t so much dislike as ignore. Although I’ve problems with Inland Empire and will have to watch it again. Just didn’t care much for the way it was shot.
I’ve never been a fan of Lynch’s output during the 90s, but I think Lost Highway represents the best of his films during that decade. Mulholland Drive, I think, is the better film because while LH was a noir-infused nightmare, MD was Lynch’s views on the Hollywood machine. He uses each chance he gets to expose the corruption inherent within Hollywood and how they manipulate artists in order to conform them to their standards. Lynch was showing his frustration toward Hollywood in MD and that makes it a far more interesting film than LH for me because it is a reflection of the artist personally.
Lynch may be the greatest master of lighting since von Sternberg, because the three stars of Lost Highway — Patricia Arquette, Bill Pullman and Balthazar Getty — look better in that movie than they ever have before or since. All three of them just look amazing, imo, and it has to be the way they were lit. I think the same might true of Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive.
then give credit to his directors of photography. i think its a pretty rare director who can be called a master of lighting. you cant even call hitchcock that, and he was a master of all things cinematic.
Bobby, yes, but sometimes the director works closely with the dp to get certain effects. Sternberg certainly did. Lynch sound-directs his films, so it might be that he has a big hand in the lighting. I’m really not sure. I tend to credit the director with most/all aspects of a film.
I just consider Lost Highway to be nothing more than a B film. Horrible acting, cheesy music, etc. I’m not fond of it at all, very boring.
Mulholland Drive, though similar in many respects to Highway seems better written, more interesting, better lighting, a better film in every way.
Sorry that I can’t elaborate further but I don’t really even like writing about Lost Highway, it shouldn’t even be watched.
so you’re saying you have a problem with B-films in general?
I fell in love with this movie the minute Lynch ordered the ad campaign changed in reaction to Siskel and Ebert’s review:
http://www.lynchposters.com/html/LH-ad.htm
“Two Thumbs Down! Two more great reasons to see LOST HIGHWAY”
It also helped that it ruled and had amazing acting, great music, a fascinating script, some of the best cinematography in Lynch’s body of work, and paid homage wildly and subversively to B movie traditions that have never before or since been treated quite so…far out-ly.
Again, I really think that BLUE VELVET, TWIN PEAKS, WILD AT HEART, LOST HIGHWAY, MULHOLLAND DRIVE, and INLAND EMPIRE obsessively address many of the same themes over and over from different angles (haven’t seen FIRE WALK WITH ME, but I’ll wager that can be included in there too…): psychopathic madness, erotic infatuation, forbidden desire, surveillance of the individual within modern community and the potentially destructive invasion of privacy that can result or the discovery of a hidden “dark side” that needs to be confronted.
There are a couple of cute quotes from early Lynch films in Lost Highway: the dog and garden hose from Blue Velvet, a shot (from below) of Fred Madison in his jail cell looking like Jack Nance in Eraserhead.
Mulholland Dr. is more definite on what’s real and what’s invented by Diane. It’s also more definite on a message, attacking Hollywood and the false sense of being able to achieve your dreams. It’s really accessible for a David Lynch movie.
Lost Highway is far more abstract. What’s real and what’s invented is really hard to tell. It’s also really perverse which probably turns a lot of people off.
I like both movies a whole lot, but Mulholland Dr. is my favorite. It just tighter, I don’t know exactly why.
For me MD feels too concious about being Lynch. I feel like he has added some of the scenes and themes just because they should be there. The dwarf scene comes to mind. I really like it but that for me really made all the difference.
LH stands on its own two feet with a solid Lynchian plot that grabbed me from square one and haunted me for months after I first saw it.
The two movies looks great but for me LH is one of my fav Lynch movies… It’s just perfect.
iteresting. we’re pretty split on these films, overall.
I think Mulholland Drive endears itself to people, and for many it’s the only Lynch experience they really like. I’m not sure why, I guess the two bombshell actresses help, but I think Mulholland Drive is pretty disturbing overall. It’s about as dark and disturbing as anything else by Lynch. I wouldn’t want to have to choose between MD and LH, I like them both, and I think true Lynch fans appreciate them both. To say that Lost Highway has bad acting, bad lighting and bad music is just not true, though.
I far prefer Mullholland Drive.
I prefer it because of the tighter structure. I love how you can come so close to solving the whole mystery, but something about it never seems to wrap up. You keep thinking about it long after the credits roll. Lost Highway in contrast was far more crazy, and really went passed the understandable level. This is wonderful, and very enjoyable, but it just doesn’t stay with you as long.
Just my two cents.
I watched Lost Highway before i watched Mulholland Dr. and quite honestly the latter is the better film. It is the more accessible piece and thats what garnered it such praise (he was nominated for Best Director by the acedemy but of course he didn’t win XS ) I hold that LH was a “warm up” to MD in the way the story was set up and the whole flip around, but it was executed with more logic in MD than LH. The flip about was easier to handle and its results were heart breaking revalations by the end of the movie. As a result i found the Lucid Dream turned nightmare (or is it the other way around) concept of Mulholland was better executed and fleshed out than the Psychogenic Fugue concept in Lost Highway, where the flip only got me disinterested in what was going on for more than half of the movie.
Also the characters and the story were as a whole much easier to watch in Mulholland than Lost Highway. Bill Pullman’s character and situation drew me in at first; Shaved Eyebrow Man’s absolutely chilling conversation and presence really got me excited to see what would happen next. But alas the whole situation disappeared to be replaced with a an uninteresting mechanic who cheats on his girlfriend and some mystery involving organized crime and snuff films. I honestly couldn’t care less about it, but than it came back with the an ending that had all of the elements that got me hooked at the begining of the film (starting with the cabin onto the whole transformation back)
Mulholland Dr. had me as soon as it started and kept me very much hooked thorugh out the whole piece. Strange subplots aside it was very focused and as a whole much more coherent by the end. Lynch than went a tad bit overboard with INLAND EMPIRE but the results are still nonetheless interesting for the most part. I know i’m being a tad bit unfair in my critisism of Lost Highway it has been a while since i have seen it, i do want to watch it again now that there is a new widescreen DVD to check out and i do need it to get my Lynch filmography up to specs.
thats my two pennies.
Yes, I do not prefer B films unless something about them stands out that I find interesting.
For instance, I find The Evil Dead a stand-out due to the odd camera angles by Raimi.
For me, nothing stands out in Lost Highway that Lynch hasn’t already explored better in other films.
Mathias Palmberg
Ok, it’s like this. When David Lynch’s Lost Highway came out it got trashed by critics and audience (at least in my home country Sweden) mainly because people generally seemed to think it was difficult and weird and so on and so on. Moving on a couple of years Lynch makes Mulholland Drive and this time around critics and audience alike liked it and praised Lynch. If I’m not mistaken it even was nominated for an Oscar or something like that. I’m still surprised by this reaction since I’m my mind Mulholland Drive is basically the same movie as Lost Highway but with a female protagonist and some weird subplots on the side. At heart both films have a protagonist who escapes the cruel facts of reality into a “made-up” world where everything is fine and dandy, only to find that reality always comes around to end the dream.
I know that many cinephiles out there in the world seem to prefer MD to LH (something that I don’t get) so I’m probably gonna catch a lot of shit for saying that LH is way superior to MD. The thing is that LH was a really big deal for me when it came out, so when MD came around I felt a little cheated since Lynch was treading already familiar ground on that movie. And once you figured out LH the mystery of MD wasn’t that mysterious. I realize this really doesn’t matter since both films are great on their own terms, and that they probably shouldn’t be compared. And yes I know that many auteurs revisit the same themes and moods but with different stories. I’m just annoyed by the fact that Lynch was ignored for one movie and then praised for another which was really the same as the first one. In sweden this also happened with Chan-Wook Park who was hated for Mr. Vengeance and loved for Old Boy and Lady Vengeance. I know, Sweden is a messed up country.
Anywho, anyhow, I’m wondering what you guys out there think about this “Lynch-thing”. Are you a Lost Highway fan or a Mulholland Drive buff. What was the reception for these movies in your homecountry, and if you’ve seen them both what do you think of them?