Movie Review - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Twin Peaks is a series made by David Lynch, a man whose movies include Eraserhead, Dune, and Inland Empire. His two-season series, Twin Peaks, resembles one movie of his, Blue Velvet, in that small towns hide many dark secrets. Twin Peaks is about FBI Agent Cooper who comes to the logging town to figure out who murdered a high school girl named Laura Palmer. It was a riveting series that left people asking more, and kept going after learning who was the murderer.
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me was made in 1992. It’s a sort of prequel to Twin Peaks. I say “sort-of” because you need to be a little familiar with the series to fully understand what is happening. How about I review some things, eh?
Plot (5/5):
The movie starts out with FBI agents investigating a murder of a teenage girl. After some intense scenes that Twin Peaks/Lynch fans are familiar with, the movie follows Laura Palmer and all the events that lead up to her death. The film’s plot helps relate Laura Palmer’s horrible life and problems to the audience. In Twin Peaks, the first episode (hell, the pilot), Laura Palmer is dead from the start and all we know about her is what unfolds as the series progresses. Fire Walk With Me beautifully demonstrates Laura’s demons and fears as she deals with drugs, boyfriends, and the ever-demonic Bob. The film does reveal who really kills Laura Palmer, however, so if you want to wait for the surprise, watch the series first. However, if you can’t wait, it may provide an incentive to watch, trying to figure out how the killer is revealed and et cetera.
Sound (5/5):
If you are familiar with David Lynch, you are familiar with the intense, powerful music that fill his movies. Fire Walk With Me includes many haunting melodies that bring out the horror and pain in the scene. The original Twin Peaks melody (used in the opening credits of the show) is also in the movie, and works quite well, despite the darker theme (more on tha later). The sound effects are very effective as well, like the sounds that accompany Bob and the other characters. I use “sound” very broadly, but it’s really the only way to describe them. Intense howls, buzzes, crashes; these describe partly what they are, but listening to them, you will understand how it sounds.
Direction (5/5):
I have to give David Lynch credit, he made another masterpiece that interweaves reality with that of the unknown, the dark. This film is very much Twin Peaks, so if you enjoyed the series, you automatically like this movie. There are some big differences between the series and movie, however. Fire Walk With Me is very “adult” (Twin Peaks, while dark, was still made for TV). It’s like Twin Peaks’ older, cruder brother. However, I don’t think the movie would have been as effective if it was the same as the series. This is a Lynch film all the way, bringing sex and murder into full view, in all its horror. The club scene, for example, shows Laura Palmer doing drugs, getting naked, and getting lost in the horror of it all. You couldn’t show half of that on TV, so the scene feels so much more to the audience. We, the audience, connect and feel for Laura, and we start to feel total regret and remorse because we know from the beginning that she dies. The movie was wonderfully made to show the true horror and hell of Twin Peaks, which takes many episodes of the series to get across.
Overall (I SAID I’M WORRIED ABOUT COOP!):
If you are a big Twin Peaks fan, this film is a must-see. But what of those who never saw Twin Peaks, or is only familiar with Eraserhead? The film may seem incredibly bizarre, because of the strange characters and the disregard for normality in this (or any Lynch) film. However, this is a great way to get into Lynch. It has a little bit of the humor from the series itself, has a great cast, and if you like the movie you may get into David Lynch! However, Lynch is not for everyone. Not everyone understands his movies and it can be very hard to “start” becoming a fan. If you want to try being a Lynch fan, watch Blue Velvet, which is similar to Twin Peaks. If you like it, try out Fire Walk With Me. It’s an intense and crazy ride.
FUN FACT: There was enough stuff shot to easily make a sequel, but a lot of scenes were cut. Most scenes cut included characters from the series that don’t appear in the movie otherwise.
Article by Full Metal Kiwi.
