obonas

lost highway is not as puzzling as it might first appear. it's actually an old fashioned faustian drama adapted for a modern, lynchian age. it is also, likely the most advanced and fun film of our era; at least stylistically. fred has made a pact with the devil to be a great jazz musician - as the always scary robert blake says: you invited me into your home, it is not my business to go where i am not invited. the price fred must pay is his soul, and everything else during his time on earth.the devil, as is the literary tradition, finds this enormously amusing and enjoys toying with fred, and directs him to kill his wife. fred has no idea what is going on, because he is just a mortal pawn in a much larger game. he pays by being arrested and going to the chair. as he fries, he lives out his fantasty, the fantasy he thought he was bargaining for with the devil - his alter ego, pete - young, smooth, and a winner with the girls. but the fantasy is just that. we cannot escape our destiny, and in the end, fred/pete cannot hold true as the devil is in control, and the devil is coming to collect... hence, lost highway.

Great, underrated film noir, expertly written, master class of the genre. Begs to be rediscovered. If you are a purist of noir, then this is a gift to you, courtesy of Aldrich. There is so much more to Burt Reynolds than people give him credit, and he proves it here. I may be alone in this, but i got the impression the film was lit for black and white and comes off badly in colour - the contrast is too extreme, and ultimately works against the film. Curiously, when i tuned it to b/w it looked incredible - as moody and mean as Aldrich would would have intended. And Deneuve isn't as bad as the critics made out. if you love noir and have a problem with this film, i can't begin to understand why.