Lost Highway is one of the most consciously difficult films I've ever seen. It perverts narrative to the point where characters are almost meaningless, and time an endless loop. The movie tells the story of a man convicted of killing his wife. In jail, he mysteriously swaps places with someone else, and the authorities are forced to release the unknown individual who appears in his place. So far, so strange. But from there, the story folds in on itself again and again. By the end, we are not sure who is who, what is what or when is when. On some level, as argued by Alanna Thain - a disciple of Deleuze - the film explores the notion of communicative failure. But overall, despite thrilling the viewer at times, the impression left is of something that doesn't really add up - and doesn't really want to. The same narrative disruptions would be explored more artfully and more successfully in Mulholland Drive. But the film did bring to my attention one good thing - I'm Deranged, a track from a mid-90s David Bowie album I'd never heard before. Bowie was never at his best in the 90s. (Remember Hello Spaceboy?) In fact, I'm not sure he's released a really good record since Scary Monsters. But the piece of his used in Lost Highway really works - and really fits in with the mood of uncertainty the film conveys.
See it by clicking on the screen below when it says: "Watch on youtube".
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