The credit sequence is a metaphor.
A shadowy mad man drives an axe into the set.
Someone is clearly mad about something here.
Credit: Everett Collection
Neither thought a prequel was a hot idea.
The movie is divided into two chunks of unequal size.
The first, shorter portion is an ironic, telescoped restatement ofTwin Peaks.
The second, longer part is an elaborative rehash of an already known backstory.
The devilish meaning is in the style, form, and details.
It’s a fascinating, unpleasant, and heartbreaking ordeal.
The first 30 minutes is a detective story.
The crime: homicide, natch.
The time: one year before the murder of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee).
The hero: a replacement-Dale Cooper, Chris Isaak’s Chester Desmond (note the inverted initials).
He then vanishes from the story.
Lynch repeatedly teases it by having Cooper drift in and out with brief, baffling appearances.
Total mystery serial blue balls.
It’s helpful to put this in the context of the times.
Lynch doesn’t make any of this fun inFire Walk With Me.
And, as with any divorce situation, the kids got screwed the most.
Released in August of 1992,Fire Walk With MepolarizedTwin Peaksfans.
But I don’t now if anybody “liked” it.
I’m not sure it wants to be liked.
Complicating these considerations was the fact that Lynch was doingTwin Peakssolo, sans key bandmates.
Was this legit, authenticTwin Peaksor the author’s own fanfic?
Regardless, few even saw it.
Critics hated it, poisoning interest.
The film grossed less than $5 million and flickered out of theaters.
And theTwin Peaksphenomenon was as dead as a Josie-faced doorknob.
However, the prequel has since gained a larger pool of supporters.
Die-hards dig dissecting the new intrigues and the film’s curious structure.
(Is the whole Deer Meadow section just Cooper’s dream?
Maybe the shared dream of Cooper and Laura?)
More critics have warmed to it, their reappraisal spurred by Lynch’sMulholland Drive, another response to TV heartbreak.
But this is all about to change.
Of course he’d say that.
But we have reason to believe he was being sincere.
Frost himself has acceptedFire Walk With Meas canon.
(Question: Should the film be watched prior to the series as a literal prequel?
Listen to the episode below to hear our takes.)
The emphasis on Laura the ambition to track her disintegration beat by degrading beat is an invitation to bleakness.
Is this a bad thing?
In his enduring, oft-cited essay about Lynch, the late David Foster Wallace defended the director’s project.
Good girl, bad girl, girlfriend, best friend, angel, rebel, femme fatale, slut.
I like the sound of his point, but I don’t feel it watchingFire Walk With Me.
Is this a heroic choice?
Something is gained, but something lost but what?
And she has Agent Cooper to keep her company, so… yay?
Can Laura and Cooper help break this sick cycle of exploitation and injustice?
Knowingness also inspires grace to engage baffling bits of business that might mean something to the new series.
When I first saw the movie in 1992, I resented the time spent in Deer Meadow, Oregon.
Yes, it does.
Best be prepared for anything.
I wishFire Walk With Mewas a better expression of Lynchian non-linearism;Mulholland Driveflatters his style more.
The original cut was reportedly over five hours long.
(SoRiverdale, but on pay cable.)
Fire Walk With Mealso instructs us that Lynch’s mysteries are experiential, not puzzles to be solved.
This is the meaning of one of the film’s most peculiar scenes.
And he loves his code.STANLEY:I see.
He does love his code.
It’s probably why he cut them.
Still, even without them, you know you feel thatFire Walk With Meis intrinsically self-aware.
It’s Lynch doingTwin Peaksand commenting onTwin Peaks.
The first living person you see in the movie is Lynch himself.
What’s he doing?
Why, directing, of course.
“GET ME AGENT CHESTER DESMOND OUT IN FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA!”
Cole yells at his secretary, who’s standing just a foot from him.
He watches her leave his office, cruising the camera as she leaves frame.
The maneuver also upholds a franchise value.Twin Peakshas always been meta.
RememberInvitation To Love,the kinky fictional daytime soap beloved by the characters of this twisted prime time soap?
“Agent Cooper” didn’t go anywhere.
Returned to medium of origin, the franchise might also tell us a meta-story about today’s TV.
They also wink at the show’s well-documented influence.
Or will it simply be content to delight in it like knee-slapping lumberjacks?
It is happening again.
