David Lynch's prequel to his cult television series "Twin Peaks" concerns the last seven days in the life of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), whose plastic-wrapped corpse, found floating in a river, was the fulcrum for the television series. During the day in the town of Twin Peaks, Laura is a top honors student at the local high school. By night, she is a sex-crazed cokehead, prostituting herself at a sleazy sex club to get money to feed her drug habit. Her race to oblivion is fueled by her father,
Leland (Ray Wise), who, as his alter ego Bob (Frank Silva), has been sexually abusing Laura since she was a child. But Laura has an attack of conscience when she realizes that she is leading her best friend Donna (Moira Kelly) down the same rocky road. Leland, however, discovers Laura's nocturnal debauchery when, during a business trip out-of-town, his mistress for a sexual tryst sets him up with his own daughter. In a fit of jealous rage, Leland follows Laura as she travels to a sex party in an abandoned railroad car. Consumed by insatiable longing, Leland transforms himself into Bob, with tragic results for Laura and her friends. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
Suspense is clearly lacking in this story with a preordained outcome. Another significant drawback is that long before the climax Laura has become a tiresome teen.
The film appears to be an undifferentiated mess of story lines and hallucinations. There's no reason to care which is which. Even Mr. Lynch's eccentric touches become boring. The jokes are stillborn.
When you're working with David Lynch you can count on every frame meaning something. For me that's half the fun of the show - it's a puzzle that I feel oblidged to solve or at the very least plug away at.
A pretty high school girl who dabbles with drugs and prostitution is haunted by bizarre dreams and stalked by a mysterious figure known only as "Bob". David Lynch's prequel to his hugely influential TV series Twin Peaks bears all his usual hallmarks. It's the story of the unseen horrors of middle America featuring
unsettling and deliberately obtuse imagery which is scored brilliantly with inventive sound design and populated by offbeat characters. The opening in particular as the FBI investigate a similar case a year earlier is classic Lynch and to be honest I wish he'd stayed with them a bit longer. Chris Isaak, Kiefer Sutherland and Harry Dean Stanton all give very memorable performances and Sheryl Lee ably tackles a very complex character. The story set in Twin Peaks features the final days of Laura Palmer and for this reason Fire Walk With Me works neither as a stand alone nor as an introduction to the series; those who have not seen the show will find it incomprehensible while at the same time it gives away far too much of the story. Taken as a companion piece for fans it's a thought provoking and disturbing requiem to a heartfelt story with a very important message.
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