TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME 4K Review

Directed by the recently departed, beloved David Lynch, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me is the 1991 prequel to his popular television show of the same name. It’s out now in a 4K and Blu-ray combo package with deluxe booklet and lots of extras, albeit ported over from the last Criterion Blu-ray release… which also boasted a 4K restoration and 7.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. You can check out my 2017 review of the Blu-ray here.

Unlike the show that aired on network TV, ABC specifically, there’s almost no hokey soap opera bits. In making this change and focusing on the leanest, meanest tone and story (exactly why I love it), the film is both grim and sorrowful. The change of cutting out the softer bits with the nostalgia for old-school Americana due to focus and the running time restraints of a film versus a show, meant that Fire Walk with Me was essentially unleashed to an unsuspecting audience. And for the most part, that audience was ill-prepared for such a bleak film. It was famously booed at Cannes and trounced by critics.

Of course, some great films helmed by artists are made decades before the audience is ready for them. This is the case here; it took way too long for people to warm up to this film. Because the show delved into the mystery of “who killed Laura Palmer” and answered that question, the film centers on the blackened depths of the twisted “why” she was murdered, and who she was. And it is a hard, sad watch.

Kind of like a spectacularly nasty car crash you get a glimpse at in daylight, and gasp at the nightmare, glad that it hasn’t swallowed you up instead. On this rewatch, now in true 4K, I was still mesmerized by Sheryl Lee’s staggering portrayal of Laura Palmer; she delivers every nuance of emotion on the spectrum and is vulnerable (as an actor) in a bare-naked way that few performers can pull off. Sadly, we haven’t seen too much of Lee since the early nineties; I know that she’s had health issues, but I also wonder if she gave away so much of herself in this role, exposed so much raw nerve, that she rejected offers. Certainly, she should have been given plenty to choose from, and those roles should have been what they call “offer only,” to boot. (“Offer only” is when an actor is well-known enough and so talented that they should no longer have to audition for a part, and be presented with the job outright.) Then again, the Nineties were pre-Me Too, and one can’t help but wonder if the industry was overwhelming in all the wrong ways. It would be absolutely fair for a such a sensitive human being to shy away from harmful environments.

I’m focusing less on the plot of Fire Walk with Me, as I’ve reviewed it before (see link in the first paragraph), and so much has been said about it in the last three decades.

The special features are the same as last time, sadly nothing new here except for the true 4K disc. So let’s discuss that. Overall, picture looked good, but I noticed a fair amount of flickering in certain scenes throughout the film. This was somewhat bothersome to me, but perhaps not to the casual viewer… although if you’re watching this film, I hesitate to label you “casual.” You’re adventurous and boldly venture into spaces that may hurt and haunt you for quite some time.

After all --- a film in which weird older men who are in fact interdimensional beings of unknown origin eating creamed corn, aka “garmonbozia,” a metaphor for the trauma, pain, and grief of Laura and I’m sure others --- is not a film for the weak. (By the way, “garmonbozia” is not a real word, but Lynch’s made-up descriptor. If you search for the term online, you’ll find plenty of rabbit holes.)

Sound is terrific, though the mix itself may have you riding the volume controls up and down, between whispers and screams. The special features are the same as last time, like I said, but great.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• Restored 4K digital transfer with 7.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, both supervised by director David Lynch
• Alternate original 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, supervised by Lynch
• The Missing Pieces, ninety minutes of deleted and alternate takes from the film, assembled by Lynch
• Interview from 2014 by Lynch with actors Sheryl Lee, Ray Wise, and Grace Zabriskie
• Interviews with Lee and composer Angelo Badalamenti
• Trailers
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: Excerpts from an interview with Lynch from Lynch on Lynch, a 1997 book edited by filmmaker and writer Chris Rodley
• Cover by Fred Davis

As this release is so similar to the last one, it doesn’t come with my highest recommendation. But if you love Lynch, you may need this one immediately. Check it out on Criterion’s page for the film here.