Strange is par for this course

Rating: 6/10 (21 April 2004)

*** Spoilers contained within ***
Strange, strange film...but that goes without saying with Lynch as writer and director. Two-thirds of the film is linear and follows a storyline that is interesting, creepy, and most of all Lynchian. However, after Betty unlocks "Pandora's box", the story changes to the non-linear: actors play different roles, two characters become small enough to walk under a closed door all the while laughing and shaking their arms up and down. The acting in the film is very good. It is especially a joy to see Ann Miller. She plays the no-nonsense landlady, that we find out later is also the mother of the film director. Robert Forster is billed prominently, but appears only very briefly. Michael J. Anderson plays a different character than in "Twin Peaks", but the room he is in appears to be the same one in that TV series. There are many memorable	scenes: the director finding his wife bedded with the hired man, and then taking her jewelry box into the garage and dumping pink paint in it; the conference room meeting to decide on the leading actress for the director's film and the ensuing espresso problem; the opening sequence with the 50's style dancing and later in the film the auditions with the musical number. We see the killings in the apartment building--following a hilarious joke a man is shot; the second shot is accidental, but goes through the wall, striking a large woman, whom the killer fights with. This is observed by the janitor who is standing with his vacuum, who becomes the next victim. The female rendition of Roy Orbison's "Crying" in Spanish is beautiful. This whole stage performance sequence is weird. If this had turned into the TV series it was originally planned	to be, perhaps the minor characters would have been expanded and the plot gaps would have been developed. This film is unsatisfying as it is, due to its being edited down to feature length. Lynch is truly an independent spirit. It is quite a miracle that with today's emphasis on profits that he is	able to make this type of film at all. This film is derivative of his other works--the same composer, whose music is so much like "Twin Peaks." Lynch's use of old-time actors has been a habit of his all along. And Jack Fisk, his production designer, has worked with Lynch off and on since "Eraserhead".