Update 8/7/17 - 6/24/20: I didn't rush out to pick up this edition, since David Lynch himself came out publicly against it, but it doesn't seem like his desired restoration is behind any immediate corners, so what the heck. Let's look at Kino's 2019 blu-ray edition of Lost Highway, still the only US option available in HD.
That said, Lost Highway is a little simpler. I can still see someone coming into Lynch's films cold being totally baffled by this film, but I'd say it's far easier to interpret than Inland Empire. It's no less of a powerful work because of it, though. The back of the Australian DVD (more on that in a minute) case describes it merely as, "the story of a killer who suffers acute schizophrenia." For my money, that might be a little too specific a diagnosis; but that gives you the general idea. We see a murder mystery start to unfold and then repeat, altered, with different people in each other's places. And I'll just leave it at that, because I wouldn't want to spoil anything.
Despite being a little arch, as Lynch tends to be, with as much influence generated from old noir films as authentic human experience, the drama still lands, and the creepy imagery even more so. I mean, that scene when Bill Pullman meets Robert Blake at the party may still go down as one of the most chilling horror scenes of all time. Badalamenti's music plays backseat a bit this time, upstaged by some licensed songs and Lynch's always brilliant sound design, but it all adds up to a very consistent atmosphere. And the cast is littered with greats. Besides Pullman and Blake there's Patricia Arquette, Robert Loggia, Balthazar Getty, Jack Nance, Gary Busey, Richard Pryor(!) and Marilyn Manson.
Strangely, for the longest time, this film wasn't even available on a basic DVD here in America. That's why I originally imported that aforementioned Australian DVD from Shock. It was released in 2001 in anamorphic widescreen and with a couple interesting extras to boot. Finally, Focus Features/ Universal issued it here on DVD... in 2008. Barebones. Jeez, guys, would it kill ya? But there have been a number of additional DVDs and yes, blu-rays overseas. The one I've got for us today is the 2011 German blu from Concorde. Finally, this film did make it to blu here in the US, again barebones, although that wasn't originally the plan. Anyway, it's also not the restoration Lynch and his fans hoped for, but Kino's blu isn't the same transfer as the Concorde blu either.
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1) 2001 AU Shock DVD; 2) 2008 US Universal DVD; 3) 2011 DE Concorde BD; 4) 2019 US Kino BD. |
Australia's Shock DVD features the original stereo and no subs, while the US features a 5.1 remix and subtitles in English, French and Spanish. Concorde's blu gives us the 5.1 in DTS-HD, plus a German dub, but unfortunately only has optional German subtitles. So Kino wins here, with both the original stereo and 5.1 mixes both in DTS-HD, with optional English subtitles to boot.
So now let's talk extras. There's never a whole lot to speak of, but there are some, and they're interesting. Oh, except not in the US. Our Universal DVD is completely barebones, they don't even throw in the trailer. And Kino announced a Tim Lucas commentary, an interview with Lynch and the trailer, but had to scrap them. The Australian DVD doesn't have the trailer either, but it has almost 45 minutes of interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. Pretty sweet, but Lynch fans might find it all a little familiar. It's just footage excised from the documentary Pretty As a Picture: The Art of David Lynch. That doc was filmed as Lynch was making Lost Highway, so while it isn't about Lost Highway per se; an awful lot of it centers around that shoot. And Shock basically just cut out all the footage from it that pertains to Lost Highway and stuck it on their DVD as if they had five original featurettes. But it's all taken 100% from there. So, if you already have the film (Image released it on DVD way back in 1999), you're not seeing anything new. Nice to have over Universal & Kino's abject nothingness, but still a little disappointing.
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Concorde's interview. |
So the film's great, and both blus are worthy upgrades. Supposedly Lynch has been re-acquiring the rights back to his catalog, so every month I'm hoping Studio Canal or Criterion will announce new 4k special editions of this and Straight Story. But seeing as how Kino just licensed it here (and SS is trapped in Disneyland), we're not likely to see that happen terribly soon. And this is a tough film not to own in your collection, so the choice is yours whether to grab one of blus or keep holding out.
Absolutely ludicrous we don't have an official bluray STILL.
ReplyDeletewhy do some movies seem to get lost along the way and never properly released on dvd/blu ray? Was the original master destroyed? Lost? Legal shit?
ReplyDeleteTim Lucas actually released the commentary as an audiofile free of charge
ReplyDeleteEveryone agrees the Kino version remains the best
ReplyDelete