Format: Streaming video from HBO Max on gigantic television.
This might well be the shortest review I have written for this site other than those I do in the monthly wrap-ups. There’s an inherent problem in looking at a movie like Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. The problem is that there is an inherent audience for this film, and you are either a part of that audience or you aren’t. Furthermore, you already know if you are in the audience for this movie or not. Did you watch the 1990s Twin Peaks television series? If you did, congratulations—this movie is for you. Have you not watched that series? You won’t have any interest in this.
In fact, the problem is even more significant. If you’ve watched Twin Peaks, you’ve almost certainly already seen Fire Walk with Me. The only reasons you haven’t seen this if you’ve seen the show are that you just finished the first two seasons of the show (I finished them on Thursday), or you were forced to watch the show by someone else and you didn’t like it, so the movie didn’t interest you. In any event, you’ve seen this, plan to see it in the immediate future, or have absolutely no interest in seeing it.
The Twin Peaks television show is David Lynch’s attempt at something like popular entertainment or at least mass media. The show is essentially a very strange soap opera that concerns itself with the murder of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), the prom queen of the fiction town of Twin Peaks, WA. As the investigation into her death progresses, mainly at the hands of FBI special agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan), we learn that Laura Palmer was wildly sexually active, worked as an escort, and was a cocaine addict. As the series goes on, demonic possession, alternate realities, and more become a part of the show.
It's important to know this to understand the point of the movie. Fire Walk with Me is the story of the week leading up to Laura Palmer’s death. Not everything in the film matches up perfectly with the show. The main difference is the character of Donna, played in the show by Lara Flynn Boyle, but in the movie by Moira Kelly. In the show, Donna is something of an innocent, and despite being a high school student, served initially as the love interest for Dale Cooper. She was fascinated by Laura and adopted some of her habits in the show. In the film, she is much closer to an accomplice of Laura’s, participating in much of her debauchery.
But, and I mean this sincerely and not merely as a way to write more about this, if you haven’t seen the show, a great deal of Fire Walk with Me isn’t going to make any sense. And, even if you have seen the show, a lot of it isn’t going to make any sense, either. That is, after all, the nature of the beast. Lynch was frequently impenetrable by design.
The cast, aside from the inclusion of Moira Kelly, is the same as that from the show in large part, although many of the characters from the show are not here. The show is much more focused on the investigation of Laura’s murder and everything that goes around it while this movie is focused much more on Laura herself.
But really, that’s all I have to say here. You either have already seen this movie, are on the verge of seeing this movie, or have no interest in this movie. And so, you’re either a fan, confused, or don’t care.
Why to watch Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me: If you’ve seen the show, you can’t be kept from seeing this.
Why not to watch: Either you’ve already seen this or you have no interest in it.
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