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I had never revisited the show or the 1992 prequel film Fire Walk With Me in large part because of how the series ended. I held a grudge against Lynch for nearly two decades for choosing to end on so many cliffhangers when he knew that the show was not coming back for a third season. I have known for many years that this was childish and even went so far as to buy The Gold Box DVD set when it came out, promising that someday I would watch again and deal with my mixed emotions. How adult! Over the last month, I did review all 30 episodes of the show, the international version of the pilot and Fire Walk With Me. I have made my peace with the show and love it (warts and all) once again, but the film does not hold up nearly as well. I recognize what it wants to accomplish, but as I will discuss below, the film fails precisely because of what it strives to do by preventing Lynch (or is Lynch preventing himself?) from following his subconscious muses.

Fire Walk With Me premiered at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival and its reception there was far less warm than that accorded his previous effort, Wild at Heart, which had won the Palme D'Or only two years earlier. There are apocryphal anecdotes of its being booed by anywhere from half of the audience to the majority of those in attendance. Keeping in mind that booing at Cannes is apparently as time honored a tradition as cheering, it can be said at least that the film inspired passionate reactions. When the film was released in the US on August 28, 1992, it met with a lackluster critical and financial reception. Opening on nearly 700 screens, the final hurrah for the denizens of Twin Peaks grossed less than $2 million on its way to a final tally of just over $4 million. It was the lowest-grossing feature ever for Lynch at that time, throwing under even Eraserhead.

I recall seeing the film opening day and being sufficiently freaked out on my drive home, despite the fact that it was summer and the sun was still out. In the days that followed, though, I had to admit to myself that whatever might be good about it, it was in no way satisfying. With my recent viewing evoking a similar reaction, I have attempted to clarify for myself why I find it lacking. Notably, several things stand out about Lynch's feature film effort to wrap up the loose ends from his cult series that provide a marked contrast to the rest of his oeuvre.
1) Fire Walk With Me may be the most blatantly commercial feature film Lynch has ever produced (and yes, I take Dune into consideration when making that statement) which makes it all the more poignant that it was roundly rejected at the box office. By choosing to make the storyline a prequel and focusing on the final days in Laura Palmer's life, Lynch and co-writer Robert Engels (who also worked extensively on the series) wrote themselves into a corner. The movie has to build up to Laura's death, which it does, and then, um, it's over.

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