Johnsatyricon

Op Canvas zenden ze tegenwoordig 'Twin Peaks' opnieuw uit, de cultserie uit de jaren negentig. Ik heb die indertijd niet gezien, maar ik hoorde er veel van. Canvas heeft nu de eerste serie al uitgezonden, morgen, 29 augustus, beginnen ze met de tweede serie.

Dit is een echte aanrader, als je vrijdagavond thuis bent, en je bent die pulp op Vtm, VT4 en 2Be beu, kijk dan naar Twin Peaks op Canvas. Het is nogal laat, rond 23.20 u, maar alle waardevolle dingen in het leven kosten nu eenmaal moeite.

Het lichaam van Laura Palmer, de lieveling van iedereen, wordt dood teruggevonden, ingepakt in plastic. Who killed Laura Palmer? Special Agent Cooper van de FBI wordt op de zaak gezet. Hij ontdekt een web van intriges, gesponnen rond drugs en prostitutie, waarin Laura Palmer was ingewikkeld.

Twin Peaks draait niet zomaar rond dit vrij banale verhaalselement -dagelijks vinden op tv tientallen fictionele moorden plaats-. Nee, het is de vormgeving, de uitwerking, de cinematografische technieken die de serie zo interessant maken. Lynch toont ons een wereld van passie, waanzin en criminaliteit onder de oppervlakte van een fatsoenlijk middenklasse-stadje.

Door het gebruik van kleuren, symbolen en zwarte humor creëert regisseur David Lynch een vervreemde en vervreemdende realiteit, ja, een nachtmerrie-achtige ervaring.

Mooi voorbeeld van de stijl van Lynch vindt men hier in dit clipje over een droom die FBI-Agent Cooper heeft, en waarin hij allerlei aanwijzingen vindt over de moordenaar van Laura Palmer. De droom speelt zich af tegen een helrode achtergrond. Rood is de lievelingskleur van Lynch, het is de taal van de passie, die de mens verscheurt en uiteindelijk ten gronde richt.

Agent Cooper is verouderd. Je ziet die vreemde dwerg, die in een vreemde taal lijkt te spreken, maar je herkent er toch Engels in. De dwerg sprak de tekst achterstevoren uit, en dan hebben ze de geluidsband omgedraaid. Dit geeft een heel vervreemdend effect.

Je ziet Laura Palmer in al haar schoonheid, gespeeld door Sheryl Lee. In de serie zie je haar zelden, want ze is immers dood. Pas in 'Fire: Walk With Me', de film die achteraf werd gemaakt, zie je haar levend tijdens de laatste dagen van haar leven.

Tenslotte die vreemde, grappige dans van de dwerg...

(Dit clipje is iets te lang naar mijn normen, maar mijn eigen opnames van de tv-serie zijn niet zo goed gelukt. Op 1:00 min begint de droom in de rode kamer...)

Hier de trailer van Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, niet door mij geript maar door een Fransman. Weet je hoeveel tijd het rippen van een dvd kost, het converteren naar mpeg1, het uploaden naar een videosite, die een embedded player heeft, die ik dan door te cutten en te pasten in mijn Skynetblog kan laten afspelen? Voilà, j' ai dit! ;)

Deze filmbespreking maakte ik voor de Engelse les. Sla me niet dood als er fouten in staan, maar één ding weet ik zeker: ik kan beter Engels dan de President van de Verenigde Staten!

 

Fire Walk with Me is a so called prequel to the popular television series Twin Peaks (1990-91), created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. It was released in 1992, after the series had ended. The movie deals with the investigation of the murder of Teresa Banks, and the last seven days of the life of Laura Palmer, a popular high school student in the small town of Twin Peaks.

Most of the television cast returned to the film, with the exceptions of Lara Flynn Boyle who didn’ t want to return as Laura’s best friend Donna Hayward, and Kyle MacLachlan, who had played a key role as Special Agent Dale Cooper in the TV series. As a result his presence in the film is smaller than originally planned.

The film is divided into two sections. The first follows two FBI agents, who investigate the death of a young drifter, named Theresa Banks. Agent Desmond (played by popstar Chris Isaak) suddenly disappears.

The second part, a year later, shows us the last seven days of Laura Palmer's life. Laura (Sheryl Lee), the star of Twin Peaks high school, leads a dual life, using cocaine and working as a prostitute at a local sex club. She is also sexually harrassed by a mysterious figure called "Bob", a figure who has another identity, which Laura discovers. Laura’s best friend Donna (Moira Kelly) tries to follow her into her secret life. At the end of the movie, Laura Palmer is killed by the same person who murdered Theresa Banks. That is where the television series starts, with the discovery of her corpse, wrapped in plastic.

Although Wild at Heart had won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival, in 1992 David Lynch and Fire Walk With Me received booing from the audience and almost unanimous negative reviews from the critics. The film flopped in the United States. It also disappointed many of the TV series fans because it was much darker and lacked humor.

In my opinion, the two parts of the movie don ‘t fit together very well. The first part, featuring the search for the murderer of Theresa Banks, is confusing. I am a fan of the television series Twin Peaks (although I haven’ seen all episodes), and I didn ‘t see the connection between Theresa Banks (who I was not familiar with) and Laura Palmer (who I sympathised with). Gradually, I came to assume that these murders were connected.

The second part however, taking place a year after the first, and showing the last days of Laura Palmer, has thrilled me intensely. I had once seen a fragment of it on television, and then I was shocked by the brutality and harshness of the images, thinking it was an ordinary episode of the TV series Twin Peaks that I had missed. But it wasn’ t, it is a separate movie, and now I have seen it entirely. It matters a lot if you have or have not seen the series. As I belong to the former category, there ‘s a whole new sense of tragedy to the series after watching this. To see Laura Palmer (only shown as a corpse and as a memory in Twin Peaks) so vividly alive casts a new, sad light on my television experience of TP. Sheryl Lee is terrific and touching as the complex character of the typical American beauty queen, who all high school boys dream of, but who takes cocaïne and works secretely as a prostitute. No wonder that David Lynch made this movie because he was in love with the multi-layered character of Laura Palmer.

The plot of the film is hard to describe. It is not a straight story that goes from A to B. That ‘s not the way David Lynch works. The movie evokes a dream-like, often nightmarish reality. It creates more questions than it answers. Flasbacks, memories, weird visons, dreams and hallucinogenic experiences are all intermingled and contribute to the disturbing and confusing of the viewer. To what sort of reality does the Red Room belong, with the dwarf speaking a language difficult to understand, and where at the end, Special Agent Cooper and Laura Palmer meet, under the benevolent glance of an angel?

As in all movies of Lynch, Fire Walk with Me features two parallel, but enfolded worlds: the surface, where all is nice and decent, and the mysterious, dark and cruel underbelly of the middle-class society. Take the characters of Teresa Banks and Laura Palmer. On the outside, they are very opposite to each other –the former a lonely drifter living in an old caravan, the latter a succesful American dreamgirl. But actually their lives end in the same dramatic way, and they share the same destiny –it appears that both were prostitutes. Or the opposition between the luxurious villa areas of Twin Peaks, and the grimy Fat Trout trailer park of Deer Meadow.

It is well known that Lynch doesn ‘t like words. Instead he relies heavily on the use of colors and music. Red is the preeminent Lynchian color, it is the color of mystery, see the Red Room, where strange characters meet. Or the red lights in the orgy scene in the Pink Room, which accentuate the fall of Laura Palmer. Music too is used as a narrative element to create a grim, doomed reality. The music played during the above-mentioned orgy is slow and threatening, accentuating the sensual dancing of Laura Palmer. It is so loud that the viewer barely hears the conversations. This scene has made a very lasting impression on me.

To conclude my review, I can only give you the advise to see this movie, a real work of art of a cinematographic genius. But in order to enjoy this movie, you must be willing to move yourself into the surrealistic universe of David Lynch. Once prepared, you wil face an experience that will not be easily forgotten.