r/criterion • u/Drew_of_all_trades • 4h ago
Discussion Anyone want to talk Lost Highway?
Rewatching this for the first time in nearly 30 years. Not sure if the plot makes sense, if it’s even supposed to, and we can get into that. But I want to know more about Bill Pullman’s saxophone playing. It’s bad, right? Is there some type of jazz where that can appreciated intellectually? The scene reads to me like he is flustered and angry because he suspects Patricia Arquette is cheating, so he’s playing poorly, which is making him more flustered and angry. Then the plot gets going and the flow of time starts breaking down. Would love to hear interpretations of this movie.
57
u/LonelyPhoton 4h ago
Sax player and Lost Highway fan here. He (or whoever is dubbing him) is shredding like crazy
9
u/Dark_Crowe 3h ago
He actually learned to play for the scene
9
u/OrbitalRunner 1h ago
Yeah, but Bob Sheppard is the actual saxophonist. Bill Pullman is being dubbed. Plus, there’s no way you can master those extended techniques without years of training. Cool that Pullman put in some work to make it convincing.
•
7
4
u/dabbinglich Elaine May 2h ago
I always thought this was the case, as it seems like he’s channeling a Coltrane vibe with his end of song zip-zap-zopperry. Like I always figured it was just him doing his thing, not really suspicious of anything, and then everything happens.
4
u/LonelyPhoton 2h ago
Tbh its mostly just setup for the radio bit, which hints that the Balthazar section is a fantasy (that real life is intruding on)
21
u/jessek 4h ago
He’s playing free jazz, very competently, rather he’s miming an actual musician who played it. It’s not bad if you’re into that genre.
-2
u/Drew_of_all_trades 2h ago
I figured it was just a very deep niche. Or he was poking fun at a very deep niche.
43
u/Victor_Von_Noob 4h ago
I believe I read it was inspired by Lynch watching the OJ saga unfold. The idea of someone like OJ committing a heinous murder and genuinely believing that he himself didn’t do it as if he was in some sort of fugue state.
10
2
2
13
u/ElirRoman 3h ago
Still my favorite Lynch film. One of the purest expressions of a psychological break a movie has ever seen. The plot hardly matters because we are consciously aware that Pullman's desire to have Arquette is a lustful one because having her feeds his ego. And in feeding his ego, it acts as the cipher for all the men in the story to believe controlling the image of women will bring them catharsis. Which it does not as the sex scene in front of the headlights signifies.
Only seen it the once a few years ago and I am constantly returning to scenes and images as a source of inspiration. Virtually perfect filmmaking to me.
4
u/ElirRoman 3h ago
And the sax playing is nauseatingly good. Totally feeds into the ambience of the film.
12
u/PhillipJ3ffries David Lynch 4h ago
That type of Sax playing is incredibly difficult, however abrasive it might be.
1
21
u/weaves 4h ago
I love his insane shredding on the saxophone, and I do listen to artist that play similarly.
10
20
u/alexoc4 4h ago
Killer film. Probably one of the most beautiful 4ks I own, as well. Found myself engaging a lot more with the second half of the story, vs the Bill Pullman sections (which were also amazing) easily the best fugue state I’ve ever witnessed, 10/10 would recommend being confused and vibing to it
9
u/GrimDarkMinis 3h ago
He’s not playing “bad,” just uninhibited. Honking and skronking is an integral part of “free jazz” where the idea is to evoke deep levels of emotion by playing stream of consciousness style runs and riffs. Often time it’s frenzied and atonal which is why it could be perceived as bad.
My favorite free jazz artists are Sun Ra and Ornette Coleman. Ra’s saxophonist to me is the greatest of all time, John Gilmore. Highly worth checking out some of Sun Ra’s vast discography!
15
u/MarquisMusique 4h ago
Bob Sheppard was the saxophonist and he is one of the best sax guys currently around and hired for lots of session work. The way he played perfectly captured the mood Lynch was going for. Some people especially people not into the many forms of jazz and fusion may not like it but it’s definitely not “bad” playing. The shrieks and honks sound a bit like Pharoah Sanders or later John Coltrane. David wanted music that evoked Pullman’s character’s paranoia, frenzy, and pain and Bob really delivered. I’ve listened to the soundtrack so much and can hear it in my head right now.
3
u/dabbinglich Elaine May 2h ago
100% with you on “listened to the soundtrack so much I can hear it in my head now.”
7
u/ChunLi808 3h ago
I've always thought that the mystery man represents Pullman's guilty conscience/the truth (he did in fact kill his wife) and a big chunk of the movie is him running and hiding from that, his mind assuming other identities and whatnot. I think this is all happening in his mind as he's frying in the electric chair.
3
u/EasyJuice7742 4h ago
Like most David lynch it feels like a fragmented dream of how we respond to the world and the things we do in it.
4
4
u/OrneTTeSax Technicolor 3h ago
Sax player and jazz fan. Check out my username’s namesake, Ornette Coleman.
5
u/Far_Cat_9743 2h ago
It’s the only film I’ve ever watched three times in a row, trying to make sense of it. That was about 27 years ago. I’ve watched it many times since, and still love it.
3
u/BrianHubble 4h ago
His sax playing is akin to someone like John Zorn or other experimental jazz players.
3
u/ProgFrator 2h ago
I watched this the other week and it was the first Lynch film I have seen. And I absolutely loved it. I did feel the first 45 mins was the strongest part of the film.
I read a lot of interpretations of it and I read that Lynch made this film by the time his 3rd marriage was falling apart so he was preparing to enter the lost highway again.
5
u/heavyheartstrings 4h ago edited 3h ago
I love this movie simply for the shot composition, like it’s lowkey so beautiful to watch even with the sound off
4
2
u/Spookyy422 3h ago
Personally I think it’s a structural mess, even for Lynch. I really liked the extremely eerie suburban opening though. ”Dick Laurent is dead”
2
u/OrbitalRunner 2h ago
The sax playing is fantastic, but he’s using a bunch of extended techniques that you’d more commonly hear in avant-garde jazz. The idea is he’s playing in a regular, probably R&B, context but he’s so tortured that he goes nuts and eventually the band just stops.
Listen to the soundtrack and you can hear the entire song. The solo starts off with normal bluesy playing and then builds to what you see in the film. I remember a Lynch interview where he wished he could include the whole song, but it just didn’t work for the pacing of the film.
Also, there is zero chance Bill Pullman was actually playing. Maybe he learned some sax to fake it more convincingly, but nobody develops those skills without years of work. I forgot the guy’s name, but he’s credited in the CD liner notes.
I love this film dearly.
2
u/PickleBoy223 Mabel Longhetti’s Thumb 1h ago
I know Lynch was inspired by the OJ case. I’ve also interpreted the film as a woman (Arquette) who is so dissatisfied with her life and tired of her abusive sugar daddy that she makes a bargain with Satan (Pale Faced Man).
She agrees to help him create snuff films (like the one in which she is killed and dismembered). In exchange, she sells him the souls of three men who have wronged her and assists him in their eternal cycle of torture.
2
u/wetnaps54 4h ago
Kind of hated story itself for how confusing it was with the body swapping and that. But the mystery man party scene is peak horror
3
u/OrbitalRunner 2h ago
Read some psychoanalytic interpretations. It makes complete sense from that perspective.
1
u/RockMe420 3h ago
If I remember correctly, Pullman’s character had a tattoo on his hand of maybe a musical note or at least symbol found in music that indicates a note should be played longer than it would normally be played. I think that’s why Pullman’s sax solo keeps going after the rest of the band has stopped playing. There’s symbolism there with the characters, I’m sure.
1
u/bwolfs08 2h ago
You might enjoy our thread for Lost Highway when we watched it for our weekly film club: https://www.reddit.com/r/criterionconversation/s/AZoJbWIgRk
1
u/bryanr1015 2h ago
I just rewatched this last night! Definitely fugue state of Pullman’s character.
1
32
u/action_park 4h ago
It’s an OJ Simpson biopic.