My bi-monthly or whatever Lost Highway post

ChristHimself! · 10-04-2002, 08:57 PM

RECOGNISE

Anyway I was looking through old shit on my computer and I found a theory that I wrote up on it ages ago so I thought I'd post it. Go watch Lost Highway it's great.

*****************If you haven't seen the movie you probably shouldn't read this.************

Fred kills Andy before the movie starts for introducing Renee to Dick ******t (and also for sleeping with Renee), then he kills Dick ******t for having a seperate affair with Renee started after their meeting (thanks to andy). Then Fred goes to his own house and says into the com link thingy at the door 'Dick ******t is dead' (start of the movie) what he then does is come into the house and kill his wife for having these affairs.

This is sort of when the movie really starts off, the first actual scene that I would say is real is when Fred is hit by the policeman and called a killer, up until then is just Fred's fucked up version that he wishes was true, ie. he hears 'Dick ******t is dead' instead of saying it.

Then he remembers his time with his Renee in a more 'nice' way, and how he figured out that she was sleeping with andy. When they go to andy's party and renee sends him to get drinks while she stands with andy fred becomes insensed with emotion over the whole situation. You'll realise that this is also when 'mystery man' appears. I think that mystery man is the embodiment of all of Fred's feelings that he cannot cope with. Freds house near the start is also sybolic, it's freds mind, ie. MM says 'I'm in your house' as in his mind, and 'It's not my nature to come where I'm not invited' .. then when fred asks who he is he merely laughs, because he is part of Fred. The house thing also makes sense because it is SO tidy, fred trying to make up mentally for the fact that everything in his head is far from tidy. Also he is found walking about in silent darkness in his mind and only finds himself (his mirror image) No one else sees MM in the movie except andy at the party, but this is more fucked up fred memories he's dreamt up.

This is when all the videotapes come in, what they show is the truth, what ACTUALLY happened in freds life, ie the murder of his wife, from MM's point of view behind the camera. fred also 'hates cameras' because he 'likes to remember things his own way, not necessarily the way they happened' this seems like an endearing thought the first time you see it, till you realise that he's talking about blocking out the memory of his wife's murder.

The camera shots are also VERY symmetrical if you watch through the movie, but right before or during anything 'bad' is happening with fred, you'll notice the shots are JUST off symmetrical, an extra painting on the wall in the edge of the screen or something, to show that in freds house (his mind) things are not quite right.

Also notice that at one point when renee is looking for fred in the house (just before he gets the 3rd tape) you see a symmetrical shot of the room with a weird lamp in the middle, then it becomes asymmetrical and pans slightly to the right, offsetting everything, right then TWO shadows go by, representing Fred and MM, and they were about to kill Renee at this point in fred's mind.

At the 3rd tape as well, notice fred doesn't look for renee this time, he watches it alone, because this is the tape that shows renees murder, and fred knows in his head that he couldn't watch it with her even in fantasy, because she is dead.

Then Fred is taken to prison for the killings (he says 'tell me i didn't kill her' - a sign of his denial over the whole thing)

watch for fred's headaches, a sign that he is realising what he's done, he gets headaches at the prison light in his cell (also notice when he 'becomes' pete he gets headaches looking at the light with the moths in it, because he's being dragged back to reality.

He then becomes pete, this is ALL totally in freds head, he has gone fucking nuts and the only way he can cope with what he's done is to become someone else with a different past in his mind, and to try and escape there.

notice that everything seems a little perfect at first in petes life, his parents are kinda brady bunch like, with similar clothes, and in his garden with the care free music on, there is a white picket fence behind him, how cheesy is that? (However notice there is also a BIG brick wall RIGHT behind it, really strangely positioned, ie why have the picket fence there when there is a wall there? making out that wherever fred goes he is still trapped in his mind/cell.) also, when he focuses on the pool in the next garden, it seems to be a reversed image in some form of the picture on freds old wall at home above the cushion, this shot is also put off symmetry by the chair in the top right, showing that even in this 'reality' for fred, everything still isnt right.

In this reality pete hears fred's sax solo on the radio and gets a headache (being dragged back to reality) and immediately turns it off.

Alice (the alternate renee) is a representation of fred's temptation in reality in his recent past, his temptation to kill renee.

Andy's murder is fred's twisted mind version of renees murder, its also gruesome and gory but more acceptable to fred.

Pete's girlfriend (the name slips my mind) is the representation of the part of renee that fred really did love, her purity.

Mr Eddie is freds fear, notice how in control mr eddie is of fred from the minute they meet in the movie.

finally i'd say petes mum and dad are his conscience, possibly his mum being the bad side and his dad being the good from what they say in the movie.

when his mum and dad and girlfriend are weird about 'the last night' that pete saw his g/f (the night that appears in a flashback twice, once right as fred becomes peter) I think this is his conscience and renees purity wanting to know in fred/peters mind why he killed renee. I think that on the night they are talking about, in freds mind, pete killed his g/f (renee and her purity) and his parents (conscience) are trying to rationalise why he did it. The reason that his g/f is still alive is because this is completely a fucked up reality dreamt up by fred, and renees purity and love for him still lives on in a way. I'd say that on that night, pete went with MM (his emotion) and alice (his temptation) to get rid of renee's purity (his girlfriend in this 'reality') that would explain his girlfriend referring to the night, his parents mentioning a man they 'had NEVER seen before in their life' in an extremely ominous way, and alice was obviously there as his temptation to kill his g/f (renees purity)

youll notice his dad is always crying, and doesn't want to tell peter what he did (his conscience has blocked the act so much from the mind it wont admit it to itself)

but all his mum says is 'we saw you that night' and 'theres someone on the phone' when its ******t and MM, this could be the evil side as she doesnt express much regret.

The fire in the movie represents freds rage (in the dreams the fire is always in renee's room)

also fred tries to lock away the hate and rage in his mind at parts (when the cabin comes together from the fire and the thing he has now created, MM, steps out)

Notice that when fred is talking to his parents (his conscience) and then talks to ******t and MM on the phone, when he turns round (when he has decided he is going to kill andy) his parents (conscience) have disappeared!

Also at the bit when his g/f attacks him she hits him where he stabbed and hacked at renee, around the side of the stomach, this is the alternate version of what freds purity wanted to do to renee, hit her and ask her what she did and why, but he killed her instead. (again supported when he is in the lost highway hotel in his mind and goes in to room 26 where renee was fucking ******t before he got ******t - but at the point in his mind the room appears to be firey (rage) and renee is nasty saying 'did you want to ask me WHY' etc)

pete kills andy then, as a representation of his temptation getting the better of him in real life, and his killing of renee.

then they run off together, and he repeats 'i want you' to alice', she tells him he'll never have her, i think this is another version of freds thoughts that renee never really wanted him.

then MM appears again (freds emotion) once that fred has 'embraced' his temptation and therefore killed. MM tries to drag him back to reality 'her name is not alice. it is renee. if she told you it was alice she was lying, and YOU, WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR NAME????' reminding him he is once again fred, though still trapped in his mind. he then films fred driving away to support himself more.

fred goes to the lost highway hotel and waits till renee has left (this is him remembering the past again) then he gets ******t and beats him and drags him into the car and takes him to the beach, where MM appears. He shows ******t what he's done wrong on the small screen and then shoots him and whispers something in freds ear before disapearing (note that the gun then appears in fred's hand, supporting that MM is a part of him)

also note when fred is handed the big knife by MM that it is that, a big fucking sharp ass knife, if you freeze frame it during the 3rd tape you can see his wife totally chopped in half, with multiple jagged cuts along her, so he could easily have gone straight from there to kill his wife with the same weapon.

*** Also note the blue flashes in the film, i forgot about this, this represents flashes between reality and not:
1 - flashes when fred gets hit by the cop, when the story 'starts' - everything before is a dreamt up happier version in freds head
2 - when fred 'becomes' pete, ie traps himself in his head with this new identity
3 - when pete becomes fred (i think) when he loosens up a bit in his mind and accepts things a little more
4 - at the end in the car

I think that once he kills ******t he then goes and kills renee, and just before that is when he says 'Dick ******t is dead' him again trying to rationalise that it couldn't have been him that killed her because he now said it and didnt hear it..

I think then at the end part fred has still been in his cell playing out these realities in his mind, and at the car chase there are more blue flashes, showing that he is being totally brought back to reality now, but while this is happening, and his head is spinning back and forth again, but this time note the steam coming off of him. Fred has been on death row the entire time and right at the end he is in the electric chair, half coming back to reality as he dies, and it ends.

Undone · 10-04-2002, 09:00 PM

But I sure like the Jeff Buckley song!

ChristHimself! · 10-04-2002, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Undone
But I sure like the Jeff Buckley song!

that's always good too.

10-04-2002, 09:15 PM

yeah, the soundtrack kicks ass

ChristHimself! · 10-04-2002, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by FuzzyLogic
yeah, the soundtrack kicks ass

Totally, and it fits the film *so* well.

Even just the soundtrack itself tells a story.. with a sorta deja vu feel with the Mr eddy tracks.

Undone · 10-04-2002, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ShotFullOfDiamonds
Totally, and it fits the film *so* well.

Even just the soundtrack itself tells a story.. with a sorta deja vu feel with the Mr eddy tracks.

I even like the MANSON songs on there.

Magic the Gathering · 10-04-2002, 10:18 PM

That's the best explanation I've read of that movie.

I still hate it though. (The movie)

Why was Marilyn Manson in the porno at the end?

ChristHimself! · 10-04-2002, 10:23 PM

Because he's famous.

10-04-2002, 08:57 PM	#1
ChristHimself! mental problems angel Location: i want u 2 caress me like a tropical priest Posts: 20,594	My bi-monthly or whatever Lost Highway post RECOGNISE Anyway I was looking through old shit on my computer and I found a theory that I wrote up on it ages ago so I thought I'd post it. Go watch Lost Highway it's great. ***************If you haven't seen the movie you probably shouldn't read this.******** Fred kills Andy before the movie starts for introducing Renee to Dick **t (and also for sleeping with Renee), then he kills Dick **t for having a seperate affair with Renee started after their meeting (thanks to andy). Then Fred goes to his own house and says into the com link thingy at the door 'Dick **t is dead' (start of the movie) what he then does is come into the house and kill his wife for having these affairs. This is sort of when the movie really starts off, the first actual scene that I would say is real is when Fred is hit by the policeman and called a killer, up until then is just Fred's fucked up version that he wishes was true, ie. he hears 'Dick **t is dead' instead of saying it. Then he remembers his time with his Renee in a more 'nice' way, and how he figured out that she was sleeping with andy. When they go to andy's party and renee sends him to get drinks while she stands with andy fred becomes insensed with emotion over the whole situation. You'll realise that this is also when 'mystery man' appears. I think that mystery man is the embodiment of all of Fred's feelings that he cannot cope with. Freds house near the start is also sybolic, it's freds mind, ie. MM says 'I'm in your house' as in his mind, and 'It's not my nature to come where I'm not invited' .. then when fred asks who he is he merely laughs, because he is part of Fred. The house thing also makes sense because it is SO tidy, fred trying to make up mentally for the fact that everything in his head is far from tidy. Also he is found walking about in silent darkness in his mind and only finds himself (his mirror image) No one else sees MM in the movie except andy at the party, but this is more fucked up fred memories he's dreamt up. This is when all the videotapes come in, what they show is the truth, what ACTUALLY happened in freds life, ie the murder of his wife, from MM's point of view behind the camera. fred also 'hates cameras' because he 'likes to remember things his own way, not necessarily the way they happened' this seems like an endearing thought the first time you see it, till you realise that he's talking about blocking out the memory of his wife's murder. The camera shots are also VERY symmetrical if you watch through the movie, but right before or during anything 'bad' is happening with fred, you'll notice the shots are JUST off symmetrical, an extra painting on the wall in the edge of the screen or something, to show that in freds house (his mind) things are not quite right. Also notice that at one point when renee is looking for fred in the house (just before he gets the 3rd tape) you see a symmetrical shot of the room with a weird lamp in the middle, then it becomes asymmetrical and pans slightly to the right, offsetting everything, right then TWO shadows go by, representing Fred and MM, and they were about to kill Renee at this point in fred's mind. At the 3rd tape as well, notice fred doesn't look for renee this time, he watches it alone, because this is the tape that shows renees murder, and fred knows in his head that he couldn't watch it with her even in fantasy, because she is dead. Then Fred is taken to prison for the killings (he says 'tell me i didn't kill her' - a sign of his denial over the whole thing) watch for fred's headaches, a sign that he is realising what he's done, he gets headaches at the prison light in his cell (also notice when he 'becomes' pete he gets headaches looking at the light with the moths in it, because he's being dragged back to reality. He then becomes pete, this is ALL totally in freds head, he has gone fucking nuts and the only way he can cope with what he's done is to become someone else with a different past in his mind, and to try and escape there. notice that everything seems a little perfect at first in petes life, his parents are kinda brady bunch like, with similar clothes, and in his garden with the care free music on, there is a white picket fence behind him, how cheesy is that? (However notice there is also a BIG brick wall RIGHT behind it, really strangely positioned, ie why have the picket fence there when there is a wall there? making out that wherever fred goes he is still trapped in his mind/cell.) also, when he focuses on the pool in the next garden, it seems to be a reversed image in some form of the picture on freds old wall at home above the cushion, this shot is also put off symmetry by the chair in the top right, showing that even in this 'reality' for fred, everything still isnt right. In this reality pete hears fred's sax solo on the radio and gets a headache (being dragged back to reality) and immediately turns it off. Alice (the alternate renee) is a representation of fred's temptation in reality in his recent past, his temptation to kill renee. Andy's murder is fred's twisted mind version of renees murder, its also gruesome and gory but more acceptable to fred. Pete's girlfriend (the name slips my mind) is the representation of the part of renee that fred really did love, her purity. Mr Eddie is freds fear, notice how in control mr eddie is of fred from the minute they meet in the movie. finally i'd say petes mum and dad are his conscience, possibly his mum being the bad side and his dad being the good from what they say in the movie. when his mum and dad and girlfriend are weird about 'the last night' that pete saw his g/f (the night that appears in a flashback twice, once right as fred becomes peter) I think this is his conscience and renees purity wanting to know in fred/peters mind why he killed renee. I think that on the night they are talking about, in freds mind, pete killed his g/f (renee and her purity) and his parents (conscience) are trying to rationalise why he did it. The reason that his g/f is still alive is because this is completely a fucked up reality dreamt up by fred, and renees purity and love for him still lives on in a way. I'd say that on that night, pete went with MM (his emotion) and alice (his temptation) to get rid of renee's purity (his girlfriend in this 'reality') that would explain his girlfriend referring to the night, his parents mentioning a man they 'had NEVER seen before in their life' in an extremely ominous way, and alice was obviously there as his temptation to kill his g/f (renees purity) youll notice his dad is always crying, and doesn't want to tell peter what he did (his conscience has blocked the act so much from the mind it wont admit it to itself) but all his mum says is 'we saw you that night' and 'theres someone on the phone' when its **t and MM, this could be the evil side as she doesnt express much regret. The fire in the movie represents freds rage (in the dreams the fire is always in renee's room) also fred tries to lock away the hate and rage in his mind at parts (when the cabin comes together from the fire and the thing he has now created, MM, steps out) Notice that when fred is talking to his parents (his conscience) and then talks to **t and MM on the phone, when he turns round (when he has decided he is going to kill andy) his parents (conscience) have disappeared! Also at the bit when his g/f attacks him she hits him where he stabbed and hacked at renee, around the side of the stomach, this is the alternate version of what freds purity wanted to do to renee, hit her and ask her what she did and why, but he killed her instead. (again supported when he is in the lost highway hotel in his mind and goes in to room 26 where renee was fucking **t before he got **t - but at the point in his mind the room appears to be firey (rage) and renee is nasty saying 'did you want to ask me WHY' etc) pete kills andy then, as a representation of his temptation getting the better of him in real life, and his killing of renee. then they run off together, and he repeats 'i want you' to alice', she tells him he'll never have her, i think this is another version of freds thoughts that renee never really wanted him. then MM appears again (freds emotion) once that fred has 'embraced' his temptation and therefore killed. MM tries to drag him back to reality 'her name is not alice. it is renee. if she told you it was alice she was lying, and YOU, WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR NAME????' reminding him he is once again fred, though still trapped in his mind. he then films fred driving away to support himself more. fred goes to the lost highway hotel and waits till renee has left (this is him remembering the past again) then he gets **t and beats him and drags him into the car and takes him to the beach, where MM appears. He shows **t what he's done wrong on the small screen and then shoots him and whispers something in freds ear before disapearing (note that the gun then appears in fred's hand, supporting that MM is a part of him) also note when fred is handed the big knife by MM that it is that, a big fucking sharp ass knife, if you freeze frame it during the 3rd tape you can see his wife totally chopped in half, with multiple jagged cuts along her, so he could easily have gone straight from there to kill his wife with the same weapon. * Also note the blue flashes in the film, i forgot about this, this represents flashes between reality and not: 1 - flashes when fred gets hit by the cop, when the story 'starts' - everything before is a dreamt up happier version in freds head 2 - when fred 'becomes' pete, ie traps himself in his head with this new identity 3 - when pete becomes fred (i think) when he loosens up a bit in his mind and accepts things a little more 4 - at the end in the car I think that once he kills ****t he then goes and kills renee, and just before that is when he says 'Dick ****t is dead' him again trying to rationalise that it couldn't have been him that killed her because he now said it and didnt hear it.. I think then at the end part fred has still been in his cell playing out these realities in his mind, and at the car chase there are more blue flashes, showing that he is being totally brought back to reality now, but while this is happening, and his head is spinning back and forth again, but this time note the steam coming off of him. Fred has been on death row the entire time and right at the end he is in the electric chair, half coming back to reality as he dies, and it ends.

10-04-2002, 09:00 PM	#2
Undone Apocalyptic Poster Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 1,335	I haven't seen the movie (not did I read the post) But I sure like the Jeff Buckley song!

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10-04-2002, 09:15 PM	#4
FuzzyLogic Posts: n/a	yeah, the soundtrack kicks ass

10-04-2002, 10:18 PM	#7
Magic the Gathering Pledge Location: In the temple Posts: 82	That's the best explanation I've read of that movie. I still hate it though. (The movie) Why was Marilyn Manson in the porno at the end?

10-04-2002, 10:23 PM	#8
ChristHimself! mental problems angel Location: i want u 2 caress me like a tropical priest Posts: 20,594	Because he's famous.