Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and The Missing Pieces

The Twin Peaks hiatus is over! Apologies for the delay, but as this film was rated 18 and the IMDB Parental Guidance section is somewhat graphic I deemed this would be unsuitable for my usual Twin Peaks viewing environment of my laptop on a public train, and it’s taken me several months to find an evening devoid of other more pressing activities in order to actually watch this film. But watch it I now have, and my thoughts I will soon distribute.

As with the first two seasons of Twin Peaks I went in knowing precious little of Fire Walk With Me, other than it was a prequel to the original show. My assumption was that this might follow Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) on the Theresa case, and whilst that was partially correct, this is far more about Laura Palmer’s week leading up to her washing up on the river bank encased in clingfilm, and my what a horrendous week she had. We’ll get there, though. For now, here’s my regular stream of consciousness from watching the film, albeit more edited this time due to the film’s length, otherwise we’d be here all day.

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The Haunting (1963)

Eleanor “Nell” Lance (Julie Harris) is a meek, tormented woman who spent the entirety of the past eleven years caring for her invalid mother until her recent passing. Left with seemingly no real purpose in life, barely anywhere to stay and only half a car to her name, Nell jumps at the chance to partake in a study focusing on people with histories of paranormal occurrences staying at the notoriously haunted Hill House. The only other candidate is the far more free-spirited Theo (Claire Bloom), and the two are joined by the scientist running the experiment, Dr. Markway (Richard Johnson) and the sceptical future heir to the building, Luke (Russ Tamblyn). Upon arriving at the house, however, it becomes clear to Nell that she is meant for more than just an experiment, and the house itself may have other plans for her.
the haunting theo nell
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West Side Story

It’s easy to mock West Side Story, and incredibly hard not to let out a start of incredulity, disbelief and hilarity when the Jets, a New York street gang, begin clicking, walking and turning in sync, but this 60s retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has a lot going for it. Yes, the two leads – Jet old hand Tony (Richard Beymer) and rival Shark’s head honcho’s sister Maria (Natalie Wood, not even close to being Puerto Rican) are lifeless, charisma free and unforgivably dubbed for their singing. And yes, the dialogue has not aged well in places, but the toe-tapping tunes, particularly I Feel Pretty, America and Gee, Officer Krupke and outstanding choreography, with dances staged as fights and fights staged as dances more than make up for its faults. Supporting players perform admirably, notably Russ Tamblyn as Jets leader Riff and George Chakiris as Shark leader Bernardo, making this a musical for people who don’t like musicals – people like me then.
Choose film 7/10