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With today's impending release of this title I find it necessary to clear the stale air of constant "Why?!" comments that have been encompassing this title here and elsewhere since it was first hinted.

First of all, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is a great and constantly underrated film in the work of David Lynch, always eclipsed by his more high profile work and the television series. But as Mark Kermode and other contemporary critics have pointed out, this is a superb film that operates outside of the television series completely.

While it is currently available on blu-ray, it is only an add on in a boxset, it has never received a stand alone stateside release since the WB DVD.
And as a lover of the series as well as the film, the television series is and has been available streaming on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime for some time and shows no sign of going anywhere in the near future. And while I'm certain there are more than enough rabid collectors out there of all forms of physical media, I have little to no interest in purchasing a television season or series. The rewatchability is not nearly as high and the over saturation among streaming services, an inherently more natural way of viewing television programs in my opinion, is never going to drive me to purchase the entire series on disc in the near future. Wheras the film is quite hard to find, again barring that old WB DVD. Having the film on its own, and from Criterion no less, will hopefully boost its prestige and the perception that this is a work of art independent of any other iterations of the characters involved.

Furthermore, there's the complaint of "Why now? When there are so many unreleased Lynch films on Blu-Ray?" The answer is two fold; Firstly, while the aformentioned unreleased films are absolutely wonderful, they are currently held by the likes of Universal, Disney, and Paramount, companies that famously don't always play ball the easiest and always charge top dollar in licensing fees. FWWM is held by the french company MK2 who Criterion has a long history with (not to negate their relationship with Universal or Paramount) and have proven to be very accomidating to Criterion. (Note: Criterion is also able to license for digital streaming from MK2 within their standard licensing deal whereas Universal, Disney, Paramount, etc charge an entirely separate and astronomical fee). It's a title that they can get quickly, for very little, do a lot with, and get a lot of mileage out of. Which brings me to my second point; Twin Peaks: The Return. I almost don't even have to mention how massively successful the new season has been and that this has been the biggest spotlight on either Lynch or the franchise since its debut. This thing is going to sell like hot cakes. Especially to audiences who have yet to discover this film. This is the kind of release that can serve as a Criterion touchstone for many new audience members.

So while I respect those who already own the Complete Mystery box set not wanting to double dip, and am also patiently awaiting the arrival of Lost Highway, Inland Empire, The Elephant Man, and more under the wacky C banner, I personally think that it's time to celebrate what a great film Twin Peaks Fire Wok With Meat is and see just what Criterion can do with it.

I hope everyone who suggested this release might add value feels bad about themselves

I would reeeeeally like to know what the More! is.

Unless they're added in the "More!" it doesn't even have all the FWWM features that were on the Entire Mystery. (missing "Moving Through Time: Fire Walk with Me Memories", "Reflections on the Phenomenon of Twin Peaks", and "Fire Walk with Me: Archival Interviews". I'm guessing "Interviews from 2014 by Lynch with actors Lee, Ray Wise, and Grace Zabriskie" is "Between Two Worlds".

I'm probably in the minority here but Twin Peaks began airing before was even born and concluded for the first time before I could walk. I have missed everything about it in between so I'll probably be in the minority here and be picking this version up.

And I'm patiently waiting for the entire forum to recoil in utter disbelief at what I said above.

Big Ben wrote:I'm probably in the minority here but Twin Peaks began airing before was even born and concluded for the first time before I could walk. I have missed everything about it in between so I'll probably be in the minority here and be picking this version up.

And I'm patiently waiting for the entire forum to recoil in utter disbelief at what I said above.

I'm old enough to have seen it. Friends of mine in college liked it--family members too. I've seen Lynch's movies and really love a few of them. I'm just too lazy to watch all those shows, some of which are long and take away from my movie watching time, so there, now I added some shame for myself so you won't be alone. One day I'll watch it all. Still watching Simpsons reruns when I watch '90s shows. DRW's post and a few other posts on here of people who saw the movie first might inspire me to do the same.

Doesn't this kind of seem like a lot for 1 disc?

Sure does feel like a missed opportunity but evidently Lynch really has no interest in expanding FWWM which is fair enough. Unless Criterion have something else up their sleeve, one new interview with Sheryl Lee really doesn't justify the expense for anyone who hasn't already gotten the boxset, and the Potemkine BD cover is much better than the modified poster Criterion have used here..

The film and the deleted scenes appear on the same disc in the series boxset, so this stretches that just a bit if they're including those other features on this disc now. The "More!" will be the tipping point.

I have a feeling the "More!", if it's anything at all, is going to be the other interview packages for the film in the "Entire Mystery" set that aren't already listed.

This is such a great film that it could be barebones and I wouldn’t care. I’m guessing the release can just be chalked up to long-term rights concerns from having it attached to two seasons and a pilot of a TV series that has had myriad home video rights problems in the past leading to OOP box sets, missing pilots, etc. This gets the film out there as a standalone with a fresh restoration and I will buy the hell out of it, redundancy be damned.

Also, if the packaging is like Eraserhead and Mulholland Dr. with the nice digipak and thick booklet, that'll be a pretty attractive display.

Hopefully all the Lynchs are released similar to this.

Is there a good reason they didn't give it the spine number RIGHT NEXT TO THE ART LIFE?

FWWM always struck me as more of a palindromic title---personally.

Plus, #896 was already taken by The Lure.

Honestly, a spine-switch is probably what they mean by "More!".

Don't worry, Big Ben; I have also never seen anything twin Peaks related.

Do yourself a favor and don't start here. (Unless you want to spoil the best part of the original series.)

Seconded. Everyone keeps talking about it like they’ve decided to take up smoking, risks be damned. Kids, smokers are jokers and you want to watch both seasons of the TV show before the movie.

I literally Googled "Who killed Laura Palmer?" an episode or two into my first viewing of the series (I swear it was some absentminded attempt at looking into that catchphrase, not thinking of it as a literal question!) So, yeah, I was spoiled for most of it. And I would prefer not to have been. But I also think that from the people I know who've seen FWWM first, it sounds like a fascinating viewing experience. Maybe confusing, but some also find that confusion beautiful.

Certainly there are a few characters that really don't make much sense if you haven't seen the series and thus don't have the requisite emotional connection. But I don't think it's as bad as it's often made out to be.

Still, the ideal order is definitely S1>S2>FWWM>Missing Pieces. And I have even read very eloquent cases for watching the MP before FWWM (for one thing, they really do bridge the tonal/stylistic gap between the show and the film).

There are also moments in the film

Spoiler

like the Annie Blackburn cameo, and actually most of the Black Lodge stuff, which slowly comes to a boil in the series only to be thrown in your face in the film

that just seem like random weirdness without having seen the series.

swo17 wrote:There are also moments in the film

Spoiler

like the Annie Blackburn cameo, and actually most of the Black Lodge stuff, which slowly comes to a boil in the series only to be thrown in your face in the film

that just seem like random weirdness without having seen the series.

Spoiler

Annie was exactly what I was thinking of, plus maybe especially the scene with Cooper comforting Laura at the very end. I suppose one would know Coop from his brief appearance in the film earlier, but that wordless scene really relies on a familiarity with his extensive role in the series for full emotional resonance.

More broadly, regarding Cooper and the film - though it's a top 5 kind of film for me, I don't think Coop's stuff is the best and I do wonder if it wouldn't be even better if either a) he was dispensed with entirely, or b) he was (as originally planned) given that more extensive part in Deer Meadow originally given to Isaak and Sutherland. The kind of compromise we ended up with makes the film feel a bit less tight than it could be. At the very least, if I were playing God I'd definitely drop that Coop/Albert scene where Coop claims to know the identity of Teresa's killer's next victim, and Albert laughs derisively - not a bad scene, but its placement coming after we've already been thrust into Laura's story always struck me as awkward.

Thanks for the advice. I'll still pick this up and keep it and then watch it when everything else is finally released in the inevitable Boxset.

mfunk9786 wrote:with a fresh restoration

I thought it's the same restoration (already in 4k) they already did for the Entire Mystery set, no?