HOW DIFFICULT IS it to explain exactly what's going on in Lynch's most enigmatic movie since Eraserhead? Even the cast is at a loss. "If someone were to ask me what the story line is " admits Loggia, the picture's volatile gangster villain, "I would be hard-pressed to tell them." As would just about anybody who doesn't live inside the celebrated director's head. But here's our best attempt at describing a plotline that makes Twin Peaks look like the model of linear logic: Pullman is a brooding sax man who's insanely jealous of his knockout brunet wife, played by Arquette. Midway through, he inexplicably turns into Getty, a brooding kid who's insanely protective of his knockout blond lover...played by Arquette. Sounds like somebody had some bad pizza just before bedtime. But Lynch resists characterizing his mystery-horror-noir as simply a "dream," allowing that it has "a dreamlike feel, but it's gotta be anchored in reality in some way." Well, the film does have a few tangible elements, including some very real-looking sex and violence. "I don't think this is a movie for everybody," says Arquette. "I would not try to advertise it in a way that [suggests] this is for the faint of heart." Or the faint of patience. (Feb. 21) [WHAT'S AT STAKE] Wider audiences might riot over the movie's supernatural inconclusiveness, but cultists may celebrate Lynch's blatant defiance of mainstream conventions. A Trent Reznor-driven soundtrack will help deliver the youth vote.
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