Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces

It's impossible to review this collection of clips (I cannot call it a feature movie) without looking back at Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.

Although I liked TP:Fire Walk With me, I found it lacking in many departments, especially the pacing in the first "Blue Rose & Dale Copper" - prehistory part. Still, the latter part of the movie, about the last 48 hours of Laura's life remain, a chilling and upsetting depiction of a torchured young life. All of this made it for a very uneven film for me.

The Missing Pieces right this wrong. There are many insightful clips that extend the universe and the meanings behind all things Twin Peaks and even make some things in the third season of the TV series more clear.

So basically, if you've watched TP:FWWM and liked it you NEED to watch this. If you are confused with few bits and pieces from the third season of the TV show - you NEED to see this. If you have not watched Fire Walk With Me or you did not care about it, you can skip this - it will look like a whole bunch of nonsense to you. For me it made perfect sense and I enjoyed revisiting the world of Twin Peaks once more.

This is not a film. "So what is this film" you may ask? Well long time "Twin Peaks" (Like myself) waited for over 20 years to see this footage. When I finally got my set (2 weeks after I was supposed too) I was like a child on Christmas morning. I watched this every scene with a wide smile.

In 1992 when David Lynch released this "Feature film" fans of the television show were disappointed. See their favorite characters from the television show were almost non-existent. In fact the ones that did pop up were almost in cameo roles.

Now what these scene include is mostly footage that could of been included in the feature film but were cut for time. However I think all the scenes from that included the character "Theresa Banks" should have been left in.

Now again this is not a film this is just deleted scenes. They are however well worth watching. I wish David Lynch would however re-edit the film to include some of these scenes. (Not all of these scenes should be re-edited back in). David Lynch has been on the record several times stating the theatrical cut his his cut of the film. He has no intention of ever re-cutting the film. Which is fine. I do love "Fire Walk With Me" but he should think about it!

You can look for a re-edited fan cut of the film. It just won't be an official version. I saw one it ran way over 3 hours and seem to play faster than the official version!

Would love a directors cut with these added into the movie FWWM .

The Missing Pieces is a collection of never-before-seen scenes from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, the divisive prequel to the television series Twin Peaks. This feature length edit, put together by David Lynch himself, is almost like a second Twin Peaks movie. It is a chance to get some new scenes with beloved characters from the show, starts to explain some of what David Lynch was going for with the movie, and even has some scenes taking place after the end of the TV show. I actually enjoyed it more than the film it was cut from.

First of all are the additional scenes of the investigation at the start of Fire Walk With Me. These are mostly a curiosity item, a lot of them being no more than extended scenes. There is a pretty good fight scene in there. The most interesting part of this first 30 minutes is the scene with David Bowie's Agent Phillip Jeffries. In the movie, this came out of nowhere and went nowhere. You couldn't even hear what was going on half of the time due to the editing. Here, we can see a clean version of the scene, and it begins to explain some things. It's still a big mystery, but there are some new pieces.

Then we get to the main event. The Twin Peaks staples. There are lovely scenes with Norma and Ed, Bobby's parents, and a hilarious one with Josie, Pete, and an Old Man. That scene felt most like one from the show.

One of the main problems with the movie is that it shows us nothing but the dark, abusive side of the Palmer family, meaning we don't really get a chance to invest in the characters, so we don't care when devastating things happen to them. That's why the initial dinner scene from this edit is the most crucial scene that should have stayed in the movie. It shows us the Palmer family as a quirky yet functional and happy family, masking some darkness underneath. If they had kept this scene in the movie, it would have humanized them, meaning it actually means something when we see them dehumanized throughout the movie.

At the end, we see a scene with Annie from after the end of the show and an extended version of the show's final scene. Neither scene solves the massive cliffhanger the series was left on ("How's Annie?"), but they make it more intricate, tying in aspects from the movie plot.

In the end, this is a must see for Twin Peaks fans, even ones who didn't enjoy the movie. It provides new scenes in the style of the show, illuminates the thinking behind some of the movie's odd choices, and even provides more information about the massive cliffhanger from the end of the show.

In a way it seems wrong to review Missing Pieces as a movie, since it's really just a more elaborate than usual DVD extras video.

It's been years since I saw Fire Walk with Me (which, against popular and critical opinion of the time, I loved), so often I can't put these scenes in a real context within the film. Still, it's interesting to see more of Laura's life, and it's unfortunate these scenes were cut.

Other scenes, on the other hand, aren't really worth much, particularly an endless fight scene near the beginning (the first half hour of Missing Pieces is pretty missable).

Some scenes were basically for fans of characters I never cared about. There were plot threads of Twin Peaks I was never much interested in, like the saw mill, and I'm fine with the movie not doing a shout out to every character.

Releasing these scenes is a nice present to Twin Peaks fans, but it would have been better to simply release the original cut, which was over three hours. Noble amateurs have apparently cut Missing Pieces into the original movie, bless them, but they shouldn't have had to.

If you liked the movie and want to see some more of Sheryl Lee's amazing performance and of the general wackiness, check it out. For that it's quite good.