Mary Sweeney's Baraboo as Twin Peaks Cinema #26 - Long Road Home (podcast)

UPDATE (2:50pm): Links have now been fixed.

Following her divorce and the end of her creative partnership with David Lynch, the only director she'd ever edited, produced, and written for, Mary Sweeney decided to direct a feature film. In certain ways, Baraboo - chronicling the mellow daily life of a single mom running a campground in Wisconsin - is far from the Lynchverse that Sweeney had been immersed in. There are no double identities, surreal setpieces, or absurdist hijinks, just a quiet communal character study shot on a shoestring. Nonetheless, the film's interest in small town life, positive and negative across generations, is reminiscent of Twin Peaks. Perhaps most surprisingly, the film has more in common with the not-yet-produced, post-Sweeney season three than the original series on which she cut her teeth. In contrast to seasons one and two, both Baraboo and The Return are more rural than suburban, both hint at broader social issues like war, both skirt closer to precarity than middle-class comfort, and both linger longer over middle-aged regret than youthful restlessness. Of course, Baraboo also overlaps significantly with Sweeney's involvement in The Straight Story (which she authored and Lynch directed, covered as last month's entry), which brings us to the theme of the past three episodes including this one.

This last - for now, but probably for good - miniseries/season of the public Twin Peaks Cinema feed, "Long Road Home" has a literal as well as figurative meaning. Starting with Lost Highway, we've observed Sweeney's growing role in the filmmaking process, from editor/producer to editor/producer/writer to editor/producer/writer/director. But the road itself is also a visual touchstone. Lost Highway raced back and forth across its double yellow line into the desert night. The Straight Story slowed its travel to a crawl while still advancing on a journey across the heartland. And Baraboo grinds to a halt along a country highway which characters gaze across while planting their feet firmly in the home that Fred could never root himself in, Alvin wanted to re-establish with his brother, and Jane - for better or worse - is surrounded and supported by.

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This podcast goes on hiatus for now and, as already mentioned, I don't have plans for its revival (though I will publish further teasers, round-ups, and announcements on the feed over the summer and fall). In general, I'm slowing down and shifting my output near the end of this year, concluding a number of projects that have been many years in the making and probably reserving most new work for patrons from now on - although the next few months should be among the busiest this site has ever seen. Thanks for accompanying me on this journey, and I hope you've enjoyed the experience. Feel free to return and re-listen whenever you want; despite what they say, you can - sometimes - go home again.

LINKS FOR EPISODE 26

The Straight Story as Twin Peaks Cinema #25 - Long Road Home (podcast)

The first connection that leaps to mind between the bizarre Twin Peaks and the down-to-earth The Straight Story is their mutual roots in small town Americana. The early nineties series is set in the Pacific Northwest while the late nineties feature unfolds across a couple Midwestern states but they share a sense of communal warmth and sadness, of old men moving slowly about their daily business and neighbors wondering what's going on in the house next door. Both works use this comforting familiarity as a springboard, in Peaks' case for an increasingly supernatural murder mystery, in Straight's case as a more literal point of departure for a character's odyssey. In some ways, The Straight Story bares even more resemblance to the third season which came afterwards, given its road trip nature and even some of its images and dramatic moments (the storytelling surrounding Agent Dale Cooper and Alvin Straight harbors some striking similarities). The Straight Story was David Lynch's closest collaboration with editor/producer Mary Sweeney, since she actually originated the project herself: purchasing the rights, co-writing the screenplay with John Roach, and shopping the script to Lynch who was initially uninterested. This is one reason the film is included after last month's Lost Highway and before Sweeney's own directorial debut under "Long Road Home" banner for this season/miniseries of Twin Peaks Cinema. Another reason is, of course, the centrality of a literal road to this story - it feels like the in-between journey from the previous episode to our next, and last.

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LINKS FOR EPISODE 25

Lost Highway as Twin Peaks Cinema #24 - Long Road Home (podcast)

This month I'm launching a new three-month theme, "Long Road Home", but this season's subject obviously ties directly into the previous one's. Like Mulholland Drive, Eraserhead, and Blue Velvet, Lost Highway is part of "The Lynchverse" that includes Twin Peaks. In this case, Highway was Peaks' direct successor in David Lynch's filmography, and it shares many obvious and subtle connections, some birthed directly from the experience of making a TV show and prequel feature (while others crystallized in the film and were echoed twenty years later when Peaks returned). However, I'm linking Lost Highway to upcoming films on this podcast, rather than the prior trilogy, for a couple reasons. A road (or several) runs through all of the spring's topics, routes which the characters either take from one place to another, travel in a circuit, or sit by to watch the world go past. These films are all concerned with the question of going home (or staying there), asking who belongs where and with whom. And finally, most explicitly, all three films are crucial to the career of longtime Lynch collaborator Mary Sweeney (whose work with Lynch I covered in a video essay, sampled on this podcast alongside a bonus discussion of Peaks' Evelyn Marsh storyline and its ties to Highway). In all three of the movies we'll be covering, Sweeney is editor and producer, in two of these she is writer, and in one she is director. That journey begins here, with Lynch very much in the driver's seat but Sweeney's unique sensibilities already transforming our impressions of their cinema.

UPDATE: I initially forgot to include listener feedback from patrons on this subject before adding this section to the episode five days later.

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LINKS FOR EPISODE 24

The long return to Journey Through Twin Peaks: a behind-the-scenes essay (pt. 3 of 4)

The first part of this essay provides the context which my original 2014 - 15 video series JOURNEY THROUGH TWIN PEAKS grew out of and the second part details their process of creation. This third part focuses on the videos I published in 2020 - 21 which cover Twin Peaks' third season and the other work of the show's contributors. A fourth part of this essay will follow next year, after I've created more videos focused exclusively on season three.

Visit

Journey Through Twin Peaks Part 5 - "Over the Mountain Pass"

to view all videos discussed in this essay

In the summer of 2018, following a cousin's wedding near San Francisco, I flew north to visit another cousin in Seattle. During this visit, we took a day trip to the area where Twin Peaks was shot, my first visit to the small towns of North Bend and Snoqualmie, as well as a few locations closer to the city - or even in its very heart (did you know that the rustic Roadhouse is actually a theater embedded right in downtown Seattle?). I'd moved from California to New Hampshire a couple years earlier but while out west again I was struck by how much...bigger everything is there. Not just the massive trees which dwarf eastern timber, but also the large patches of uninhabited areas between cities as well as the very sprawl of those cities (Los Angeles obviously, but even smaller urban centers like Seattle feel more spread out, less clustered, than a metropolis like New York or Boston). Paradoxically, both the bulk of massive natural phenomena like redwoods or the Rockies and the preponderance of empty or less densely populated spaces contribute to this experience of bigness, vast both vertically and horizontally.

About a year and a half after this trip, I finally got to work on new chapters of Journey Through Twin Peaks (although the ideas behind them had been percolating for a long time). These sprawling, scattered, grand-scale videos, in process and end result, bear the same relationship to my earlier videos as the West Coast does to the East. The contrasts are endless and illuminating. Parts 1 - 4 of Journey, assembled in just over four months in the fall and winter of 2014 - 15, were acts of extreme concentration. Little else filtered into my consciousness aside from Twin Peaks and my devotion to illustrating its chronological journey, mostly using clips from the series or film even as I expanded and experimented with my palette in the latter chapters. Part 5 of Journey, the form that these 2020 - 21 videos would eventually be assembled into, took nearly a year, during which my attention was spread across many other projects too. This also happened to be perhaps the most eventful historical epoch of my entire life even if I (like most of the world) was isolated in my experience of it. Part 5 was itself quite jumbled - both in terms of chronology and subject matter - and on top of that it was created all out of order, with the "last" section completed and released nine months before what were supposed to be earlier passages. Part 5 also ended up being longer than any previous comparable unit, indeed half the runtime of the previous four parts combined (its largest component chapter was itself almost as long as Part 1), and far from limiting itself to Twin Peaks (though it leapt around all three seasons and Fire Walk With Me, along with spin-off materials) it incorporated clips from well over a hundred different source materials scoured from YouTube or via hunts down different avenues.

Yet out of this often bewildering and overwhelming process, I was able to craft something that feels very much of a piece with the earlier videos - an expansion that carries on their spirit - and when I wasn't exasperated with delays or juggling different inputs and outputs, I had a ball putting it together. An order eventually emerged from the swirling activity.

If the writing, preparation, and editing of Journey Through Twin Peaks Part 5 was a complicated and drawn-out endeavor, so was the lead-up to it. Though I'll try to keep myself focused on the period of these videos, an introduction is necessary to set the stage because five long years passed between finishing Part 4 and initiating Part 5, much longer than I expected.

Journey Through Twin Peaks: Part 5 - Over the Mountain Pass

A two-hour journey bringing us back to Twin Peaks

(available in eight individual chapters or as a two-volume video essay)

This is a follow-up to Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 of Journey Through Twin Peaks; images related to Part 5 are featured in my first and upcoming (live in mid-March) second collection of screenshots.

Follow the path through Journey Through Twin Peaks to keep track of the upcoming Part 6

What's onscreen: a tale of two creators, David Lynch and Mark Frost, who were far apart fifteen years ago yet found themselves collaborating once again, on a revival of their most beloved work, within a decade. Although divided up into several different arrangements depending how you watch, this tale unfolds in four stories that coalesce into a fifth.

Images from a return to Twin Peaks (1 of 2): The In-Between Years and a Detour into Lynchland

The second collection, to be published here in March, will feature many other screenshots from Part 5

Here are screenshots of all the juxtapositions, superimpositions, titles, collage-like mosaics or other visual manipulations from the first half of my video essay series Journey Through Twin Peaks Part 5 - "Over the Mountain Pass". I included (far fewer) image highlights with the cross-posts for Parts 1, 2, and 3; for Part 4 I needed a whole separate post full of screenshots and now I obviously need double that for Part 5! I'll share the second half in a week or two (update: postponed by several months), depending on when I finish the last of these videos. You can see these images in their original video context in my cross-posts for chapters 29, 30, and 31-33. However, these images aren't simply teasers for the videos - I hope in this format, where they can be lingered over, they fuel new contemplation and enjoyment.

Though most of this line-up appears in the order of the videos, it begins with one of the most fun passages to create, in which I juxtapose Lynch's stylistic evolution over the course of his film career from 1977 to 2006 with the six Twin Peaks episodes he directed in 1990 and 1991. It's amazing how they serve as a microcosm of that larger pattern.

JOURNEY THROUGH TWIN PEAKS: Original series collaborators (video debuts this month)

update 10/7: The video is finally published

ORIGINAL INTRO & DAILY PROGRESS

Stay tuned and bookmark this post for more news and eventually, the next Journey Through Twin Peaks video chapter.

Consider this post both an announcement and a placeholder for the next, long-delayed "missing chapter" of my Twin Peaks video series - about the collaborators on the original series, it's provisionally titled "A Candle in Every Window" (playing on my memory of a quote from the Mark Frost introduction to the re-published Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, though I can't find the actual passage at present). I will update this post with my progress as I go (which I will also be keeping track of on Twitter) and I will cross-post the video here when I'm done.

Though I'm hesitant to proclaim deadlines given how often they get postponed, in this case I can make a commitment as well. All of my available "online project" free time will be devoted to this video from now on - I won't even tackle my monthly patron commitments until the video is uploaded on YouTube (another incentive to get it done by the last week of September if not sooner). [revision 9/18: unfortunately, I quickly discovered that I need to finish a Mark Frost book, thanks to a hard library due date, and complete one more public podcast which I overlooked, but after THAT, no distractions!] Updates begin, hopefully, as soon as tonight...

UPDATES ON THE PROGRESS OF CHAPTER 34:

* * *

September 18: re-wrote the narration after losing the file I recorded in July (this version is shorter, although still too long, and will require less cutting as I tighten the chapter during editing)

September 21: re-recorded the narration, catching up to where I was mid-summer

September 23: although not directly related to this video, I published a tie-in public podcast on films by Twin Peaks episode directors (listen to it here) - this was also the last obstacle in my path to focusing entirely on chapter 34 during my "online work" time

September 26: finally began editing the video - I will now use this post to track, day-by-day, how far this process has progressed so stay tuned and keep checking in

September 27: narration is cut down (some material may be saved for an eventual standalone video) and I've begun choosing clips for the introduction

September 28: continued choosing clips for the introduction - a montage of house/lights footage from different films by episode directors

September 29: finished intro montage and began designing "editors" mosaic sequence (displaying a clip from every original series episode on the same screen)

September 30: continued designing "editors" mosaic sequence (chose clips for each episode and began creating titles/freeze-frames etc

October 1: completed the "editors" mosaic sequence; here is a screenshot:

October 2: created opening of "directors" sequence with clips of directors' credits and juxtapositions with their Mad Men episodes

October 3: continued "directors" sequence with Mad Men episodes and some of their feature films

October 4: finished "directors" sequence including side-by-side montage of episodes and feature films (this was by far my longest day)

October 5: created quick "production designer/cinematographers/composer" sequence and began "writers" sequence - now all that remains is the Harley Peyton/Robert Engels part, which is about half the chapter but much less visually complex than other sequences, and I'll have all day today to work on it

October 6: created the majority of the Harley Peyton/Robert Engels writers sequence (although I spent too much time trying to figure out what clips had been used in past chapters through a more in-the-weeds approach than necessary) and I stopped working at the point where I would cross-reference other Engels work; also, worth noting there will be one coda after Engels is finished, addressing Frost in a way that transitions into the following chapter

End of Spring update (including new schedule, works in progress & Journey Through Twin Peaks on Vimeo)

As a few projects take longer than expected, now seemed like a good moment to pause for a status update - and the requisite random Anna Karina picture that always goes with these posts. Early June was supposed to be reserved for some behind-the-scenes work before kicking off Part 6 of Journey, but not only is Part 5 unfinished, my side work hit unforeseen snags too. Mad Men was removed from Netflix literally the day before I planned to resume my viewing diary with season four, so I'm now awaiting physical discs in the mail. This is necessarily a slower process (yes, the site still offers that service; God help us when they don't). I'll now be working on these alongside my video essays instead of beforehand - so expect the first one in a few weeks rather than right away.

So where do we go from here? I mentioned this while cross-posting my Twin Peaks Unwrapped appearance last week, but I will be taking a new approach to my weekly schedule going forward, hopefully for years to come (with some exceptions in 2021, as noted below). Every week I'll publish at least one new entry - even if it's a simple announcement like this one - and, on rare occasions, I'll even publish as many as five between Monday and Friday. But different days will be reserved for different types of entries, with 8am the standard time. Here's what I have in mind  (click on images for past examples):

MONDAY

any TV viewing diary entry (*or Twin Peaks character series in January - May 2021) reserved for Monday

TUESDAY

latest round-up for any of my video essays published on YouTube or Vimeo reserved for Tuesday

WEDNESDAY

any written film review or general essay (*or Twin Peaks character series throughout all of 2021) reserved for Wednesday

THURSDAY

monthly, maybe eventually weekly, round-up of my own podcast (Patreon and coming-soon public episodes), plus guest appearances on other podcasts when applicable, reserved for Thursday

FRIDAY

RANDOM/BONUS entry (*including Twin Peaks character series in January - May 2021) reserved for Friday

You can check in on a given day depending on your interest or, as always, follow my "blogroll" page to keep track of my latest work of any type. Again, months could go by without, say, a particular TV viewing diary entry or video essay; for the most part, I won't be posting five times a week - more usually, I'll be sticking to one or two ongoing projects at a time. But keeping these days reserved for a particular type will keep these projects from bumping into each other and ideally offer readers some sense of routine to my ongoing work.

As the schedule indicates, I've been tinkering behind the scenes on my long-paused "TWIN PEAKS Character Series" (whose original incarnation was published in early 2017, and forced to halt because I couldn't reach the top twenty before the Showtime premiere). The new series will include entries for new characters, extend entries on old ones who reappeared, and update the ranking based on season three - as indicated, the plan is currently for it to run between the first and last week of 2021, with three entries almost every week through the end of May, and a single entry for each of the top thirty from June onward.

Of course, before I get there I need to focus on Journey Through Twin Peaks throughout 2020. As soon as I finish this month's Lost in Twin Peaks rewatch podcast episode for Patreon (covering the big climax of the Laura Palmer investigation), I'll be back to work on the two "missing" chapters - 34 and 35 - from that video series. One video will survey the broad sweep of collaborators like Harley Peyton, Bob Engels, and the various episode directors of the original series. The other video, which will probably be one of my longest chapters of all, will explore the work of Mark Frost and how it relates to Twin Peaks old and new.

Because I wanted to get some season three material up for the third anniversary on May 21, I raced ahead to chapter 36 - and ran straight into the brick wall of YouTube copyright police. The song "Wicked Game" was flagged at the end of the video, which was blocked for two days. It was restored after that (as the dispute remained pending), gathering views, likes, and great comments, and was then blocked again, forcing me to appeal and wait even longer for the situation to be resolved - probably mid-July at the earliest.

I've covered those snags here and here but at the moment, the most important update is that I've uploaded chapter 36 on Vimeo, the site I usually save for complete "Parts" (given that chapter 36, at nearly half an hour, is as long as chapters 1 - 5 combined, it's a worthy exception). You can watch and share it from here:

And now Vimeo also includes a compilation of chapters 31 - 33, my trilogy of videos on the evolving aesthetic of David Lynch and the nature of his collaboration with editor/partner Mary Sweeney, into a single standalone presentation titled "Dream Souls." (Due to repeated technical difficulties, I had to replace the initial video file but the correct version is now available.)

Thanks and see you with some fresh videos soon - hopefully by the end of the month.

JOURNEY THROUGH TWIN PEAKS: David Lynch's aesthetic evolution & the Mary Sweeney years (videos)

Update 8/8/21: The YouTube version of chapter 32 is now age-restricted and cannot be embedded (you can view it here). Here is the same chapter on Vimeo:

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In these three chapters of the ongoing video series, I explore the Twin Peaks director's visual style as it evolved over the course of a half-century with particular attention to his features. I also introduce David Lynch's decade-long collaboration with editor/writer/producer Mary Sweeney and discuss the disastrous debut of Fire Walk With Me at Cannes in 1992 (for way more where those clips came from, check out Barry Norman's acerbic time capsule of that year's festival).

Chapter 31, "Unstubborn Stylist," chapter 32, "Dream Souls," and chapter 33, "On the Other Side" were supposed to be combined but as I wrote and recorded narration, gathered material, and finally edited the footage - allowing plenty of breathing room for Sweeney's rhythms in the second video - I realized there was just too much there. The first chapter covers Cannes '92, an overview of Sweeney's work, a comparison between the stylistic arc of Lynch's six Peaks episodes and his ten features, and an exploration of his early films' aesthetic. The second chapter covers Sweeney's and Lynch's work in three films from 1997 to 2001. Originally I thought that split would be enough, but I needed a third chapter to cover Lynch's drift into his own digital online experiments, the re-evaluation of Fire Walk With Me, and Sweeney's film Baraboo.

Chapter 36, my full chronological overview of season three, remains scheduled for May 21 - just over a week away. Starting tomorrow, all available time will be used to create this chapter. Therefore chapters 34 and 35 - covering Mark Frost and other original series collaborators - will probably have to premiere out of order in late May or early June (this is also how I made sure "7 Facts About Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me" went up by New Year's Eve 2014). Meanwhile, you can read about my last couple new chapters, "The Dance Resumes" (about Lynch and Frost on the cusp of creating season 3) and "25 Years Later..." (about the in-between years), visit the full Journey playlist, and keep up with each step of my work in "The path through Journey Through Twin Peaks".

Update 5/14: When published on the morning of May 13, this post originally described just two chapters, one already published and the other forthcoming, and was revised late the following night when I realized there would be three videos on this subject.

Update 6/20: I compiled the three chapters into a single standalone Vimeo video: