’90S NOIR

What do you do with a schizophrenic storyline in which the protagonist morphs into a different person played by a different actor halfway through the movie? If it’s the product of David Lynch, you totally buy it. In Lost Highway, the surrealist director accomplishes this and other cinematic feats, such as rendering a world where Gary Busey plays one of the least crazy characters. The 1997 mystery follows the dream-like events that lead to a yuppie jazz musician’s (Bill Pullman) arrest for the murder of his wife (Patricia Arquette) before he literally turns into a young auto mechanic caught up with porn-industry mobsters. Trust that all of this will end up making plenty of weird nonlinear sense. That it includes one of the creepiest exchanges you’re likely to witness in film or elsewhere (with the Mystery Man during the party scene) has helped Lost Highway secure cult status. The film will be screened as part of the “Sunshine at Midnight” series.

Sat., March 13, midnight; Sun., March 14, midnight, 2010