David Lynch Thread

[Dillard]

I didn't find a general thread pertaining to the man and his work (perhaps on the old site?). Anyway, I'll use this thread to post some snippets of writing I've done about Lynch and perhaps it'll spark some discussion. Please post your own thoughts. OH, also, beware of *spoilers*

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/images/uploads/2007/04/lynch_blog.jpg

[Dillard]

Use of Sound

Lynch is a master at establishing mood through his ability to create an aural landscape in each one of his films. He does this not only through the use of non-diegetic sound (the soundtrack/score), but also through his attention to detail in the sounds that occur in each of his filmic worlds.

One example would be Sailor Ripley's performance of Elvis Presley's "Love Me (http://youtube.com/watch?v=P71Xx3EC67Y)" in Wild at Heart. Lynch loves to use live performances in his films to break up the action and transport his characters (and viewers) to another place. In the context of this particular performance, Sailor and Lula have just been dancing crazily to a metal band when a man comes onto Lula. Sailor, having control over the band in some magical way, raises his hand and the band stops. He proceeds to confront the man, and we as viewers are nervous, since Sailor has a bad temper and tendency to overreact when challenged. Fortunately, the confrontation is a tame one, Sailor is clearly in control. At this point, the viewer breathes a sight of relief as the man is sent to the bar for a beer. The song that follows is further relief from our expectation for violence. Sailor asks the band, "y'all know this one" and they toss him a microphone to begin the song. I give all this context so that we might notice the drastic change in mood in the performance that follows.

As soon as the song starts, we notice the reverb in the microphone has changed since last the lead singer was barking into it. Sailor breaks into a disembodied croon for his Lula, and the once raucous band serves as the back-up doo-wop singers. One notable aspect of the sound for the performance: Lynch uses girlish screams as a way to reference the past (they were not uncommon at a Presley concert), but also, by manipulating them, having them fade away into the sound of a strong, breathy wind, he creates an otherworldly aural effect. In the back of our minds, we wonder, is Lynch obsessed with this kitschy aspect of pop performance, or is he making a commentary on how ridiculous these screams are/were? Also, what part of the sound is coming from the on-screen world, and what part is being laid on overtop of the action? These questions are important, because it is this level of playful ambiguity in Lynch's films that make them so appealing. And in spite of our awareness of these questions (through Lynch's artifice), the screams, the reverb, Sailor's singing, and the complete change in mood fit together seamlessly in this scene. We are transported to a place where Sailor and Lula's love is left untouched by the evil, violence, and weirdness of the world (though perhaps the artificiality of the screams are a remnant of that).

I would also argue (perhaps in another post) that it is Lynch's mastery of sound, as well as his visuals and editing that make the scene work so well. Without the careful juggling of all the elements, the musical number would come across as odd and stale. The magnificent tonal elements come from the sound, visuals, editing, etc.

It is the many notable moments like this throughout Lynch's filmography that point clearly to a director who is no slouch when it comes to creating a wholly original, beautiful (and ugly) filmic world.

For additional reference, I point to an article (http://www.armchairdirector.org/features/archive/bluevelvet/index.htm) written by J.D. LaFrance, which covers how the sound, visuals, and editing all play off each other brilliantly in Blue Velvet.

[B-side]

I'll be watching. Love me some Lynch.

[D_Davis]

Sweet.

I just posted this in the FT:


I really like Dune. It's by far one of the more interesting SF book-to-film treatments, even if it is a bit of a mess. Through extensive internal monologues and thoughtful direction, Lynch captures the literary quality of great SF that many other filmmakers fail to. It's not a great film, but it is an ambitious and interesting failure, and I appreciate it.

[Dillard]

Not Knowing Whether to Laugh or Be Scared (or anything in particular) - Part 1

Reacting with a wide range of feelings, sometimes simultaneously, might be exactly the point in a Lynch film. I'm taking my cue from Wake Forest English Professor, Eric G. Wilson, who wrote a book called The Strange World of David Lynch: Transcendental Irony from Eraserhead to Mulholland Dr.

Here's the introduction from his web page (http://www.wfu.edu/~wilsoneg/lynch2.html):


Anyone who has sat through the dark and grainy world of Eraserhead knows that David Lynch's films pull us into a strange world where reality turns upside down and sideways. His films are carnivals that allow us to transcend our ordinary lives and to reverse the meanings we live with in our daily lives. Nowhere is this demonstrated better than in the opening scene of Blue Velvet when our worlds are literally turned on their ears.

Lynch endlessly vacillates between Hollywood conventions and avant-garde experimentation, placing viewers in the awkward position of not knowing when the image is serious and when it's in jest, when meaning is lucid or when it's lost. His vexed style in this way places form and content in a perpetually self-consuming dialogue. But what do Lynch's films have to do with religion? Wilson aims to answer that question in his new book, The Strange World of David Lynch.

To say that irony (especially of the kind found in Lynch's films) generates religious experience is to suggest religious can be founded on nihilism. Moreover, in claiming Lynch's films are religious, one must assume that extremely violent and lurid sexual films are somehow expressions of energies of peace, tranquility, and love. Wilson illuminates not only Lynch's film but also the study of religion and film by showing that the most profound cinematic experiences of religion have very little to do with traditional belief systems. His book offers fresh ways of connecting the cinematic image to the sacred experience.

I read this book to look into the ways in which David Lynch's films might provide a spiritual experience for viewers (tapping into my love of religion and film)! It seems that the ambiguity present in many of Lynch's films (such as Blue Velvet) may present a playground (of transcendental irony) for the viewer, not knowing whether to laugh, cry, be fearful, disgusted, etc. I don't have the book right in front of me at the moment, but if I could make a few stabs at what Wilson says about Blue Velvet in particular:

Lynch is playing with themes of light and darkness. The ambiguity in the film comes into the film in terms of the idea of the virgin/whore. We have Sandy, the innocent high schooler, who is intrigued (as is Jeffrey Beaumont) by the darker underbelly of her town. We also have Dorothy, the night club singer engaged in sadomasochistic relationships, but who also is a mother. There are clear-cut archetypes at play here and within the same persons. However, as I just laid out, even the good (Sandy) is intrigued by the bad and the bad (Dorothy) is in some ways in the realm of the good as a mother figure. In the middle, Jeffrey Beaumont presents the ideal Lynchian hero, a man in between the "good" and the "bad", drawn to both sides, but unwilling to commit.

As viewers, we identify with Jeffrey, and are forced to navigate the same waters, negotiating between the "good" and the "bad." Because the "good" and the "bad" are not always what they seem. This middle, "playful," position brings to mind apophatic theology (which I studied in college), in which God's relationship to the world is both a "yes" and a "no." God is the things we ascribe to him, because he created the world, but he is also not confined by our conceptions of goodness, beauty, justice, etc., because he transcends our reality. In order to do apophatic theology, you have to take up a playful position, Jeffrey's position, in which you cut through the conceptions (language) to find beauty, peace, etc. (of course, beauty and peace are also human conceptions, so this is troubling). This is more of a worldview thing than a prescription for action, and I certainly don't mean to suggest that I, Wilson, or Lynch, approve of Jeffrey's actions in dabbling in the culture of evil (in the town).

I guess this is where it gets confusing for me. How would Wilson (or Lynch for that matter) respond to accusations that Lynch is revelling in the muck (violence, lurid sexuality, perversion) at the same time that Wilson makes a spiritual venture out of the experience of it? I certainly like Wilson's reference to apophatic theology as a way of looking at religion and film, but I feel slightly at pains applying it to Blue Velvet.

[D_Davis]

As a recording artist myself, it is Lynch's use of sound that I appreciate most of all. The music he has created along with Badalamenti and Neff is incredible, and the way Lynch incorporates sound into his films is masterful.

His films have the best sounding telephone rings of all time. That one in Mulholland Dr. that reverberates into the music is a thing of absolute beauty.

[Milky Joe]

I am always in support of more Lynch talk. For the sake of things, here's my ranking of his features. Keep in mind that I love all of them. Still haven't seen Dune.

1. Blue Velvet
2. The Straight Story
3. Eraserhead
4. Inland Empire
5. Fire Walk With Me
6. The Elephant Man
7. Lost Highway
8. Mulholland Drive
9. Wild at Heart

[soitgoes...]

I am always in support of more Lynch talk. For the sake of things, here's my ranking of his features. Keep in mind that I love all of them. Still haven't seen Dune.

1. Blue Velvet
2. The Straight Story
3. Eraserhead
4. Inland Empire
5. Fire Walk With Me
6. The Elephant Man
7. Lost Highway
8. Mulholland Drive
9. Wild at Heart
Even keeping in mind that you love all his films, it is shocking to see Mulholland Dr. and Lost Highway so low.

[Dillard]

Not Knowing Whether to Laugh or Be Scared (or anything in particular) - Part 2

FYI: I wrote the first paragraph before I had finished the television series, and by the second and third paragraphs, I had finished:

The day after watching Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, it occurs to me that it is entirely possible to be repelled and enthralled by the same film. Part of this is that I went into watching the film with a good 4/5ths of the television counterpart under my belt (I've made it up to Episode 15 or so in Season 2), and thus, I had experience with and interest in the context surrounding the film and its characters. But, the situation is much more complicated then that. For example, in FWWM, Lynch makes a film that deals with horrific subject matter (violence, incest, sexual perversion), and provides little room to breathe. Yet also uses genre techniques that I remember encountering in lighter, popcorn fare (horror genre scare techniques in the sound, visuals, and editing, as well as noirish backdrops and characters, and even the kind of melodramatic narrative and music found in soap operas.) On top of this is a supernatural element that I've now found in FWWM and Inland Empire, one that seems to be imbued with Lynch's spirituality. Can anyone else see the corollaries between the blissful endings of each film, which highlight an enlightened, or at least peaceful, state for the films' heroines), and the transcendental meditation that Lynch often refers to as a spiritual muse? The combination of dark themes, genre techniques (sorry, that's vague and probably not very helpful, I can go into more detail if needed), and yes, spirituality, make the film experience above all interesting, but also confusing, at least when it comes down to describing what's going on with my experience of the film.

You know, after a bit more thought about FWWM, I think I'm being unfair to my experience if I say that I disliked the film (not that I enjoyed it either). Certainly, elements of the film are repellant, especially when viewed directly in comparison to the TV series. In the latter, the violence and dark undertones are hinted effectively for conveying what's at stake (as well as the mood), while keeping some of the lighter elements always in play. In the film, after a brilliant (and terribly funny) opening section with Agents Desmond and Stanley, Lynch, uncensored, delves into the muck of Laura Palmer's life and stays there. What I mostly find repellant about this (though perhaps this is not a negative statement about the film, but a neutral observation) is that Lynch gives us no distance from the horrors of the incest and murder. Dale Cooper is nowhere to be found. There are no humorous characters to filter what we see on the screen. It's brutal. Back in the world of film, Lynch is free from narrative constraints, and this is to his advantage in presenting the material, but it's also just a harder set of material to sit through. I don't respond to Sheryl Lee as I do to another Lynch heroine, Laura Dern.

It occurs to me that Lynch is uncompromising in seeking to destroy the conventions and niceties of the TV series, something Lynch starts to do in the final episode of season 2. The film begins with an axe through a TV for goodness sakes! The sheriff and secretary of Dead Meadow, the setting of the opening sequence, are nothing like Sheriff Truman and Lucy. Lynch uses these two elements to hint that this film will show a world/perspective very different from the TV show. The characterizations of Cooper, Gordon Cole, James Hurley, etc. are mostly consistent with the show, but the focus is different. Instead of the evil lurking on the edges, we are confronted with it in full-force as we experience the last days of Laura Palmer. This is the dark underbelly of Twin Peaks.

Another brief thought: I also wonder whether this is the first film where Lynch takes a film in one direction narratively and then severs it completely and starts again, as he would do with Lost Highway. We have a humorous and dry opening sequence with Agent Desmond and Sam Stanley (not to mention the brilliant Harry Dean Stanton), and then the narrative and tone shifts completely when we go to Twin Peaks. No longer will we be watching from behind the comforts of a police procedural. We stick by Laura's side.

[Milky Joe]

Even keeping in mind that you love all his films, it is shocking to see Mulholland Dr. and Lost Highway so low.

Yeah it's even shocking to me (though I've never been the biggest champion of MD, I considered LH my absolute favorite for a while), but I'm pretty certain of the top 5 and I can't bear to put as masterful a film as The Elephant Man any lower than it is.

[Melville]

Great thread. Here's how I'd rank Lynch's films:

Love about equally:
Mulholland Dr.
Lost Highway
Eraserhead
Blue Velvet

Really, really like:
Inland Empire
Wild At Heart
Fire Walk With Me

Like: The Straight Story

Neutral toward: The Elephant Man

Dislike: Dune


I think this is the only thing I've written about Lynch's movies:


I tend to view Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, and Inland Empire as re-tellings of the same story from different angles and with different philosophical implications. All three set up a dichotomy between the real world and the ideal world, the latter identified with or exemplified by movies in general and Hollywood (the Dream Factory) in particular. In the first two films, the ideal world is characterized as the world of love, in which the loved one embodies the lover's ideals (and/or defines them) and the lover is the center of the loved one's world; and in both cases the real world is one in which the loved one cheats on the lover and the jealous lover then kills the loved one. In the adulterous act the lover dissolves the ideal by removing herself from her assigned role as its embodiment; and by focusing her attentions on another, she casts the lover from his/her desired place at the center of the ideal world. Thus, the adultery acts as a perpetual rupture of the real into the ideal.

The two films have slightly different approaches to these themes. In Lost Highway, the ideal world is that of cheesy "guy movie" and the spurned/murderous lover idealizes himself as a virile young dude. From his masculine perspective, his loved one's adultery has the connotations of emasculation and is intimately connected to his fear of impotence. In Mulholland Drive, the ideal world is more explicitly acknowledged as the dream world of Hollywood, and the spurned/murderous lover idealizes herself as a caring, talented woman who is the center of attention. (I don't think it really makes much use of her "female" perspective, unlike Lost Highway's depiction of the "male" perspective.)

The two films also arrive at opposite conclusions. In Lost Highway, the real and ideal merge in the end, and the story is presented as an eternal return of this process, an endless repetition of the real being forced into a set of archetypes and then erupting those archetypes. This presents a Hegelian picture of consciousness in which thesis and antithesis repeatedly form before being overcome and contained within a synthesis. In Mulholland Drive, the real and ideal are irreconcilable; their difference cannot be overcome, and the story has a definite end with the lover's despairing self-destruction. (This could be tied into Kierkegaard's critique of Hegel's dialectic.)

What interests me most about Inland Empire is how it retells this same story from a very different and much larger perspective, and how its conclusions act as a commentary on the earlier films. The protagonist of Inland Empire is no longer the scorned lover, but the cheating loved one; this is an immediate upheaval of the earlier stories that forces us to completely change our perspectives and sympathies. In this story, a conflation of the real and the ideal is actually what drives the cheater to cheat; she is so absorbed in the ideal world that she is cast into that she adopts her role in it as something real. Simultaneously, we see the story of male emasculation and female cheating retold again and again in many forms, setting it up as an archetypal tale, rather than "the real" that ruptures the ideal; we see how the ideal world acts as a perversion that makes the loved one a whore; and in Dern's monologue, we see a story told by an embodiment of the problems that "real" women face as they are forced into the roles that men wish for them. All of these aspects continually comment upon one another, and put the earlier films in a broader context.

By far my favorite part of Inland Empire is the celebratory ending. When the camera pulls back from the scene of Dern's height of misery, the film asserts a philosophical rejection of the earlier two films: it insists that their is no distinction between the real and ideal. The miserable "real" world that always threatens to rupture the ideal world is itself a construct of archetypes and ideals. I don't know much about Lynch's transcendental meditational beliefs, but I think the film's ending is a profound and revelatory celebration of Mayahana Buddhism's central tenet that "There is not the slightest difference between cyclic existence and nirvana" (in which case the earlier films can be seen in the light of Theravada Buddhism's more pessimistic quest for self-annihilation). As the Buddha said, "O what an awakening, all hail!"

[Pop Trash]

Sweet! I was just reading Catching the Big Fish last week.

Fan-fucking-tastic:
1. Twin Peaks (Series)
2. Blue Velvet

Damn good movies:
3. The Elephant Man
4. The Straight Story
5. Mulholland Drive
6. Eraserhead
7. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
8. Lost Highway

Pretty good, but mixed feelings about the DV:
9. Inland Empire

Tie for last place crappiness:
Wild at Heart and Dune

[chrisnu]

I will read through the thread when I have more time; for now...

Love:

1. Mulholland Dr.
2. Blue Velvet
3. The Straight Story
4. Lost Highway
5. The Elephant Man

Like:

6. Eraserhead
7. Inland Empire
8. Fire Walk With Me

Meh:

9. Wild at Heart

[baby doll]

Because I don't have time to do a research essay...

Eraserhead, Dune, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Mulholland Dr. and Inland Empire are awesome.

The Straight Story is touching but forgettable.

The Elephant Man is mediocre.

I need to re-watch Lost Highway.

I tried watching Wild at Heart once a couple years ago, and I hated it so much I had to turn it off after forty minutes.

[D_Davis]

I'll play:

1. Mulholland Dr.
2. The Straight Story
3. Fire Walk With Me
4. Inland Empire
5. The Elephant Man
6. Eraserhead
7. Blue Velvet
8. Wild at Heart
9. Lost Highway

[Pop Trash]

I tried watching Wild at Heart once a couple years ago, and I hated it so much I had to turn it off after forty minutes.

Wow, I did the same thing the first time I tried to watch it. It was like aggressively bad. Then I managed to watch the whole thing later in my life but guess what...it still sucks.

[Sycophant]

Um.

1. Eraserhead
2. Inland Empire
3. Mulholland Drive
4. Blue Velvet
5. Wild at Heart

I actually enjoyed Wild at Heart quite a bit, though I'm not prepared to defend it. There was one singular, incredible sequence when Laura Dern freaks out about the reports on the radio, makes Cage find some music, and they dance on the side of the road.

The scene where Willem Dafoe verbally rapes Laura Dern has stuck with me as well.

[Milky Joe]

I actually enjoyed Wild at Heart quite a bit, though I'm not prepared to defend it. There was one singular, incredible sequence when Laura Dern freaks out about the reports on the radio, makes Cage find some music, and they dance on the side of the road.

The scene where Willem Dafoe verbally rapes Laura Dern has stuck with me as well.

Yeah, there's something incredibly visceral about that film. It has an exuberance, a ballsiness that most films would do better to have more of. A sense of like, "fuck you, I AM going to have a close up of Willem Dafoe's head flying through the air and rolling on the ground, because I CAN." I can't help but admire it, even if I'm not totally sure I want to see the whole thing again.

[Melville]

I've watched Wild at Heart repeatedly, and it was pretty awesome every time.

[Raiders]

The Great-to-Good
1. INLAND EMPIRE
2. Mulholland Dr.
3. The Straight Story
4. Blue Velvet

The OK
5. The Elephant Man
6. Lost Highway
7. Eraserhead

The Bad
8. Dune

The Wretched
9. Wild at Heart

I guess I'm a bit bigger of a fan than I thought.

[Russ]

My favorite filmmaker, past, present or future. It will be a very sad day when he is no longer around to let us tap into his subconsciousness.

You know you've done good when you've managed to turn your surname into an adjective.

[number8]

I really like how he does weather reports on his Twitter. It brightens up my mornings.

[Bosco B Thug]

1. Inland Empire - 8.5
2. Mulholland Dr. - 8.5
3. Blue Velvet - 7.5
4. Eraserhead - 6.5
5. The Elephant Man - 6

A lot like Raiders' list, actually. Doesn't seem like I'm a big fan, but I am a fan on the strenth of 1 and 2 especially.

[trotchky]

I really like that one movie, Mulholland Dr..

[Cult]

1. Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive (tie for now, occasional edge given to the former)
2. Twin Peaks TV Series
3. Inland Empire
4. The Elephant Man
5. Lost Highway
6. Eraserhead
7. Wild at Heart
8. The Straight Story
9. Twin Peaks: FWWM
10. Dune

The man can basically do no wrong for me. Except, well, Dune.

[Qrazy]

1. Blue Velvet - A-
2. Eraserhead - B+
3. Mulholland Drive - B
4. The Elephant Man - B

5. The Straight Story - C
6. Fire Walk With Me - C-
7. Lost Highway - C-
8. Wild at Heart - D-
9. Dune - D-

[megladon8]

1.) Mulholland Dr. - 10
2.) Lost Highway - 9
3.) Inland Empire - 9
4.) Eraserhead - 6.5
5.) The Straight Story - 6
6.) Dune - 5


One of my favorites, some near masterpieces, and a bunch of so-so's.

He's pretty good.

[Ivan Drago]

1. Mulholland Dr. 9
2. Blue Velvet 9
3. Lost Highway 8.5

I really want to see more.

[Qrazy]

1. Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive (tie for now, occasional edge given to the former)
2. Twin Peaks TV Series
3. Inland Empire
4. The Elephant Man
5. Lost Highway
6. Wild at Heart
7. The Straight Story
8. Twin Peaks: FWWM
9. Dune

The man can basically do no wrong for me. Except, well, Dune.

Eraserhead?

[Cult]

Eraserhead?

I knew I forgot something. I was thinking where to place it as I typed, and I guess my head short-circuited along the way. Will go edit now... :cool:

[Ezee E]

I'll have to read the essays you guys wrote, but The Straight Story is possibly his best piece, and also his most forgotten. I even forget it when discussing Lynch. Beautiful film.

[Cult]

I'll have to read the essays you guys wrote, but The Straight Story is possibly his best piece, and also his most forgotten. I even forget it when discussing Lynch. Beautiful film.
I was a little bothered by Sissy Spacek's performance. I thought her story (and backstory) were rather moving, but... Sissy Spacek (as good as she is), doing that voice and all, just distracted me in a strange way. The role really could have benefited from an unknown actress, it would be easier to go with it, I think.

Nitpicky, but it did downgrade it a bit for me. I love the ending.

[Grouchy]

Yeah, there's something incredibly visceral about that film. It has an exuberance, a ballsiness that most films would do better to have more of. A sense of like, "fuck you, I AM going to have a close up of Willem Dafoe's head flying through the air and rolling on the ground, because I CAN." I can't help but admire it, even if I'm not totally sure I want to see the whole thing again.
Exactly. Both the scene Sycopanth mentioned and Bobby Perú assaulting Lula are incredible scenes because they manage to provoke very different emotions at the same time. The radio scene which goes from rock & roll dancing to classical film music and the sunset is a great example of this. I love it.

Great thread. I would do a Lynch list, but Cult more or less already did mine, except I still haven't seen the Twin Peaks movie.

[balmakboor]

I like most all of his stuff. The only thing I hated was Cowboy and the Frenchman. WTF was that?

My favorite things he's done are The Grandmother, Eraserhead, Mulholland Dr, and that creepy little ditty he did for the Lumiere project.

[D_Davis]

and that creepy little ditty he did for the Lumiere project.

Heck yeah. That's basically a reduction of everything that makes Lynch awesome.

[Dillard]

Discerning the Man Lynch from His Movies

The Observer's Gaby Woods interviews (http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/feb/28/david-lynch-twin-peaks-mulholland-drive) Lynch and realizes that anytime you interview Lynch about his work, you're going to find out more about Lynch's persona than you are either about Lynch or his work:


For instance, here is Lynch, when I meet him, on how his films come together. He speaks slowly, as if teaching me the basics of his mysterious art: "Sometimes I get an idea for cinema. And when you get an idea that you fall in love with, this is a glorious day. That idea may just be 1a fragment, but it holds something. It might be a scene, or a part of a scene, or a character, or a way the character talks, a light or a feel ... You write that idea down. And thinking about that idea will bring other ideas in – there's a hook to it. And things start to emerge. And then you see, one day, a script. A script is just words to remind you of the ideas. And you follow that, but always staying on guard, in case other ideas come in, because a thing isn't finished till it's finished. And one day, it's finished."

"Christ!" I thought when I heard this, "What am I supposed to do with that?" In the course of our interview Lynch had made (I felt) a series of didactic yet meaningless speeches of varying length, none of which lent itself to illustrating any particular point. But afterwards I found myself laughing, because I realised he was not so much unforthcoming as bordering on the Delphic. He is – unbudgingly, impenetrably, but nevertheless magnificently – a character of his own making.

In his movies the characters who talk like this – a sort of scattershot guru-speak, in which sayings are either wise or total rubbish, depending on what sticks – are fortune-tellers, random ciphers or mysterious orchestrators of strange plots (the dancing dwarf in Twin Peaks, the Cowboy in Mulholland Drive, the witchy neighbour in Inland Empire). In other words, the most unnatural among the dramatis personae. But when you listen to Lynch you realise they are (in their delivery at least) the most natural, the most like him.
My opinion of the Lynch's films has changed drastically over the course of my encounter with his work. It started with Mulholland Drive in theaters when I was 17. I hated it! The twisted storyline, the illusions within illusions, the nauseatingly melodramatic Naomi Watts, the oppressive mood, etc. Then the Twin Peaks series, which I now find to be the perfect melding of Lynch's darker pursuits and his aw-shucks, down-to-earth, comedic sensibility. I was completely blown away. The TV medium forces Lynch to tone down the graphic nature of many of his films, arriving at this balancing point. At any rate, after watching the series, I began to be fascinated by all things Lynch, and to be less frustrated and upset by the graphic and confusing elements that find their way into most of his films. I also began to be interested in the man himself.

The Lynch persona that I read of and/or watch in his interviews only adds to this fascination of mine. He just seems like such a good guy! Dedicated to his art and his religion. Uncompromising in his pursuits. A friendly guy, a fatherly guy who encourages you to stay out of trouble.

However, as Gaby discovers, and Scene by Scene's Mark Cousins discovers, along with countless other inteviewers, he is loath to interpret his own films.

In his interview with Mark Cousins, Lynch says:


A film is its own thing, and in an ideal world I think film should be discovered knowing nothing. Nothing should be added to it and nothing should be taken away from it.
Of course the question then is, what about after the film? Might the director add something to an interpretation of a film?

During the course of the interview, Mark Cousins asks about the character of Jeffrey Beaumont from Blue Velvet, and whether by the end of the film, Jeffrey Beaumont is different (after the harrowing series of events that he experiences in the film).

To this Lynch replies:


Well we don't know. That's the thing about the film: it starts and then it ends. Nothing should be added and nothing should be taken away, and so it's wrong for me to say. But it's beautiful...anyone has the right to, you know, go where they want to go.
With this response, Cousins is clearly frustrated, and steps back for a minute, asking Lynch if when he is not being interviewed, if he ever talks about or explains more in his films, in his private life. Lynch quickly and confidently says, No.

How do you/we make sense of Lynch's reaction?

From what I gather, Lynch's ideas are somewhat likes his children, and he protects them as he nurtures them into their full form. Even after they are grown, he'd rather that they speak for themselves. I also understand that these ideas are deeply personal to him, and that he would do a disservice to them by attempting to explain them. Noting Lynch's inclination to say, "It just feels correct," it strikes me that Lynch would have a hard time explaining his films even if he tried. Try explaining, for example, the connections between a rabbit sitcom, a series of spontaneous Dern monologues, and a storyline that includes Polish whores, a curse, oracle neighbors, actors acting out multiple characters on multiple levels of fantasy and reality. Critics and essayists try (http://www.villagevoice.com/2006-11-28/film/wild-at-heart/) their (http://movies.nytimes.com/2006/12/06/movies/06empi.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1166504549-Rjzg9Q7YKeMKKg1Q42tANA) darndest (http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/moviereviews/2007/070126/) to (http://www.cineaste.com/articles/review-inland-empire.htm) explain (http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070125/REVIEWS/701250301/1023) how (http://metaphilm.com/index.php/detail/reading-inland-empire/) this (http://www.reverseshot.com/article/inland_empire) all (http://www.synoptique.ca/core/articles/rennebohm_david_lynch/) works (http://www.reverseshot.com/article/david_lynch), and yet, words cannot encompass the film. We're left with phrases like "Lost Highway of Endless Possibility."

So how can a man who makes a film best described as a "Lost Highway of Endless Possibility" be so...so...un-cerebral in his persona? Perhaps "un-cerebral" is the wrong word, what does that even mean? He's just not very verbal. He's obtuse and guarded when prodded, and he's more interested in presenting himself as an apple-pie, boyscout kind of guy. There's a lot of David Lynch in Dale Cooper's simple love of all things Twin Peaks, but as Gaby Woods says, there's also a lot of the man in the veiled, guru speak of his darker, mysterious characters as well. Some mysteries cannot be explained away, neither can David Lynch, and he prefers it that way.

Scene by Scene interview (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaIWQIetu80) w/Lynch.

Charlie Rose interview (http://www.charlierose.com/shows/1997/02/14/1/an-conversation-about-the-film-lost-highway) w/Lynch

[B-side]

LOVE

1. Eraserhead/Mulholland Dr.
2. INLAND EMPIRE
3. The Alphabet
4. Lost Highway
5. Blue Velvet
6. Wild at Heart

LIKE

7. The Elephant Man
8. The Straight Story
9. Boat
10. The Amputee

DON'T LIKE

11. Darkened Room

[transmogrifier]

Lost Highway is an absolutely superb satire of the wave of Tarantinoism that infected American indies in the mid-90s. Check out the music cues if you doubt it. If I was forced to watch only that and Mulholland Dr. for the rest of my life, I think I'd be a happy camper.

[balmakboor]

LOVE

1. Eraserhead/Mulholland Dr.
2. INLAND EMPIRE
3. The Alphabet
4. Lost Highway
5. Blue Velvet
6. Wild at Heart

LIKE

7. The Elephant Man
8. The Straight Story
9. Boat
10. The Amputee

DON'T LIKE

11. Darkened Room

You really should see The Grandmother. I think it is his most interesting and haunting work. It's a perfect transition piece between The Alphabet and Eraserhead.

[Raiders]

Oh yeah I forgot his other works.

I like The Amputee, The Grandmother and The Cowboy and the Frenchman. Did not like Six Figures Getting Sick and hated just about every second of Dumbland.

[B-side]

You really should see The Grandmother. I think it is his most interesting and haunting work. It's a perfect transition piece between The Alphabet and Eraserhead.

I've had that recommended to me a few times. I should probably get on that. Thanks for reminding me.

[Russ]

I've had the opportunity to view some not easily accessible work from David Lynch recently. Some of it is for hardcore fans only, some of it prime material.

First the bad: a collection of Experimental Shorts, taken from his website, that, frankly, for the most part, are tedious, self-indulgent, and just not very compelling. The most interesting ones deal with themes and ideas with which Lynch has already enjoyed success (Coyote features a one-camera static shot of a room, very much like the one from Rabbits, and contains a curiously brief visit from the titular creature). Darkened Room seems to predate the foreboding menace of the "women in trouble" from Inland Empire. My favorite of the batch was probably the goofy Disc of Sorrow in which Lynch and two assistants demonstrate how to protect a bird-feeder from squirrels. Others, such as Mouse (ants devouring a mouse carcass) and Bees (closeup of a hive juxtaposed against treated sound) were head-scratching inclusions. Overall grade: ** (out of ****)

Next, a little better: Back in the early 90's, Lynch and Mark Frost spent some of their Twin Peaks goodwill on, in retrospect, an ill-advised sitcom titled, On the Air. Seven episodes were filmed (tho only three aired on ABC). I remember watching those three on their first run. And, as my recent viewing confirms, it was a worthwhile excursion; however, in one case, it was much, very much more: Lynch directed just a single episode (the pilot) before handing over the reins to others, and it remains as astonishing to this day as I first remembered it many years ago. Some of you who have seen Lynch's forays into "comedy" (The Cowboy and the Frenchman) might feel the need to tread lightly here. Not so, for after a carefully constructed first half setup, the half-hour quckly devolves (as soon as this 50's tv show goes live "on the air") into the type of inspired surreality that could only come from a mind as warped as Lynch. It's the stuff of laughing-out-loud and gasping for breath laughs, not the "I don't get it" acquired taste laughs that some may fear (although, yes, some of it, especially early on, is just that). Later episodes never reach the heady heights of the pilot, and are uneven efforts at best, it's still a curio that deserves a bit more respect. *** for the series, **** for the pilot.

Finally, the best: The recent David Lynch Lime Green set (basically a repackaging of previously released fllms), which featured as it's main selling point, the first time DVD release of Industrial Symphony Nbr. 1 (which was a stage presentation, featuring Julee Cruise, Nicholas Cage and Laura Dern from Wild at Heart and the dancing dreamland dwarf, Michael Anderson, in a production that some describe as the "Twin Peaks musical.") Unfortunately, I haven't seen this in its entirety yet, so I can't comment on it. The other big draw in this set was the "Mystery Disc." After much speculation, the Mystery Disc was revealed to contain re-edited versions of Rabbits, plus other content shot exclusively for Lynch's website (including a couple of episodes of the quite bizarre Out Yonder, some very early, and fascinating, late 60's work from early in his career, but the crowning achievement was the inclusion of 32 deleted scenes (or about 70-something minutes) from Wild at Heart. Now, I know this film isn't everyone's favorite, but nonetheless, these scenes are fascinating in and of themselves. As Lynch states, it's like visiting the world of Sailor and Lula again; and brother, it's a pretty great journey. Very little of what's offered could be classified as filler. And a substantial portion could (and perhaps should) have been re-edited into the film proper. Especially riveting are scenes where Reggie and Dropshadow are "fishing" for their prey, Johnny Farragut, and one absolutely brilliant scene in Club Zanzibar, which recalls a similar scene in FWWM, when Lula makes a phone call to her mother, that wacky Diane Ladd. Plus, extended scenes with nutjobs Dell (Crispin Glover), the squeaky-voiced pigeon guy, and one utterly left-field scene where Lula and Sailor pick up a hitchhiker (the always entertaining Tracey Walter) who is traveling to Alaska with a mysterious box...

The "Mystery Disc" is another easy ****

[Grouchy]

Lost Highway is an absolutely superb satire of the wave of Tarantinoism that infected American indies in the mid-90s. Check out the music cues if you doubt it.
I highly doubt this was anywhere near Lynch's intentions.

[Yxklyx]

I highly doubt this was anywhere near Lynch's intentions.

Tarantinoism only exists in a Tarantino-centric world, which I'm not a part of.

[balmakboor]

Tarantinoism only exists in a Tarantino-centric world, which I'm not a part of.

I'm especially not a part of it after this year.

I actually never understood Trans' comment anyway.

[MadMan]

From Lynch I've only seen Eraserhead and Blue Velvet. Where should I go from here?

[Melville]

I highly doubt this was anywhere near Lynch's intentions.
Yeah, I'd say parts of it are something like a spoof of a much broader class of trashy guy-movies, but I don't understand the specific reference to Tarantino.


From Lynch I've only seen Eraserhead and Blue Velvet. Where should I go from here?
Mulholland Dr. and Lost Highway look at the same basic story (a terrible situation in which a scorned lover kills his/her loved one is contrasted with the ideal movie-world that he/she wishes his/her romantic relationship had occurred in), and they're both among his greatest movies. Watch them back-to-back to make for an interesting comparison.

[Dillard]

From Lynch I've only seen Eraserhead and Blue Velvet. Where should I go from here?

A few years ago, I had only watched Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, and Mulholland Drive all once and although I liked Eraserhead, I wasn't very much taken with Lynch. That is, until I started into the Twin Peaks series and fell in love with the man's work. Then Wild at Heart and Inland Empire (loved both) and reviewings of Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive confirmed that I'd missed something the first time round.

Anyway...

[Dillard]

Over on another film forum, there was a thread (with voting) going on about the Most Important Directors of the Aughts, and I gave the most points I could to David Lynch, even with him only doing two feature films in the last decade. In response, many people were very skeptical about his importance.

Beyond Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire being incredible films, I feel like Lynch's importance to the world of film comes into play in his prominent switch from film to digital video. Although Lynch is in no way the first to switch, there seemed to be something particularly special about the way in which Lynch did it: Mulholland Drive as a swan song to film of a long-past Hollywood era, and Inland Empire as a vanguard film for the new digital era. Both films' media figure prominently into the overall aesthetic and thematic content of the films. I cannot think of two other films that mark the move from film to digital in a more distinctive fashion.

Besides the two feature films, Lynch has also made important contributions to the wider film world with the shorts he released through his website (http://davidlynch.com/) and his Interview Project (http://interviewproject.davidlynch.co m/www/#/all-episodes/079-jeff), which I find hauntingly beautiful in its scope and subject. It's a more detached (as far as the traveler is concerned) travelogue in the vein of William Least Heat-Moon's Blue Highways.

Am I completely off-base? I'm wondering where you guys stand with Lynch as far as this question about the most important directors of the past decade. Does Lynch figure into this debate?

[Ezee E]

When's he going to do another movie anyway?

[Dillard]

Unfortunately, I don't know that we'll get another true Lynch feature film for a while. Looks like his next project is a documentary on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Lynch's Transcendental Meditation Guru. He mentions it in this recent interview (http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/11/david_lynch_talks_meditation_a .html) with Vulture. I know he's also been devoting more time to his visual arts.

[D_Davis]

Honestly, I don't think he needs to make another movie. Inland Empire seems like such a perfect place to call it quits.

[Dillard]

Honestly, I don't think he needs to make another movie. Inland Empire seems like such a perfect place to call it quits.
You should explain. I'm curious as to why you say that.

[D_Davis]

You should explain. I'm curious as to why you say that.

I just perfectly encapsulates everything that is Lynch in terms of cinema. I wouldn't be disappointed If he never made another movie again. I think it is OK for an artist to stop one thing and move into something else. And when your last thing is Inland Empire, a real masterpiece, then why not? It seems like a perfectly natural place to call it a film-career well-made.

[Dillard]

Here's an intriguing link (http://www.nbcmiami.com/blogs/popcornbiz/Mulholland-Drive-Star-Believes-a-David-Lynch-Follow-Up-Is-Being-Born-90248057.html).

[hey it's ethan]

I rewatched Lost Highway a few weeks ago and while I love it, I feel like it really lacks the emotional engagement of Lynch's other films. For all the surreal imagery and disturbing content present in his films, he still has a lot of empathy and care for his characters (I don't weep during the lesbian scene in Mulholland Dr. for nothing) but it seems like that particular film is entirely focused on uncomfortable atmosphere. It also contains some of his most mean spirited and ugly violence (the head going through the plate glass table).

I should note that on another forum I have a Lost Highway avatar, so I do love it, kay?

[chrisnu]

A sequel to Mulholland Dr.? INLAND EMPIRE was enough of a sequel. Just my opinion. I'll suspend judgment until something materializes, though.

[Dillard]

While we all wait to hear news of a new feature film, here's something (http://www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/archives/2010/05/david_lynchs.html) to tide us over. Lynch has done a short here as a part of Lady Dior's (handbags) auteur-driven Internet promotional shorts which have all starred Marion Cotillard (she works very well as a Lynchian actress). At 16 minutes, and featuring signature Lynch in its aural and visual landscape, it's no ordinary commercial. On the other hand, it's nothing new for Lynch either. It looks like it's shot on SD digital video.

If you go to the lady dior website you can get a bigger image.

[Sxottlan]

So how many times has Lynch appeared on The Cleveland Show? I saw his character on the cross-over episode of Family Guy Sunday and thought, 'that sounds and looks a lot like David Lynch.' Just saw on a wiki that it was him.

[Dillard]

Anyone dig David Lynch's album (http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15999-david-lynch-crazy-clown-time/)? I listened to the first two singles off the album and couldn't get into it. Anyone interested in drawing out comparisons between his music and his films?

[Dukefrukem]

I have a confession to make. I get David Lynch confused with David Fincher alllll the time. So when I saw this thread, and saw Dillard's post, my first thought was Fincher writes music?

[Lucky]

I have a confession to make. I get David Lynch confused with David Fincher alllll the time. So when I saw this thread, and saw Dillard's post, my first thought was Fincher writes music?

I want to say I don't understand this at all, but I have a similar thing with Jack Nicholson and Jack Nicklaus.

[Ezee E]

Mine's Lance Armstrong and Yo Yo Ma.

[Yxklyx]

https://musicboxtheatre.com/events/david-lynch-a-complete-retrospective-the-return

[Peng]

Completed his features, then other stuff I wanted to watch. Ranking with his features in numericals:

1. Mulholland Drive
(Twin Peaks: The Return)
2. Eraserhead
(Twin Peaks pilot)
3. Blue Velvet
4. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
5. The Straight Story
(Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Brokenhearted)
6. Wild at Heart
(Rabbits)
(Premonitions Following an Evil Deed)
7. The Elephant Man
(Lady Blue Shanghai)
(The Grandmother)
(Absurda)
8. Lost Highway
(The Alphabet)
9. Inland Empire
10. Dune
(The Disc of Sorrow Is Installed)
(The Cowboy and the Frenchman)
(Six Men Getting Sick)
(Absurd Encounter with Fear)
(The Amputee)
(WHAT DID JACK DO?)
(DumbLand)
(Darkened Room)

[MadMan]

I've seen 7 from him, plus the first two seasons of Twin Peaks. Great director. Plus I rewatched Lost Highway again, that movie is my personal favorite from him plus Wild At Heart.