Made by a man with a longtime devotion to the technique of “transcendental meditation,” Mr. Lynch’s films were characterized by their dreamlike imagery and punctilious sound design, as well as Manichaean narratives that pit an exaggerated, even saccharine innocence against depraved evil. Mr. Lynch’s style has often been termed surreal, and indeed, with his troubling juxtapositions, outlandish non sequiturs, and eroticized derangement of the commonplace, the Lynchian has evident affinities to classic surrealism. Mr. Lynch’s surrealism, however, was more intuitive than programmatic. If classic surrealists celebrated irrationality and sought to liberate the fantastic in the everyday, Mr. Lynch employed the ordinary as a shield to ward off the irrational....
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There are some brief segments of "Mulholland Drive" that I find endlessly attractive. The rest of his stuff . . .
Forget David Lynch. Bob Uecker died today at 90.
I loved his version of Dune, but I admit that you have to be a Dune fan to appreciate it. I also later came to understand that the studio hated his version and had it re-edited, which is the version that most people have seen.
Loved Mullholland Drive. Dune was an Ok attempt to adapt and Novel not suited for a 2 hour movie. Never saw Twin Peaks.
Always thought Lynch was English but he was born in Montana or Missouri.
Whoa, sad news. Twin Peaks was artistically formative for me, for among other reasons my parents didn't want me watching it so of course I had to watch everything he ever made. He will be missed.
Twin Peaks was "WTF" goodish for a while, but not the whole series. See the Log Lady scenes. The Twin Peaks soundtrack was excellent for what it tried to do: creepy-atmospheric-floaty.
The rest of his stuff...
Yes. The voice of Wisconsin summers for over 50 years.
I always thought Elephant Man was among his best efforts, and I generally admired his work, his eclectic strangeness - although at times I felt like I was missing something intended. None of it seemed phony.
It suffered from the trendiness of the era, and was too short / predated the necessary CGI quality of Lord of the Rings. Sting was a young rock star and somehow got cast in this film...compare this role to his later career in mellow adult pop...!?!
Also, don't put an arty-fartsy person in charge of a popcorn action film or it'll confuse critics and the audience. See Tim Burton's "Batman" and Ang Lee's "Hulk".
As high school kids we had unlimited access to the video store so wea watched everything. Eraserhead was weird but we were kind of freaked out by Blue Velvet. I admired there were people at ABC willing to air Twin Peaks. We watched...my parents (of all people) watched. He was strange but reassuringly calming in interviews. I'm sorry he's passed...
..juuust a bit outside. So sad...
“Lost Highway” was almost as weird as as weird can get (Ed.note: new champ in this category is the new “The Substance”). But Patricia Arquette was a sight to 😍behold😍!
And Robert Blake was in character… creepy, with teh Ramstein accompanyment.
Wild at Heart
The problem with the movie is that it had to compress a complex 400-500 page novel into 2.5 hours. The novel has lots of characters and various locations. And it had to use 80s special effects. I remember watching it when it came out and not knowing what the hell was going on. Later i went back and re-watched, after reading the novel. Its a good solid try.
Lots of people love Blue Velvet. Always thought it was creepy. It that it? "The film is now widely considered a masterpiece and has a score of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 80 reviews with an average rating of 8.8/10."
Not sure was its so loved. Didn't get it.
Villeneuve, broke it into two parts, he did some race swapping, re liet kynes, others that made sense with the north african setting, a much more savage feyd in austin butler,
Blue Velvet was the only work that I ever enjoyed. Although I can't say I actually enjoyed that movie I was captivated by it. A tremendous work of art. He was able to harness the full depth of Dennis Hopper's bottomless talent. Well nowhere near his biggest fan I am nevertheless glad to live in a country that produces oddball artists like him who can become very successful and popular.
To start, I'd watch the pre-Eraserhead shorts (Six Men Getting Sick, The Grandmother, etc.) I've never had the opportunity to see them. These were the films that prompted the AFI to give him a $10,000 grant to finish Eraserhead.
First saw Eraserhead in high school, at a midnight showing in early 1980 in London, Ontario. I thought this film came closest to reproducing nightmare dream logic. This, and the dream sequence in Polanski's Rosemary's Baby.
I loved the casting, for the most part. Sean Young was absolutely the wrong choice for Chani thought. Cringey even. Hated the Alia character, although a couple of years ago I found out the actor (Alicia Witt) is quite lovely and I follow her on Instagram. Sting apparently hated the steambath scene and to get Lynch back for making him do it he decided to look as gay as possible. . . .which is exactly what he should have done, according to the book.
Anyway, love love loved Twin Peaks, mostly just the first season. The recent one was pretty good, if uneven.
Off to the White Lodge he goes. . . . .
I don't see Wild at Heart on there! It's my favorite romantic movie. It's a toss-up between that and Lost Highway.
People should watch "Mulholland Drive"--multiple times, unless they are put off by it--and listen closely to the sound design in "Eraserhead" at least once.
"The Straight Story." Made a mundane trip across Iowa into Wisconsin an epic, with brilliant cinematography.
YES! WAH is my favorite romantic movie.
Loved M. Drive, but certain scenes from Lost Higway are among his all time best.
Well, that's a shame.
Twin Peaks exploded all ideas of what television could be. It reconfigured everything. There are things in there that are more disturbing than most (all?) R rated movies. When they made the prequel movie (Fire Walk With Me), the MPAA kept complaining about scenes (in an R rated movie, mind you) and Lynch and Frost kept coming back to them with "well we already did that on network television".
He was unique. He will be missed.
Watch "What did Jack Do?" It's only 17 minutes.
I'm more affected by the passing of Milwaukee's Bob Ueker! Here's a link to the Brewer's heartfelt statement:
https://x.com/Brewers/status/1879921141932044644
I'm more broke up about the Ueck passing.
It's funny. He's a directorial genius, yet nothing on that list appeals to me. Re-watched Dune recently and, as someone said, it's a strong effort. Ahead of its time.
Wait. Is the Richard Farnsworth movie available? I remember that as being very gentle.
Responsible for the creepiest scene ever filmed in the history of cinema. May his memory be eternal.
Okay. It's clearly been too long since I watched Lost Highway.
Sad news. I loved his movies and shows that I saw. Wild at Heart was my all time favorite. The scene where Cage is driving and Dern is a passenger who freaks out over the news on the radio. Cage pulls over, flips the station to a heavy metal song, and they proceed to vigorously dance. Classic. Also, loved David Foster Wallace’s short piece of Lynch.
Correction ,Dern was driving Cage was lounging in the back seat.
Yes, Wild at Heart is awesome. It is a reimagining of Wizard of Oz.
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