David Lynch and his movies

[abramovich]

I know the man has a huge following and is proclaimed a true artist and a genius, but i don't get his movies and am annoyed at some of his stuff.

I may not be very deep, but if i watch a film, where there's a murder, and suspects, and all kinds of things going on that has you looking for clues and trying to decipher what it all means, i at the very least expect some kind of closure in the end. Yet he just leaves you guessing and gives no explanation for any of it.

I love Hitchcock, for example. The man was brilliant, his movies would keep you on the edge from start to finish and the ending would leave you breathless and satisfied, now that's a great storytelling. With Lynch you have a murder, a suspect, a bunch of weirdos and by the end of the movie nothing is solved and you are left wondering what the f..k was all that about.

Am i the only one not getting it?

[Lofty]

Probably not - I really love some of David Lynch's stuff, but a lot of it you have to be in the right frame of mind. Eraserhead, for instance - on one level it's a daft, idiotic fantasy. Yet it's many people's favourite all time film.

Personally I'm more into Twin Peaks, and yes that does include the extrems of Series 2, which is when many people lost interest. I watched the entire series not so long ago, and will be amazed if I never watch it again - in fact, if I watched the pilot episode tonight, chances are I'd be hooked all over again - even though I know how the series ends

Films like Blue Velvet, Wild At Heart, Mulholland Drive represent the more commercial side of Lynch's output. Blue Velvet is creepy; Wild At Heart is fun, Mulholland Drive sexy. Vast simplifications, of course, but there you go.

Then you have Inland Empire, Hotel Room, Industrial Symphony, all of which are on my list of things I intend to watch when I've got the time .. and the older I get, the longer that list gets.

Ok. Before anyone has even half a chance to accuse me of pretending to act like a critic (scuse the language), I'll admit that sometimes you have to ask yourself what the bloke's on: "This week I will be dropping Purple A's" ... "and next week I shall be eating mushrooms. The funny ones".

[youlots]

He should have stuck to black and white - after all he lists all his favourite films as shot in that medium with the odd exception being Mon Oncle. IMO he never really succeeded after Elephant Man - surely his legacy. What a great film.

[Mike O]

David Lynch's movies are a very hit and miss affair in my book.

Many of them come across as pretentious tosh because one suspects that the director has an entourage who revel in his artistry - e.g. his cinematography / soundtracks / character development etc, but no script editor telling him that it all needs to make sense.

I hated Eraserhead when it came out, predominantly because it attracted a mass following of fashionista types who loved the noir elements which matched their Bauhaus record collections.

The Elephant Man was great, Dune was absolute pants (looked great though, natch), Wild at Heart was good fun but Blue Velvet was a missed opportunity.

I gave up with the guy after Twin Peaks.

File with Peter Greenaway under 'Emperor's New Clothes'.

[loz]

Pretty much agree with your calls on all those films Mike however I would add Mulholland Drive as a high point in his career. I was expecting to be disappointed when I first watched it but came out of the cinema having thoroughly enjoyed it. Keep meaning to get round to seeing 'Lost Highway' but never have.

[heckel]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB-m_8GPkAw

[cassiya]

He may occasionally talk some sense

[bjd]

For me Lynch is a genius. But i understand how he annoys some people!

High points for me are Fire Walk With Me and The Straight Story.

Loz , be warned about Lost Highway, its the most bizarre of the lot.

Lofty, have you checked out the Twin Peaks box sets ? Remastered and lots of extras on there. Great stuff. ive got Industrial Symphony(somewhere) if you want a copy. Its worth it just for the music really.

Quick question, if DL was the emperors new clothes , how come he is now into his 4th decade of making well received films ?

[Maksimov]

I like some of his stuff. He sure knows how to create an eerie atmosphear. I wasn't too keen on Fire Walk With Me, but Twin Peaks is one of my all time favourite television series. Wild Palms wasn't bad either.

Straight Story was ok. Probably Lynch's most straight forward movie, even though there's more to it than just what's on the surface. Might be a bit slow to some people's taste, but I enjoyed it.

[Lofty]

For me Lynch is a genius. But i understand how he annoys some people!

High points for me are Fire Walk With Me and The Straight Story.

Loz , be warned about Lost Highway, its the most bizarre of the lot.

Lofty, have you checked out the Twin Peaks box sets ? Remastered and lots of extras on there. Great stuff. ive got Industrial Symphony(somewhere) if you want a copy. Its worth it just for the music really.

Quick question, if DL was the emperors new clothes , how come he is now into his 4th decade of making well received films ?

Quick answer to that is that he's actually got an enormously varied body of work. You can't please all the people all of the time, neither should you try. If you go into Wild At Heart expecting Eraserhead, or Twin Peaks expecting The Elephant Man, for example then the odds are you're going to end up disappointed, even alienated.

I more or less missed Twin Peaks the first time round. Back in those days I was out 6 or 7 nights a week every week .. and now I'm paying the price - with a vengeance. I bought the series one box set a couple of years ago and was immediately hooke. At the moment I've only so far got high quality copies of series 2 - but I will be purchasing it some time in the future.

I haven't seen The Straight Story, by one of those strange little coincidences, I was asked about it only yesterday. So I've got a copy on the way to .. a friend of mine. Say no more.

Somehow I'd managed to forget about The Elephant Man, of course it was a brilliant film deeply moving and brillantly acted. (Two brilliants in one sentence? Oh well) The thing is, it's not a film I'm in a hurry to see again.

If you think Lost Highway is weird, check out some of the shorts. Darkened Room, for instance is very much at the weirder end of the Lynch spectrum. And then you have Dumbland ... which is just Dumb

Thanks, I've got already got Industrial Symphony, and I've also got Hotel Room and Inland Empire, but I haven't yet seen that either, even though it's been described as Lynch's definitive work. I'll get round to it one of these days.

[BLUENUT]

(Two brilliants in one sentence? Oh well)

[Maksimov]

If you think Lost Highway is weird, check out some of the shorts.

Or his commercials:

[youtube:1aiwvu6l]

[/youtube:1aiwvu6l]

Something tells me those aren't your ordinary cigarettes...

[Liam]

He's inventive, and fun, and he tries things. A bit like Joe Cole.

There are plenty of Steve Sidwells in the entertainment business. It's good to find someone who likes to beat his man 3 times but then loses the ball the odd time.

[Maksimov]

He's inventive, and fun, and he tries things. A bit like Joe Cole.

There are plenty of Steve Sidwells in the entertainment business. It's good to find someone who likes to beat his man 3 times but then loses the ball the odd time.

Gotta agree with that!

[Guest Brian M]

Am i the only one not getting it?

I find him to be indulgent to the point of being annoying. Annoying to the point of being obtuse. Obtuse to the point of being indulgent.

He's one of those filmmakers I watch (on DVD) only to have an opinion. Rather than from any sense of 'need' or 'want'.

[Lofty]

You're not a fan then.

[bjd]

I find him to be indulgent to the point of being annoying. Annoying to the point of being obtuse. Obtuse to the point of being indulgent.

Funny , i know some people on this forum like that

[Guest Brian M]

I find him to be indulgent to the point of being annoying. Annoying to the point of being obtuse. Obtuse to the point of being indulgent.

Funny , i know some people on this forum like that

Too true, mate. Too true. Lucky for all of us Mod and co have set it up so we can block the idiots whose posts we never want to see. It really is refreshing to know that no matter what they write, you'll never, ever have to read it again. So to Mod and Loz and co I say, from all of us in the cheap seats: - keep up the great work!

[Elliott]

Thanks for the enlightenment.

'Now is it OCToplasm?.. No, is it OCTopussy?....

Aha! There he is!.... *adds to foes list*.