Critical Analysis: David Lynch

My girlfriend is currently watching Twin Peaks for the first time, and although I've never seen it myself I'm sitting it out as it seems there is always a new show she wants to start and I'm just burnt out. That said, I've been in the living room doing my own thing as she watches it now and then... and it's interesting, to say the least.

Anyways, this thread had me curious as to what David Lynch films I've seen. Turns out, the answer is zero. Never seen anything he has written or directed. I just remember him as the guy from Louie. I'm aware this makes me human garbage and I will be seeing what recs this thread has for me.

 

I guess I need to hurry up and get to Wild at Heart and Dune. I will write more after I see them, but Lynch is the modern equivalent of Kubrick that people keep looking for: a man who can create a singular vision that stays true to his worldview while attracting enough money and movie stars to get people who would never see an art film to watch.

 

I think genius is all that needs to be said.

 

Only ever seen Twin Peaks actually, just looked it up and turns out I've had him and David Fincher mixed up for years.

 

Lost Highway and Blue Velvet are two of my favorite films. I loved Twin Peaks and cannot wait for the reboot on Showtime.

Mulholland Drive was pretty good but it's been so long since I watched it. Inland Empire I own but have never watched. The Elephant Man is great too.

 

Wild at Heart might be my second favorite Lynch behind Blue Velvet. I enjoyed Mulholland Drive but definitely not as much as everyone else. Eraserhead was a fever dream. I need to watch Twin Peaks

 

Twin Peaks is probably my favorite show of all-time. My father is an enormous fan and he introduced me to it when I was 12 or 13 after he got his hands on the first DVD boxset that was released. I was absolutely taken with it then, totally intrigued and amused and enthralled the entire time - I don't know how or why it captivated my 12 year old mind, but it undeniably did.

Fast forward 15 years and here I am, watching it again and about to finally finish it (now on Blu-ray and long enough from my first viewing that I can't quite remember the ending...one episode left). I've probably restarted it 5+ times in between then and now because nothing comes close in tone, wit, atmosphere, characters, you name it. The pilot, specifically, has this unmatched sense of dread pervading the entire thing and in my opinion, while the entirety of the show is filled with light-hearted exchanges and quirky characters (not to mention truckloads of campy goodness), it always carries this sadness and sense of loss through it in one way or another.

I could talk about it at length, but I'll leave it there for those who haven't watched it. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves David Lynch, good television, horror, sci fi, drama, etc. Now's the time to get caught up before the Showtime reboot next year!

Past that, I'm unfortunately less familiar with Lynch's other work, but plan on picking up one of the Blu-ray collections out there. I believe all I've seen is Blue Velvet, which is also a genius work, though I'd love to rewatch it now as I think I could better appreciate it than I did in my teens.

 

Blue Velvet was one of the most interesting film I've seen in a long time.

Besides that, and TP I haven't really watched any of his other work. I should have watched The Elephant Man before they took it off Netflix.

 

Blue Velvet has stuck with me for years. Kinda hard to go back to, but it's good to watch with someone who has never seen it. Always a trip.

Eraserhead was out there too. Good stuff though. All his stuff is definitely one of a kind, that's for sure. That's what I love about his work.

Twin Peaks is still the best for me. Show was way ahead of its time and I really need to snag the HD version. Can't wait for the return of that.

 

My best friend saw the Elephant Man when he was very young (5-8 I believe) and it shook him in a bad way. One night when we were about 16, some friends and I were over his house and he'd always talked about how that movie fucked him up and he can't get through five minutes of it, it just literally is unbearable to him. But he was determined to watch it. So we put it on and the four or five of us sat there watching, and five minutes in he left the room and the rest of us watched the film for another twenty or thirty minutes before we realized he went to his bedroom and wasn't coming back. We finished the film though.

Mulholland Drive is an all-time favorite of mine and Eraserhead is one of my favorite viewing experiences ever for the unique things I felt watching it that I'd never really felt when watching a movie at that point. Unfortunately I'm not as well-versed in much of the rest of his work, either having seen it too young (Blue Velvet, the Elephant Man) or I just haven't gotten to some of his other notable works. I love what I've seen dearly though and maybe this will be as good an excuse as any to put a Blue Velvet re-watch or Wild at Heart/Lost Highway first viewing on my schedule. He is a master with exceptional hair.

 

Mulholland Drive is my favorite (although I haven't seen a few of his, Wild at Heart and Inland Empire being two). Mulholland Drive was playing at the Dali Museum and a friend of mine went. Inside the theater were a bunch of teenagers that definitely had no idea what they were getting themselves into based on their conversation before and lack-of conversation after the movie finished. RIP their feeble minds.

 

I haven't seen everything he's done but of the ones I have, I've only enjoyed a few. Twin Peaks is an amazing show I wish I discovered a long time ago (I vaguely remember seeing TV ads for it when I was a kid). I just wish I hadn't seen Fire Walk With Me before I watched the series (knowing who the killer was beforehand was a buzz kill). Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive are fun romps. Lost Highway was just a surreal mess. I just couldn't get into Wild At Heart. I've seen bits of Erasurehead and I feel like that would traumatize me. I remember seeing the beginning of the Elephant Man on TV when I was in high school. And I've only seen the trailer for Inland Empire and it just felt weird and uncomfortable.

Oh, but he totally pwned the Ice Bucket Challenge

 

Did Putin take the challenge?

 

Fever dream is a great way to put it. I watched it for the first time alone in my apartment at about 3am. I didn't plan it that way, but it was unsettling to say the least. It's a weird compliment to say I don't care to watch it again, but I'm glad I did.

 

Love Lynch, definitely one of my personal favorites. Mulholland Dr. changed the way I watch movies. That, Blue Velvet, and Lost Highway are great. Twin Peaks is an awesome television experience. Even when his movies aren't excellent there are things to admire and enjoy.

 

Haven't watched anything by him aside from Twin Peaks, which I just finished, and am watching the movie right now. I loved the show, but I think the movie is kinda not that good so far

 

Don't be a Tommy Texter!

 

He has had more influence on me than any other artist, I think. A true master.

 

Easily on the greatest auteurs of all time. Just to talk generally of hes films theirs so much that is uniquely David Lynch, the off jazz tempo of his films, dreams/surrealism, deformity, roles for women

Mullollland Drive is probably my favorite followed by Blue Velvet and the first season and a half of Twin Peaks. Still need to watch Elephantman and Lost Highway

Inland Empire was a mess, i assume its supposed to be but still significantly harder to enjoy

 

how do you feel about Eraserhead? I assume you're a fan of Wild at Heart.

 

I can't believe the lack of love for Inland Empire. I watched it once and was amazed at it, but only made sense of about 5% of it. Then I read fan theories and explanations on some message boards and it all fit together in my second viewing. It's genius.

 

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

 

Watched Fire Walk With Me, The Missing Pieces, and then pretty much all of the Blu-ray special features (Between Two Worlds, Reflections on FWWM, and Commentary on Twin Peaks Phenomenon) over the weekend. Hearing the passion in each actor's voice when they talk about the joy of working with Lynch drastically increased my opinion of him - inspiring, really. Made me appreciate FWWM that much more, too.

On a side note, is it wrong to like Moira Kelly as Donna more than Lara Flynn Boyle? I guess not enough screen time to properly judge, but I really liked her representation of the character (and I almost always find recasts to be unwatchably jarring)

 

Wow, I just realized that I've never actually seen anything he's written/directed. I don't know how this has happened.