Lynch I: B&W Stock

Not long ago I finished watching all David Lynch's filmography. It wasn't easy, since it included short movies that can't be seen either because they can't be found or because they are a real trip to watch. My conclusion, he is a genious. I would like to dedicate him a few posts in my blog.

I still haven't found in him an overall style like other filmmakers have, although there are common leitmotifs in his movies. Most of you will think about the red courtains of Twin Peaks, the Blue Velvet of Blue Velvet or his utterly incomprensive stories like Mulholland Drive. I'll briefly comment each of his movies in chronological order, skipping his short movies for later. So that you can have a complete sight of his work.

If you want a new experience from watching films just see Eraserhead. A bizzare expressionist work filmed by an art student and thought for being a piece of art, that usually means touching the edge of filmmaking. The movie is an insight into parenthood through a black and white nightmare. The lead character is player by Jack Nance (Credited as John Nance), who also helped producing the film, whom Lynch thanked by offering him a role in all his pictures (he is the fisherman in Twin Peaks). In 1997 he was hit in the head in a brawl and when he arrived home he died of it.

"The whole film is undercurrents of sort of subconscious ... You know, and it kind of wiggles around in there, and it's how it strikes each person. It definitely means something to me, but I don't want to to talk about that. It means other things to other people, and that's great." -Lynch himself.

The movie abounds symbologies which I won't discuss, everybody should have it's own interpretation. This need of interpretation is fundamental in some of his works, specially his short works and Mulholland Drive, a movie I can't wait to talk about. This surrealism reminds me of “Un chien andalou”, an avant-garde manifesto filmed by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali, a movie I recomend for everyone. After seeing the movie you'll think that you had dreamt it.

The second expressionist experience is The Elephant Man, a movie given to him after the producer (Mel Brooks) was amazed by Eraserhead. The movie narrates the true story of John Merrick, a catastrophically deformed young man suffering from Proteous Syndrome who was used as a fair attraction. Dr. Frederick Treves, played by Anthony Hopkins saw this and started to help him.

The movie looks ambiented in Eraserhead's world rather than in the Victorian age. You'll notice the same style, starting with the use of black and white film stock with great use of contrast and ambience. It's a true masterpiece that Lynch fans often forget to mention. It is one of the movies that most touched me, I don't believe I'll watch this movie again soon. A masterpiece that you don't want to see is not precisely the way movies are made, watching this movie knowing that it's a masterpiece and that only a reduced minority of film lovers watches makes it look even more special. First work with cinematographer Freddie Francis.

I won't skip Dune, his first major production, and the only "Hollywood style" flick he made. Lots of videoclubs have this title but not Blue Velvet. Lynch wanted to renounce his authorship of the movie by singning with the alias Judas Booth, probably a relative of Alan Smithee. I find in this movie real signs of originality but not well represented; In other words, it's a bad movie with and awfull story but with shines of Lynch's unique style.

Next post (which will be online real soon) will talk about Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart and Twin Peaks, series and Fire Walk With Me movie. There's a lot to talk here.