David Lynch

It's just fun to talk about Mr. Lynch's work. Share your opinions, ideas, and blurt out trivia here.

Try to keep things spoiler free, if they can be spoiled.

Mathematics Is A Language.

Only seen Lost Highway, Dune, Blue Velvet, and Mulholland Drive. Not particularly fond of any of them.

edited 15th Jul '09 7:26:45 PM by English Ivy

Well, Lost Highway is definitely a pile of crap, but what's wrong with Mulholland Drive?

Mathematics Is A Language.

I'm not a fan. I find his work dull and over indulgent.

Sex, Drugs, and Rationality

Even Wild At Heart? I can see overindulgent, but dull? It's too dumb to be dull.

Mathematics Is A Language.

I love Mulholland Drive. Even if I did spend several minutes shouting "WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?" at the TV the first time I watched it.

edited 16th Jul '09 1:32:38 AM by BringTheNoise

Like Shakespeare, but with more punching

I read in a magazine that Lych was recently in Iceland, and suggested that if 10% of the population picked up Transendential Meditation, the economic problems would end.

Yeah, haven't really seen much of his work.

the statement above is false

Well, I recommended you start with Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.

@Jethro: Yeah, he's big into that stuff.

Mathematics Is A Language.

I've heard that Eraserhead is good, if only for achievements in Nightmare Fuel Unleaded.

What's the frequency Kenneth?|In case of war.

It's a very slow movie. Most of his movies suffer from that. Wild At Heart doesn't, if only because it's to dumb to stand still.

If I was going to recommend a first Lynch movie it would be The Elephant Man or The Straight Story.

Speaking of The Straight Story, Lynch denies having a broad knowledge of movies - but does anyone else see a Ran influence? The clouds, the burning building, the story about the strength of a single stick versus a bundle...

edited 19th Jul '09 7:45:56 PM by CTrombley

Mathematics Is A Language.

To me, his works are deeply unsettling. I absolutely admire the way he made me uncomfortable in Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive without any special effects whatsoever. Also, they kind of touched on how I felt at the time, so go figure.

I disagree with his Transcendental Meditation thingie, though. Yes, if more people meditated, I think it would be good for everyone, and I can even imagine that there would be HUGE changes if really big masses took up meditation. What I dislike about TM is that it costs money - lots of it, AFAIK; coming from the buddhist side, I see meditation as something that is a) perfectly simple, and b) free. Enlightenment just shouldn't be sold, IMO. Of course, OTOH if someone wants it that way, and if they can afford it, why not.

I'm fascinated by Lynch, haven't seen all that much of his work though, only Mullholland Drive and Eraserhead, oh, and Twin Peaks. From what I've seen though, I really like his style. Sure, the movies move fairly slow, but I actually like that, could be because I'm a fan of Haneke's works, or because my brain broke when watching The Ascension. Next on my list is watching Blue Velvet.

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I'm currently debating whether to (a) watch Eraserhead with my family, which I can only do if I tell them it has a coherent plot or (b) watch it alone after midnight because I don't have access to a TV until then, and then try to sleep.

I may go with Mulholland Drive instead.

edited 3rd Nov '10 12:30:42 AM by newtonthenewt

She's playing with fire! He's not ready for Nibbly Pig!

Well, alternative a) is... a pretty big lie, as much is certain.

Oh, and I've now seen Blue Velvet, which was fucked up and awesome, but not quite as OMFGWTF as I had expected. Also, I saw Dune, which was a mess with exposition problems, but I found it kinda fun, if nothing else for the ridiculously cheesy (and ridiculously awesome) quotes.

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I'm a huge fan. I havn't seen the entire filmography, but I'm getting around to it. Eraserhead is my favourite this far, and I really loved Lost Highway, not really understanding why others don't. For me it was a movie that made the audience feel things unconsciously, as opposed to having an objective A-B plot. I think that can be said of all his films.

Me

The only movie Lynch has made which I couldn't stand is Inland Empire. I actually walked out on that one, and I really try hard not to ever do that. The only other movie I've ever walked out on in my time was Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull.

I'm a really big fan of Lynch's other works though.

edited 3rd Nov '10 9:04:22 AM by SeanMurrayI

I love The Elephant Man, Eraserhead and Blue Velvet. I find his other works to be dull exercises in True Art Is Incomprehensible.

Warning: Posts may cause derp.

I just saw Eraserhead. I'm not claiming to understand it, but I can't understand people who would claim it's totally incomprehensible.

Hard to understand what's going on, or figure out all the characters? Definitely. But if you go into a first watch-through knowing the guy gives birth to a deformed baby, and there are signals as obvious as the dogs and the chicken, you can pretty clearly make out what's going on with the guy, and his general disgust with birth/reproduction.

Also: MY GOD I AM NOT OPENING ANY CUPBOARDS TONIGHT

Also also: the Scare Chord seemed oddly placed. "You really are sick?"

edited 7th Nov '10 12:01:37 AM by newtonthenewt

She's playing with fire! He's not ready for Nibbly Pig!

I liked what I saw of "Rabbits", though it was quite unsettling.

[1] This facsimile operated in part by synAC.

Loved the intensity of the acting in Mullholland Drive, but I only saw it in bits and pieces. Didn't like the pauses Lynch is fond of.

I never thought I'd be so intrigued by a really ill-fitting enigma (the Cowboy).

edited 7th Nov '10 8:13:37 PM by JackMackerel

Half-Life: Dual Nature, a crossover story of reasonably sized proportions.

Seen all of his films and most of his short films and loved most of them. Inland Empire was the single most cathartic film experience of my life.

Wasn't a huge fan of Wild at Heart though. And while I enjoyed them, I also think Lost Highway and Dune have some problems. Not a big fan of LH's soundtrack and the acting quality in it is somewhat poor. And Dune, well, the problems there have been covered a hundred times before.

I am the rare person who really loved lost highway.

Me

I saw Wild At Heart somewhat recently, I can see it being described as "dumb", but it was also the most fun I've had watching a Lynch movie. I mean, Nicolas Cage singing an Elvis ballad while backed up by a metal band!  ^*

Also, I was somehow under the impression that Powermad were a Fake Band, but that's not the case.

edited 14th Nov '10 11:24:49 PM by MikeK

Earth is the only planet inhabitable by Nicolas Cage.

I also liked Lost Highway, though I can definitely understand why a lot of people consider it to be among his lesser work. Like one of the other posters above, I've always been impressed by his ability to conjure up this deep sense of dread. Like you know something truly horrific is going to happen, but like a dreamer trapped in a nightmare, you can't escape or look away. All that without much in the way of special effects.

I haven't seen Inland Empire, Elephant Man, Eraserhead, or the Straight Story, but I think I've seen everything else he's made, including some of the early short films like the Alphabet and Grandmother. Dune was pretty weak, though I will give the film some props on the design (from what I've heard, some of that came from a previous attempt at filming Dune on the parts of Salvador Dali and Alejandro Jodoroswky, which would have been interesting if nothing else). As for Wild at Heart, I thought it was easily the most fun movie in his filmography.

I actually went to see him give a speech on transcendental meditation over at UCI. Unfortunately, it was on a first-come first-serve basis, and I ended up seated in an overflow room. They tried to hook us up to a live video feed, but there were a lot of technical problems. I did stay long enough to hear this immortal quote from Lynch, in response to positive feelings:

"All this negativity is like a suffocating clown suit!"

Truer words were never said. In all seriousness, he seems like a really nice guy, though I'm not an adherent of TM.

edited 21st Nov '10 12:17:12 AM by Destron