David Lynch (Spoilers)

[Undertow]

Heck, I liked Lost Highway honestly...

Am I the only one?

 

[carebear]

I'm a HUGE David Lynch fan!!!!!! In my teenage years "Sailor et Lula" blew me away (sorry I don't know the title in english, it's the one with Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern)!!! I also recomment like a lot of loungers "elephant man", what a beautiful movie!! Sad but beautiful!! Have seen his art (painting, drawing etc...)!! David Lynch made some exhibitions about photography, painting and drawing!! He's such a genius!!!

That would be "Wild at Heart".

 

[vintage68]

Any director who's hobby is collecting roadkill, dressing the animals up in costumes, and staging them deserves at least one look....

 

[Wesne]

Heck, I liked Lost Highway honestly...

Am I the only one?

I have to watch that one again. Didn't really get it the first time, but that was before Mulholland Drive.

 

[Ada Veen]

The boyfriend likes lost highway best, controversially.

 

[flat-top]

I'm a huge Twin Peaks fan. Some scenes still freak me out, like when Laura's mom has her visions of Bob. GAH!

 

[Dr Doran]

I have seen all the Lynch films except Inland Empire. I loved Mulholland Drive the most, probably, but it's hard to pick. Loved Eraserhead -- best explication of a man's fear of being a father I have ever seen, and beautiful world he invented on the cheap. Loved Elephant Man. Loved the Twin Peaks up until the Laura mystery was solved, then got a bit bored. Loved Fire, Walk With Me a whole lot. I was in love with most of the girls on Twin Peaks except the awful woman with the eyepatch. I even loved DUNE, and I still mumble to myself "We have just folded space from Ix" from time to time -- that scene alone was worth the entire film. (People look at me funny when I do this.)

I did not understand Lost Highway; that one I cannot say I loved. How did that guy change into Balthazar Getty? What?

Loved Straight Story. Loooooved Blue Velvet -- a true masterpiece. Isabella Rossellini invented a truly unforgettable character for the ages in that one. "A possession for all time" as Thucydides said (about his own work, not about Isabella's role).

The creepy Los Angeles nightclub in Mulholland Dr with the woman singing "Llorando" still gets in my dreams. The movie's female lead brunette does too, but in different dreams.

I still want to know about the dark man behind the trash dumpster at the restaurant. The most hideous thing I saw for years.

 

[catsmeow]

I love David Lynch films.
My favourite is Blue Velvet/Fire Walk with Me. I like the mystery and style, the music, the noir element. You have to watch them more than once, because you pick up parts you might have missed the first time.

 

[SarahLouise]

I'm a huge Twin Peaks fan. Some scenes still freak me out, like when Laura's mom has her visions of Bob. GAH!

Me too, I am a massive Twin Peaks fan. I love the first series and Fire Walk With Me. The second series was pretty poor apart from a few episodes. I remember seeing some of it on TV when I was little and my mum stopped me from watching it because she thought it was too scary! I think Bob is terrifying; some scenes that come to mind are the mothers flashbacks and when he is hiding behind her drawers I think Lynch is a genius in the way that he can make relatively simple ideas become truly terrifying by using sound and atmosphere. I know that the characters lives and odd curiosities were a a large part of Twin Peaks but for me finding out who killed Laura Palmer was so important. Fire Walk With Me is amazing and you really feel sympathy for Laura. Some scenes are disturbing, such as the surreal room with a pointy nosed man and monkey, and it's so surreal but as with all of Lynch's work you have to watch them more than once to understand them. I really recommend Twin Peaks to anybody who hasn't seen it and watch the film after, not before.

As for his films, not so much of a fan. I guess it's due to sheer lack of understanding but I admire his visions and unique approach to film. I didn't understand Lost Highway but my boyfriend explained the plot to me so I might attempt to watch it again. Mulholland Drive was ok, Blue Velvet is good but Eraserhead I couldn't even finish. The overall feel of the film gave me a headache! I know a lot of people think it's amazing though. I didn't even recognise the same actor in Twin Peaks. I saw Inland Empire in the cinema and it's quite a mixed opinion. I really liked the first half of the film but felt the last half really went downhill in terms of direction and plot. If the film continued as the first half went then I think it could have been brilliant. Lynch admitted that he pretty much made up the plot each day and wrote it on napkins! I'm not sure if that is going to be his last film as I believe that no film productions want to take him on now because he's seen as too risky which I think is a shame.

The film Brick reminded me a little of Lynch. It tried to have a similar atmosphere, music and plot.

 

[Dr Doran]

I loved BRICK and have a copy. Brilliant film. I don't think it is as surreal as Lynch, though. BRICK immediately became one of my favorite films of all time. Perhaps a BRICK thread could be started. It is a noir, after all.

If your boyfriend explained Lost Highway to you, can you bloody explain it to me? I have not the faintest idea of what happened. (I have Mulholland Drive pretty figured out, though.)

 

[SarahLouise]

I loved BRICK and have a copy. Brilliant film. I don't think it is as surreal as Lynch, though. BRICK immediately became one of my favorite films of all time. Perhaps a BRICK thread could be started. It is a noir, after all.

If your boyfriend explained Lost Highway to you, can you bloody explain it to me? I have not the faintest idea of what happened. (I have Mulholland Drive pretty figured out, though.)

It's actually pretty simple. Basically Balthazar Getty's character is what Bill Pullman wishes he could be - younger, sexier etc - and he imagines this when he's put in jail. You'll notice that seems to be a theme in much of Lynch's work. Mullholland Drive; the character in the first half is what Naomi Watts wishes she was (new in Hollywood, perky, about to start her acting career) but the second half of the film shows her true self. Inland Empire uses this as well I think (Laura Dern's character) though if I'm perfectly honest I didn't understand a lot of that film. Even as the title of Twin Peaks suggests - two sides to every identity - all of which I wouldn't even have got if it wasn't explained to me! lol

I agree, Brick doesn't have any surreal elements to it whatsoever but I just meant in terms of atmosphere sometimes - the scene where Joseph Gordon-Levitt is lying in bed and there's the shot of the ceiling fan and the sound in general for example - and also the general plot (missing girl, trying to find out what happened to her - a nod to Twin Peaks?) Brick is a really good film, probably the last film that I actually enjoyed in the cinema.

 

[Bassman]

That would be "Wild at Heart".

I enjoy(!) all his films and "Wild At Heart" is one of my faves.
When I subjected my mom to "Eraserhead" and told her that was the film I took my future wife to on our first date, she responded..."If someone took me to that on our first date, there wouldn't have been a second date."!
-Guy

 

[jake_fink]

Was Big Night no longer available at your video store?

I enjoy(!) all his films and "Wild At Heart" is one of my faves.
When I subjected my mom to "Eraserhead" and told her that was the film I took my future wife to on our first date, she responded..."If someone took me to that on our first date, there wouldn't have been a second date."!
-Guy

Okay, dragging your best gal is one thing, but, really, did you have to do that to your poor mom? :eusa_doh:

 

[mummyjohn]

^^Love the Eraserhead bit, man!

I was introduced to Lynch via a friend of mine, who might be the only guy I know that's more of a movie buff and has more passion for the biz than I do; we watched Mulholland Drive. Since then, I've also seen Eraserhead and Blue Velvet.

Several viewings of Mulholland Drive have happened since then. While some movies lose their allure over time, if anything, MD gets more powerful every time I see it. It unlocks my greatest fear: that maybe I won't make it, that maybe I never will be the fantastic vision of a director that I see in my head. But furthermore, it's sculpted more delicately than anything I have ever seen. It is truly, without hesitation, in the pantheon of the all-time greatest films I have ever watched. It is difficult to sincerely think of an experience more intense. It's heartfelt, it's occasionally funny, it's horrifying;, it does it all.


Lynch is among the most marvelous artists, because he does not strive to create masterworks and is in fact a pretty lighthearted guy. He just does what he wants to, and he is talented in such a manner that what he produces are sensitive masterworks. His works are all different but all united, yet I firmly believe that Mulholland Drive is a piece almost transhuman in how all-encompassing it is. Strictly marvelous.

 

[Sefton]

Every few years this thread is brought back from the grave, so...here it is again. I agree with the general view here that David Lynch is one of the greatest directors ever. For my money he's THE greatest living director in the U.S. He also comes across as a very good person (he was an Eagle scout btw, not a usual item on Hollywood resumes!). Not really mentioned is his manner of dressing; he's sartorially one of us. I've never seen a picture of him wearing anything approaching the modern standard of Slothicus Americanus (I just made that up. Trademark ◎). Shirt always buttoned up all the way (those buttons are there for a reason after all. Use 'em!), high waisted (i.e, normal) pants, black dress shoes, and usually a trad cut (boxy, undarted with soft-shoulders) jacket or suit. With all of that put together I can forgive his penchant for ball caps-especially since I often wear one myself. And favorite film? Hard to say just one. Maybe Eraserhead,Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, and Lost Highway. I haven't seen Inland Empire yet but I hope to soon.