Poll

Your Favorite David Lynch Film Is:

Eraserhead
7 (7.6%)
The Elephant Man
8 (8.7%)
Dune
0 (0%)
Blue Velvet
18 (19.6%)
Wild at Heart
0 (0%)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
2 (2.2%)
Lost Highway
5 (5.4%)
The Straight Story
4 (4.3%)
Mulholland Drive
33 (35.9%)
Inland Empire
4 (4.3%)
haven't seen any
2 (2.2%)
don't like any
9 (9.8%)
other
0 (0%)
Twin Peaks: The Return
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 90

Author Topic: Lynch, David  (Read 16613 times)

oneaprilday

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Re: Directors Best Poll #17 - David Lynch
« Reply #70 on: October 24, 2013, 11:39:37 AM »
Mulholland Dr. is the only I've seen.

Update:
1. Blue Velvet
2. The Elephant Man
3. Mulholland Drive
4. The Straight Story

All great!

roujin

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Re: Directors Best Poll #17 - David Lynch
« Reply #71 on: August 27, 2014, 08:23:54 PM »
1. Mulholland Dr. (2001)
2. Wild at Heart (1990)
3. Lost Highway (1997)
4. Erasehead (1977)
5. INLAND EMPIRE (2006)
6. Blue Velvet (1986)
7. The Elephant Man (1980)
8. Fire Walk With Me (1992)

MartinTeller

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Re: Directors Best Poll #17 - David Lynch
« Reply #72 on: September 23, 2014, 06:55:04 PM »
I hadn't seen any of these in at least 10 years, it was quite a treat to revisit them.

Six Figures Getting Sick - Lynch's first work is an animated loop, less than a minute in length.  Certainly bizarre and kind of amusing.  Surprising use of color.  It's really not bad for what it is, but what it is isn't a whole lot.  Rating: Good (70)

The Alphabet - More animation, with some live action also in the mix.  Lynch doesn't get enough credit for his sense of humor.  Strange and nightmarish but also funny in the unexpected directions it goes.  Pure dream logic in how it unfolds, impenetrable but fascnating.  The crying baby sounds look forward to Eraserhead.  Rating: Good (79)

The Grandmother - A childhood escape fantasy gone awry.  I love to imagine Lynch sculpting the, uh, "pod" in its various stages of development.  Amazing and often hilarious sound design.  You can really see the connection from Lynch to Guy Maddin with this one.  By far the longest of these shorts, and perhaps it wears out its welcome in a few spots, but overall a nice glimpse at budding greatness.  Rating: Very Good (83)

The Amputee - Something whipped together in a day, for the purposes of testing two different black and white video stocks.  For a gross-out gag it's actually kinda funny, but still it's just the one gag.  However, it's a hoot to see Lynch in nurse drag, and Catherine Coulson long before her memorable role as the "Log Lady".  Rating: Fair (66)

Premonitions Following an Evil Deed - Lynch's contribution to the omnibus film Lumière and Company, in which 40 filmmakers were given a camera originally used by the pioneering brothers and asked to make a film no more than 55 seconds long, with no sync sound, no more than 3 takes, and (according to Lynch) without doing any editing.  I've never seen the complete film, but it seems like most people agree Lynch's segment is the best.  It certainly is beautiful and given the restrictions seems to be masterfully planned and executed.  I should really get around to checking out the whole thing one day, there are some interesting directors involved (Greenaway, Chahine, Lee, Kiarostami, Zhang and Ullmann especially).  Rating: Very Good (86)

MartinTeller

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Re: Directors Best Poll #17 - David Lynch
« Reply #73 on: December 03, 2014, 06:25:22 PM »

Eraserhead (rewatch) - Sometimes I feel guilty about doing a "laundry list" style write-up rather than trying to craft a "proper" review.  But in this case, it seems appropriate.  So here's a partial list of things I absolutely love about Eraserhead:

* The sound design.  There is barely a moment that isn't underscored by an unsettling noise... a mechanical hum, pouring rain, something grinding, the hiss of a radiator.

* Speaking of sound design, how about when Henry enter Mary's home and there's a few disturbing minutes before you find out where that infernal squeaking is coming from... a litter of puppies nursing in the corner.

* And speaking of that, the way the film handles fear of parenthood.  Although Lynch has said that no one has ever interpreted the film the way he meant it, it's impossible to write off fear of parenthood as a dominant theme.  Fear of not caring enough for your children, and fear of doing the wrong thing and destroying them.  We are supposed to have a biological imperative to reproduce, but I think most people could relate to these fears.

* And that makes me think of the way Lynch reacts to human biology in general.  There's a fascinated repulsion to it, an emphasis on how... well, gross we all are, once you really start thinking about it.  Perhaps what's most unsettling about the "baby" is not how different it is from us, but how alike it is.

* Oh, that baby!  What a marvel of production design and special effects!

* The use of the music, namely the incongruous Fats Waller organ ditties and the memorable "In Heaven" serenade.

* The comedy.  For a film that's so bizarre and gloomy, it sure is funny.  There's just a handful of lines spoken, but most of them are quotable gems.  "OKAY, Paul!"  "Look at my knees!"  "Oh, you ARE sick!"  And that silly grin on Allen Joseph's face during the hilarious dinner scene.  Pure gold.

* The decrepitude of the surroundings and masterful set design.  Everything is just the right amount of dirty and falling apart and CINECAST!ed up.  The insane plant on Henry's nightstand or the pile of what appear to be pine needles around his radiator.  The peeling wallpaper.  The desolate landscapes.  The grimy window at Mary's house.

* That part where Mary is tugging on the bed and you don't know what the hell she's doing.

* Trying to figure out what's real and what's a nightmare, or if there's a difference.  Puzzling out the meaning of the Man in the Planet (Henry's lifeforce?) or the titular sequence or the little worm he finds in his mailbox.  Sometimes I think I have a grasp on these things, sometimes I feel the significance of them without understanding them, sometimes they just come off as dreamlike imagery.  But always they are fascinating and add to the grand experience of it.

* Which is what it all boils down to: Eraserhead is not a story as much as it's an experience.  An experience that utterly enthralls me, delights me, haunts me every time.  It's amazing that with his first feature film, Lynch was able to build such powerful atmosphere, crafting an enduring cult classic that is the iconic example of the "Midnight Movie".  Rating: Masterpiece (98)

1SO

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Re: Directors Best Poll #17 - David Lynch
« Reply #74 on: December 03, 2014, 06:42:08 PM »
That's one from my Re-watch List I'm very excited to get to. Probably this Spring. I like that you selected moments avoiding having to interpret the plot.

oldkid

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Re: Directors Best Poll #17 - David Lynch
« Reply #75 on: January 05, 2015, 12:06:00 AM »
The Elephant Man5/5 -- One of the finest told stories about a man on both sides of being outcast
Lost Highway 4.5/5
Mulholland Drive 4/5
Blue Velvet 4/5-- Dennis Hopper is super scary
The Straight Story 4/5
Dune 2/5-- A confusing comic book of one of the greatest novels of all time
Eraserhead 1/5-- Ugly, hard to understand, just an awful experience (perhaps too reminiscent of one of the worst times of my life when my infant son had colic)
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1SO

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David Lynch
« Reply #76 on: January 05, 2015, 01:41:39 AM »
Features:

1. Mulholland Drive
2. Eraserhead
3. The Elephant Man

4. Twin Peaks: The Return
5. Blue Velvet
6. Inland Empire
7. The Straight Story

8. Dune
9. Twin Peaks: The Pilot
10. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

11. Wild at Heart
12. Lost Highway



Shorts:

1. The Alphabet
2. Premonitions Following an Evil Deed

3. The Grandmother
4. Rabbits
5. Boat
6. Darkened Room

7. Lady Blue Shanghai
8. Absurda
9. The Amputee
10. Six Men Getting Sick

« Last Edit: September 22, 2017, 03:14:19 PM by 1SO »

1SO

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Re: Directors Best Poll #17 - David Lynch
« Reply #77 on: January 05, 2015, 01:58:40 AM »
Eraserhead
* * * 1/2

First time through, I tried to figure it out with my friend. This time, I pretty much gave myself over to the experience, and had a lot more fun with this ultimate student film. Some of it still plays too surreal for me, but there are new sights and sounds about every minute and you truly never can tell what's going to happen next. All my describers play against each other. The film is beautiful, but ugly. Hypnotic and repulsive. Cruel and tender. I don't know if I feel sorry for the title character and his life or if I hate him and blame him for the sorry state he's in.

Eraserhead bridges the random ideas of Lynch's early shorts with his more narrative films to come. What keeps the atmosphere from choking me are the many humorous moments peppered throughout. It's a very un-stuffy film, inviting you to just have fun with it, though you'd hardly call this a fun film. Then there's that baby, which is as strange and fascinating as I remembered. The puppet work, with it's constantly moist skin and uncertain eyes, is a masterpiece. This is that rare film that will confuse people a bit or a lot or completely, but I say it's worth the risk to at least give it a shot. As powerful a piece of highly personal filmmaking as I've ever seen. This one going up on my list of Essentials, and I hope it isn't so many years before I watch it again.

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Directors Best Poll #17 - David Lynch
« Reply #78 on: January 05, 2015, 02:16:31 AM »
Hulu has 2 different versions of The Amputee at the moment, along with a few other of his short films.

jdc

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Re: Directors Best Poll #17 - David Lynch
« Reply #79 on: January 05, 2015, 05:31:32 AM »
Anybody here have a good write up on Inland Empire to share?  I can't recall enjoying it all that much but having a harder time even remembering it.
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