I was fortunate to be coming of age at the time that Lynch was in his most commercially successful phase. I remember going to the cinema in Belfast to see ‘Wild At Heart’ in 1990. The buzz around the film was huge. It made a lasting impression on my very young mind, with its final message ‘Don’t turn away from love’ (told in a vision to Sailor, by the Good Witch). It’s interesting, as the film was far from universally liked upon its release - I recall some critics and audience really disliking it, or just disliking Lynch. The release of the Twin Peaks tv series in the same year, consolidated Lynch’s cult status. I then went back and watched his earlier work and was enthralled.
His influence and legacy is just immense. Long running tv series like ‘The Sopranos’, with hour long episodes and slow pacing, owe a debt to Lynch. I thought of Lynch when I watched the very recent, excellent ‘Ripley’ adaptation on Netflix. I can’t comment anymore any better than you have Alexander. Thanks for such a wonderful appraisal of Lynch’s work. We won’t see his like again.
Thanks for your memories. I am not sure I ever saw a Lynch film in the cinema but I got the Twin Peaks boxset when it came out with the FWWM film + outtakes. I wasn't much of a fan of Wild at Heart. Apparently, it was the time he spent on that film that took him away from Twin Peaks season 2. Although, to be honest, I think any network TV series at that time would have been ultimately under the control of the network rather than Lynch. A dilution in quality was inevitable. WHen he came back with season 3 it was much later and a subscription service, so Lynch had full control.
FWWM - I loved as, of course, David Bowie starred in it along with a number of Lynch regulars.
‘Wild At Heart’ achieved cult status in the intervening years but it divided opinion greatly at the time of its release, even amongst Lynch fans. It did win Lynch the prestigious Palme D’or at Cannes which would’ve given him far greater sway in the industry and helped him secure funding for future projects. He really was an auteur. The only contemporary director I can immediately think of as having that status is Robert Eggers.
Like yourself I’m sure, I was sad to read of his passing. Another fragment of my life gone.
Yes, FWWM had me completely gripped. Apparently he was going to do more films in the series but the poor commercial performance of FWWM killed that idea.
Agree with you about Eggers - a very different kind of director. I was really impressed by The Witch and Lighthouse and I'll probably get Nosferatu when it comes out on DVD.
Yes the US critics had it in for FWWM - I remember the reviews. There was already this notion that Lynch’s work was self-indulgent and full of grotesques, which set the tone for much of the negative response to his work in general. The British critics tended to be far kinder to Lynch than the US ones. The late great Barry Norman always praised Lynch’s originality.
I love Eggers’ work too but I’m very bad at sitting in cinemas now! No tolerance of people constantly eating…pet hate. Like you, I’ll wait until I can watch Nosferatu at home!
Thanks for your enjoyable article. I was recently thinking of the contrast between his, as you say, deeply flawed Dune, with it's mystical, strange atmosphere and oddities like the fetus navigators and milked cats, and the proficient and well-made though sterile and strangely 'contemporary' recent production of that book; The Lynch version feels like it could be set on a distant planet 10,000 years from now whereas the new film seems more like early 21st century people playing pretend, even things as 'small' as the use of modern idiom, such as "Are you Good?" for "Are you ready to leave?". There is nothing surprising in that film and I found it a jarring and dispiritingly mundane depiction of what is supposed to be a fantastic world. It reveals to me the difference between an instinctive visionary like Lynch and the journeyman Villeneuve.
You may also be interested in this article, which I thought quite great:
The author contends that with most recent Christian art being cheesy, bloodless and weak, it is Lynch in Blue Velvet who presents a compelling Christian vision, exploring the reality of evil and the possibility of grace, and is again contra to the materialist, disenchanted conventional world-view of present times.
Exactly my view on the Dune movies. The Lynch one is as weird and different as you’d expect something set 10,000 years away to be. The scene where Duncan places his hand on Paul’s heart and says “May the hand of God be with you” was entirely invented by Lynch, yet fits the Dune universe perfectly.
Yes, that line says to me that Lynch understood it's a kind of archaic world that has atavistically reemerged in the far future. Also apart from that kind of dialogue and the wacky production design, like Geidi Prime being a giant chemical factory/abattoir, there's a strange 'unnatural' quality to the soundtrack which alongside the Toto and Brian Eno score help give the film its alien quality.
It is a mark of Lynch's clarity of vision that even where the surreal, hyperreal and oneiric elements characteristic of his most critically analysed work are largely absent - in the conventionally structured 'Elephant Man' and emotionally accessible, linear 'Straight Story' (the only film I can think of characterisable as a 'weepie for men') - there is no slacking for a single frame in terms of composition, conception and effect. No line is wasted nor scene distended unnecessarily. Nor has any other director eked better performances out of top tier actors like John Hurt and Sissy Spacek than Lynch does in those films respectively.
I have seen 'Inland Empire' an unholy amount of times and it remains without fathom, despite the moral and psychic core being relatively simple. "Not through the market, you understand, but through the alleyway behind the market - this is the way to the palace," Laura Dern is told by Grace Zabriskie's visitor. But Lynch was equally capable of making an unforgettably scenic journey via the direct route.
Yours is probably the best commentary on David Lynch I've read. I even agree with you on some of it. But . . .
I do feel that people are so starved for any meaning or something to identify with from Hollywood productions that they grasp at straws, and read things into films that can't be there. For instance, Lynch's love for Americana. Just because he uses a kind of 80s Punk/New Wave sensibility doesn't necessarily mean he's "in love." He uses it as a foil to my way of thinking. The world he creates is a nostalgic one that he immediately undercuts with an inventive and seductive but ultimately incomprehensible opposite. It seems to me to be a rather predictable formula which in the end destroys any sincerity – for me, anyway. It’s like watching a heartwarming “It’s a Wonderful Life” with a super-imposed sound track by, say, Andy Warhol’s Velvet Underground or William Burroughs’ reading Naked Lunch. I like both Warhol and Burroughs, by the way. I just think they had a rather emotionally distant approach to America and the meaning of life and so forth.
But, I’m glad you all enjoy Lynch’s very inventive work!
Good points. I think Lynch probably ambivalent about many aspects of American life and I agree that prevents us from fully engaging with the gentle aspects of conventional American life.
I should get around to writing about Warhol also, eventually.
I'd be interested in your piece on Warhol. Warhol grew up in Pittsburgh and went to art school there. Lynch went to art school in Philadelphia, which apparently made a big impression on him.
One of the best analysis I have read of Lynch's worldview as manifested in his films. I believe you are correct that real conservatives like Lynch, HP Lovecraft or Hieronymus Bosch, show the unsettling surreality of chaos and evil as a warning.
I was fortunate to be coming of age at the time that Lynch was in his most commercially successful phase. I remember going to the cinema in Belfast to see ‘Wild At Heart’ in 1990. The buzz around the film was huge. It made a lasting impression on my very young mind, with its final message ‘Don’t turn away from love’ (told in a vision to Sailor, by the Good Witch). It’s interesting, as the film was far from universally liked upon its release - I recall some critics and audience really disliking it, or just disliking Lynch. The release of the Twin Peaks tv series in the same year, consolidated Lynch’s cult status. I then went back and watched his earlier work and was enthralled.
His influence and legacy is just immense. Long running tv series like ‘The Sopranos’, with hour long episodes and slow pacing, owe a debt to Lynch. I thought of Lynch when I watched the very recent, excellent ‘Ripley’ adaptation on Netflix. I can’t comment anymore any better than you have Alexander. Thanks for such a wonderful appraisal of Lynch’s work. We won’t see his like again.
Thanks for your memories. I am not sure I ever saw a Lynch film in the cinema but I got the Twin Peaks boxset when it came out with the FWWM film + outtakes. I wasn't much of a fan of Wild at Heart. Apparently, it was the time he spent on that film that took him away from Twin Peaks season 2. Although, to be honest, I think any network TV series at that time would have been ultimately under the control of the network rather than Lynch. A dilution in quality was inevitable. WHen he came back with season 3 it was much later and a subscription service, so Lynch had full control.
FWWM - I loved as, of course, David Bowie starred in it along with a number of Lynch regulars.
‘Wild At Heart’ achieved cult status in the intervening years but it divided opinion greatly at the time of its release, even amongst Lynch fans. It did win Lynch the prestigious Palme D’or at Cannes which would’ve given him far greater sway in the industry and helped him secure funding for future projects. He really was an auteur. The only contemporary director I can immediately think of as having that status is Robert Eggers.
Like yourself I’m sure, I was sad to read of his passing. Another fragment of my life gone.
Yes, FWWM had me completely gripped. Apparently he was going to do more films in the series but the poor commercial performance of FWWM killed that idea.
Agree with you about Eggers - a very different kind of director. I was really impressed by The Witch and Lighthouse and I'll probably get Nosferatu when it comes out on DVD.
Yes the US critics had it in for FWWM - I remember the reviews. There was already this notion that Lynch’s work was self-indulgent and full of grotesques, which set the tone for much of the negative response to his work in general. The British critics tended to be far kinder to Lynch than the US ones. The late great Barry Norman always praised Lynch’s originality.
I love Eggers’ work too but I’m very bad at sitting in cinemas now! No tolerance of people constantly eating…pet hate. Like you, I’ll wait until I can watch Nosferatu at home!
Thanks for your enjoyable article. I was recently thinking of the contrast between his, as you say, deeply flawed Dune, with it's mystical, strange atmosphere and oddities like the fetus navigators and milked cats, and the proficient and well-made though sterile and strangely 'contemporary' recent production of that book; The Lynch version feels like it could be set on a distant planet 10,000 years from now whereas the new film seems more like early 21st century people playing pretend, even things as 'small' as the use of modern idiom, such as "Are you Good?" for "Are you ready to leave?". There is nothing surprising in that film and I found it a jarring and dispiritingly mundane depiction of what is supposed to be a fantastic world. It reveals to me the difference between an instinctive visionary like Lynch and the journeyman Villeneuve.
You may also be interested in this article, which I thought quite great:
https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/4/5/17177468/movies-about-faith-christian-blue-velvet-david-lynch-gods-not-dead
The author contends that with most recent Christian art being cheesy, bloodless and weak, it is Lynch in Blue Velvet who presents a compelling Christian vision, exploring the reality of evil and the possibility of grace, and is again contra to the materialist, disenchanted conventional world-view of present times.
Exactly my view on the Dune movies. The Lynch one is as weird and different as you’d expect something set 10,000 years away to be. The scene where Duncan places his hand on Paul’s heart and says “May the hand of God be with you” was entirely invented by Lynch, yet fits the Dune universe perfectly.
Yes, that line says to me that Lynch understood it's a kind of archaic world that has atavistically reemerged in the far future. Also apart from that kind of dialogue and the wacky production design, like Geidi Prime being a giant chemical factory/abattoir, there's a strange 'unnatural' quality to the soundtrack which alongside the Toto and Brian Eno score help give the film its alien quality.
And the blend of far future and medieval is what makes Dune so compelling! Swords and energy shields! Religion! Spaceflight! Monarchy!
Yes, all of that, yet the recent film seemed to be 'people of today, complete with tiresome sex politics, but with lasers and funny clothes'.
It is a mark of Lynch's clarity of vision that even where the surreal, hyperreal and oneiric elements characteristic of his most critically analysed work are largely absent - in the conventionally structured 'Elephant Man' and emotionally accessible, linear 'Straight Story' (the only film I can think of characterisable as a 'weepie for men') - there is no slacking for a single frame in terms of composition, conception and effect. No line is wasted nor scene distended unnecessarily. Nor has any other director eked better performances out of top tier actors like John Hurt and Sissy Spacek than Lynch does in those films respectively.
I have seen 'Inland Empire' an unholy amount of times and it remains without fathom, despite the moral and psychic core being relatively simple. "Not through the market, you understand, but through the alleyway behind the market - this is the way to the palace," Laura Dern is told by Grace Zabriskie's visitor. But Lynch was equally capable of making an unforgettably scenic journey via the direct route.
Yours is probably the best commentary on David Lynch I've read. I even agree with you on some of it. But . . .
I do feel that people are so starved for any meaning or something to identify with from Hollywood productions that they grasp at straws, and read things into films that can't be there. For instance, Lynch's love for Americana. Just because he uses a kind of 80s Punk/New Wave sensibility doesn't necessarily mean he's "in love." He uses it as a foil to my way of thinking. The world he creates is a nostalgic one that he immediately undercuts with an inventive and seductive but ultimately incomprehensible opposite. It seems to me to be a rather predictable formula which in the end destroys any sincerity – for me, anyway. It’s like watching a heartwarming “It’s a Wonderful Life” with a super-imposed sound track by, say, Andy Warhol’s Velvet Underground or William Burroughs’ reading Naked Lunch. I like both Warhol and Burroughs, by the way. I just think they had a rather emotionally distant approach to America and the meaning of life and so forth.
But, I’m glad you all enjoy Lynch’s very inventive work!
Good points. I think Lynch probably ambivalent about many aspects of American life and I agree that prevents us from fully engaging with the gentle aspects of conventional American life.
I should get around to writing about Warhol also, eventually.
I'd be interested in your piece on Warhol. Warhol grew up in Pittsburgh and went to art school there. Lynch went to art school in Philadelphia, which apparently made a big impression on him.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/david-lynch-the-unified-field_n_5801894
Loved reading this about one of my fave filmmakers
Great article! l knew very little about Lynch prior to reading this article; now at least l have some semblance of why he is so revered.
One of the best analysis I have read of Lynch's worldview as manifested in his films. I believe you are correct that real conservatives like Lynch, HP Lovecraft or Hieronymus Bosch, show the unsettling surreality of chaos and evil as a warning.