David Lynch

David Lynch is one of those directors, who are slightly frightening. I’ve read a lot about him and everything I’ve read tells me that I will love his films… But what if I don’t? I’ve seen Twin Peaks and the associated film, but that’s all. The Finnish film archive had a program for Lynch films last summer, so I finally managed to catch a couple of his films. At the same we were watching the Twin Peaks series at home with my wife, so I’m going to bunch those in here as well.

I should’ve reviewed the films right after seeing them, since by now, I’ve forgotten a lot and with Lynch’s films that’s fatal. The films are all mixed up in my head, so I’m going to just jot down a few notes about each and try to figure out, which one was which by reading plot synopsis, and giving a grade.

First a couple of notes on Lynch’s style though. I honestly believe, that Lynch makes his films for himself. I would assume that his mind is filled with artistic ideas and this is just a way of getting them out. Some critics point to the films being nonsensical, that you can’t figure out, what is actually happening there, and tell us that they are tricks designed to shock and confound. I would assume that they just are Lynch’s mental world mapped onto film.

It’s true that the films don’t make sense in the end. Usually, with similarly complicated films, you are able to connect the dots somehow – there is a sense to be found and hints that pop out on second viewing. I’m still lacking that second viewing on all of these films, but I would expect nothing to pop out in the way that would make the narrative a coherent whole. With Lynch’s films, I haven’t been able to connect the dots. I remember, that when these were fresher in my mind, I would attempt to figure them out and start to grasp at possibilities, before the construct in my mind falling to pieces. I’m a person driven to find logic in everything, but I’m also a person, who realizes that and is capable of letting go. That’s essential with the films. There are tons of things that could be interpreted as hints to a solution of the film and trying to grasp that solution occasionally gives you hints at interpretations of the film as a whole, so it’s not a wasted effort, but in the end, you just have to let go and enjoy the ride.

Lost Highway [1997]

This is the darkest of the trio in tone. I immensely enjoy the loneliness of the Los Angeles and the empty roads in the film. The film sets up mystery after mystery and gets to points, where those should be resolved, but the lines point to wrong dots and more mystery is brought instead.

• Director: David Lynch
• Watched on: 16th Jun 2018
• Watched at: Orion
• 4.5/5

Mulholland Drive [2001]

This film is perhaps the most comprehensible of the trio. It follows the lives of Rita and Betty for a good while, before things start to fracture and reassemble into different shapes. To me, it loses a tiny bit of Lynch magic, to many others, it’s his best film.

• Director: David Lynch
• Watched on: 4th Jul 2018
• Watched at: Orion
• 4/5

Inland Empire [2006]

This film starts again, by making sense for a long time, but the fractures and shifting realities are worse here than in Mulholland Drive. The setting of the film is slightly less interesting than the lonely Los Angeles / Hollywood of the previous two (this is also set in Hollywood).

• Director: David Lynch
• Watched on: 17th Jul 2018
• Watched at: Orion
• 4/5

Twin Peaks s01

If I would have to point out one season of TV that was the best ever, this is it. If you take this as a full series (I still haven’t seen the third season, but considering just the two old seasons), there would be competition, as during the second season the production company pushed Lynch to the side (he was present pretty much only in title sequence texts) and pushed for more excitement and mystery.

Twin Peaks was intended as a parody of small town America soap operas. Those usually have wholesome people doing wholesome things and any problems usually come from outside or are trivial. Here everyone is wholesome only on the surface. Outsiders are rarely seen (with the exception of special agent Dale Cooper, Kyle MacLachlan, who is an FBI agent and something that could be called the lead character in the series), and all tension is built between inhabitants of the town. The parody shines a light to the reality of small town America – the wholesome people really are wholesome only on the surface. Scratch it a little and all sorts of problems are revealed. Here they are brought front and center. That’s not all of it though, as Lynch is one of the show runners – his signature weirdness and mysteries abound as well.

As a parody of small town America series, it was the intention of the production duo (David Lynch and Mark Frost), to not have much anything happening in the series. It starts with a mystery, who killed Laura Palmer, that brings agent Cooper to town, but that’s quickly pushed to the sides and occasionally nearly forgotten as the series is more interested in just watching its twisted characters live their quiet lives.

The descriptions above don’t really justify the grade below. I can’t really explain it. This just is the best 8 episodes of TV ever produced.

• Finished on: 12th Jun 2018
• 6/5

Twin Peaks s02

As already mentioned above, the production company behind the series, didn’t like Lynch and Frost’s vision anymore. They ended up pushing Lynch completely out of the production and made Frost concentrate on the mysteries and the crimes.

While that did not ruin the second season completely, it takes a lot out of the atmosphere, when the hidden feeling of doom is now front and center. Instead of quiet moments of pie and coffee, the series has more gunshots, more chases, more crime, more everything… that makes it less of everything.

This is still a very good piece of TV and definitely worth the watch.

• Finished on: 14th Aug 2018
• 4/5