I’m interested in hearing what member of SD think of David Lynch movies (e.g. Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway, Blue Velvet). I reallly enjoy them, and like to watch them more that once, but I have to be honest and say that I don’t always understand what they are supposed to be about, if at all. He’s a very complex story teller.
Incidentally, I found URL=http://maddox.xmission.com/david_lynch.html]this page recently when looking up something about his films. I suppose that’s me them! 
That describes my attitude towards his films as well. I go into them knowing it aint gonna make a lick of sense to me, at least at first, but I still enjoy them.
Precisely! I know that I won’t have a clue, most likely, but it’s good to watch.
People describe boats as holes in the water you throw money into.
There’s a perfect analogy to be made between that line and Lynch movies, but the experience of seeing Mulholland Drive has burned out the part of my brain that would have been able to come up with it.
I’ve generally been a Lynch fan but I have yet to see Lost Hwy, Mulholland Dr or even The Straight Story- still, don’t worry, give the Lynch films you like several viewings & you’ll see more & more & be confounded more & more. They are sometimes deep & insightful, other times just mindfugging. I don’t think anything of his will outdo Eraserhead on both counts.
David Lynch is a moron, but he’s a smart enough moron to know that he doesn’t have any actual stories to tell, so he throws together a bunch of poorly composed, out-of-focus shots and declares it “art.”
Don’t bother to point out that it’s shit, though, lest the fanboys whine “you just didn’t understaaaaand it.”
Why do you think he’s a moron?
Nice. Declare an entire body of work “shit” and declare anyone who disagrees with you a “fanboy.” Oh well, easier for you than thinking, I suppose.
Perhaps “moron” isn’t the right word. More like “untalented hack.”
Let’s take Lost Highway, for example. The movie begins with what could potentially become a good film. Interesting characters, strange things happening, and some conflicts. Then it simply devolves into nonsense, with silly visuals, headache-inducing transitions and irrelivent verbiage. You’re left with a series of images that have no connection to one another, and no actual story has been told. Worse, the films are not even enjoyable visually. (I can at least tolerate nonsense if it’s pretty to look at.)
I enjoy thought-provoking films, don’t get me wrong. I’m not one of these people who gets annoyed if there are subtleties are plot points that aren’t blatantly exposed. But there is simply nothing in these films to begin with. It’s just random gibberish.
I don’t know about Lost Highway, as it’s sitting on my coffee table waiting to be watched tonight. But I’m sort of at a loss as how someone could look at Wild At Heart, Blue Velvet, or Mulholland drive and say “there’s nothing in these films”. Mulholland Drive? Once you get to the end, you let out a big “ah ha!” at how all the real-life events in the last half hour were all translated by Diane into her dream that was the first two. Every frame of Blue Velvet is Norman Rockwell Gone Bad. It’s just a noirish detective story about bad, bad people who live in any small town.
Wild At Heart is completely linear storytelling. It’s not random, there’s nothing terribly out there other than the scenery-chomping performances, which all rock. How can anyone not love to hate Diane Ladd’s performance. Ew. Ewwwwwwww!
Then there’s Angelo Badalamenti, who can do no wrong while scoring Lynch’s work.
Oh well. To each their own, I suppose.
Is this in your opinion strictly required for a good movie? What if the strength is in visuals or setting a particular mood?
Have you seen “The Straight Story”? In my opinion it was extremely enjoyable visually - especially the attention to details combined with the pacing. As the title pun implies, the plot is very reduced. There you have Lynch with a minimum of “random gibberish” and it still works.
I **love ** Lost Highway, I could watch it over and over again.
Sorry for being predictable, but I’ll play the role of one of those “fanboys” who will point out that, given the above, it’s clear you simply didn’t understand the film.
Understanding a Lynch film is not always easy, as they rely heavily on symbolism, allusions, parallels, metaphors, and non-linear narratives. In order to find the hidden meaning, you need to deconstruct the puzzle that Lynch has constructed. This implies that the film cannot be fully enjoyed until after the fact. When you finally fit the pieces together, the film becomes all the more potent in your mind.
As for Lost Highway – simplified:
Everything in the film is happening inside the head of the protagonist, who, in order to avoid facing the knowledge that he murdered his own wife in an insane fit of jealousy, is constantly inventing new identities for himself within labyrinthine crime plots with which he can anthromorphize his inner monstrosity and then kill it.
So you’re clearly wrong: A story has been told, and an incredibly fascinating one at that.
(But don’t be sad – Ebert didn’t get it, either.)
In fact, the aspect of Lynch I really like about him is that he is able to tell stories that could otherwise only be told as prose. Lynch is pretty much adapting existing prose/poetry devices to the cinematic medium, and the reason Lynch’s films are hard to grok is precisely because they must use these narrative devices in order to tell their stories.
To me, Lynch is the Picasso of filmmakers. Like Picasso, he is more well-known for strange art than for more normal renditions, but The Elephant Man and The Straight Story show that Lynch has superb ability as a regular storyteller much as Picasso’s studies and sketches demonstrate his mastery of that particular artform.
I love David Lynch! To me, it isn’t about kicking back and brainlessly watching a movie and scarfing up popcorn but more like a video story puzzle that you have to watch a few time to figure out and put together. Much different than your typical movie experience but quite enjoyable nonetheless. I have read that he always tosses an extra piece into the mix just to make the puzzle a little harder (fer instance, the cowboy in Mullholland Drive).
In the end I usually cheat and do an internet search for the answers. I NEVER would have fugured out Mullholland Drive had I not peeked, but when I did, it all made perfect sense. Absolutelly brilliant!
I am going to stick my neck out as a “fanboy” and say that you don’t understand Lynch, otherwise you would know that he does tell some fantastic ACTUAL stories. They just aren’t spelled out to you in easy to read bold letters like most movies and the fact that you don’t understand them does not make him a moron.
I think the key with Lynch is to accept that his story telling is complex, and that the understanding is in watching his films a number of times, and often reading about them in between. His characters portray a very disturbed element of the human condition which is naturally alien to most of us (thankfuylly!), and as such requires a little more deconstruction.
Self-indulgent masturbatory tripe, in my opinion. I don’t have to read a book three times to get the idea and I sure as hell don’t want to spend $30 to watch a movie three or four times to figure it out.
Please, no pile-ons. I’m just answering the OP.
The point of David Lynch movies is not so much to understand the plot as it is to follow the emotional line – most of his experimental films work on dream logic, which inherently do not conform to narratives. I’ve never had any trouble following them on first viewing, however, I wouldn’t claim there’s any one reading of a Lynch film (as I think Lynch himself would agree). The salon-esque breakdowns of what such-and-such means in Mullholland Drive, for instance, are a mistake in my eyes, as these really are ‘what do you think it means?’ movies. I certainly wouldn’t want every film to be like his, but I enjoy almost all of them.
I have to do that too, and then, his thoughts normally make sense. Particularly in the case of Mullholland Drive.
If you really want to walk around with that “Duh!” look on your face, check out Eraserhead. I’ve seen it a few times and as much as I love it, I remain essentially clueless as to what the hell it’s about.