David Lynch: 2021
A chronological journey through his films
The journey:
- Eraserhead (1977), dir. David Lynch
- The Elephant Man (1980), dir. David Lynch
- Dune (1984), dir. David Lynch
- Blue Velvet (1986), dir. David Lynch
- Wild at Heart (1990), dir. David Lynch
- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992), dir. David Lynch
- Lost Highway (1997), dir. David Lynch
- The Straight Story (1999), dir. David Lynch
- Mulholland Drive (2001), dir. David Lynch
- Inland Empire (2007), dir. David Lynch
Eraserhead
So imaginative and pure and watchable and laugh-out-loud funny, which I didn’t expect at all. A psychosexual puzzle about the horrors of unplanned parenthood, marriage, intimacy, capitalism, poverty, dreams – you can take it any direction you like.
The Elephant Man
The Elephant Man is as traditional and straightforward as Eraserhead is surreal and obtuse. Both are black and white, and Lynch does use some dream imagery in The Elephant Man, but they’re at opposite end of the narrative spectrum.
Dune
I went into Dune thinking I would see something the critics were missing – I mean, how could the director of Eraserhead and The Elephant Man direct a complete dud? – and... it’s so over-the-top, it manages to not be awful.
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Blue Velvet
Blue Velvet has a fearsome reputation but is also culturally beloved. Dennis Hopper’s over-the-top performance has become iconic, and its themes foreshadow those in the massively popular Twin Peaks.
Wild at Heart
Wild at Heart is a series of deliberately melodramatic, hyper-violent and sexual scenes stitched together into a road movie, with a tenuously-made connection to the Wizard of Oz.
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
A howl of pain from Laura Palmer, the murdered girl that opened the story of Twin Peaks. It’s difficult, heavy, hard to watch in places, and grapples with incest, rape, drug-taking, murder and domestic abuse.
Lost Highway
Lost Highway is a puzzle. It opens with a jealous husband who thinks his wife is having an affair, and ends with a deadly resolution, but what happens in between is ambiguous and complicated.
The Straight Story
If David Lynch were trying to somehow redress all the darkness of his earlier films in one go, then he would make The Straight Story.
Mulholland Drive
Events organically unfold, the images are striking, the narrative is confusing, characters are not who they seem to be, and in the last twenty minutes he reveals what’s really going on, sort of.
Inland Empire
An unusual and meta experience, but after three hours, as the end credits roll, I find I’m crying, because of the joyful music, yes, and because I’m exhausted.