On my DVD rack sit three David Lynch Films -

Eraserhead

Blue Velvet

Mullholand Drive

I've a certain fondness for all these films, Blue Velvet being my pick of the bunch.
I still however DONT KNOW WHAT THEY'RE ABOUT!

Of course they mean SOMETHING to me, it's just that I dont know if what they mean to me is what their actually trying to say :blink: .... Do you get what I mean?

Are you any wiser on what the message behind these films are?
Do you compleatly understand the plot to these movies?
Please tell......

don't like em... don't get em... but I've only got the 2 u least liked...

basically I am not a fan... even though I am perfectly aware he's someone that is supposed to be respected...

i don't wish to elaborate or discuss it further

all I know is that he completely abominated Frank Herberts Dune.....

and made a very good TV programme called Twin Peaks.....

Dident like the book :devil:
Agreed on Twin Peaks though...... :applaud:

Eraserhead trumps all. The Art Film.

I recommend the book Lynch on Lynch to any and all interested. Did you know that during the period of his life when he made Eraserhead he kept a huge mound of dirt on his dining room table? Apparently it quite ruined the finish. ;)

Gaz, it may be that with Lynch it's better to take a look at his whole output as opposed to looking for typical plotlines in the individual films.

I think most of his movies share an interest in the two sides of human consciousness-- there seems to usually be two layers or divisions in his films: the surface "what is "really" happening now" layer, and then the subconscious/dreamlike/otherworld layer where the characters and action take on different meanings, etc.

Don't mean to get to deep about it. I don't enjoy analyzing things to death and I'd likely be full of shit about it anyway. I just like the impact his movies make on me. I like the look of them, the pace, etc. Not everyone would view them on that level and find them enjoyable, however.

You mentioned liking Blue Velvet a lot. To me, Jeffrey's character is caught between one world (with his blonde, innocent girlfriend and "normal" life as a young man from a "normal" town, but on the flipside, he has one foot in another world with another woman (Dorothy V., who might be viewed as the "dark" counterpart to his other girlfriend) and another aspect of his town, full of evil and insanity.) It can be seen as an exploration of this schizm that in some ways we all experience. Our outward lives and our personal selves. It reminds me of some James Joyce where there is on one hand a lot of emphasis on the dream life of the characters and interior monologues and imaginings and on the other a lot of regular dialogue and character interaction.

It's not as overtly confounding as some of his other films. In many ways Blue Velvet is, for Lynch, a fairly cut and dried kidnapping mystery.

Eraserhead's also my fave. Big surprise. I think it largely deals with the dark underbelly of dating, mating and parenthood. I look at it as a black comedy.

Of course all this is pretty simplified. There are people who could (and have and will) go on for 6 pages examining one tiny scene of one film.

Wild At Heart is a very good Lynch film, and a bit less surreal than the others.

For years now I've been hearing rumours about the jaw-droppingly great complete version. Supposed to be what--6 or 9 hours long?

yeah... i like that one

Anyone seen his short film: The Grandmother?

Well worth a peep, not too sure on its availability, probly best checking ebay.

Jim

Just occured to me: you should get yourself some more DVDs man! Bulk up that collection a bit. ;)

Mulholland Drive for me.

I also liked Blue Velvet (of course)

Hate Wild at Heart

Lost Highway was better than it's reputation might suggest.

I thought Eraserhead was interesting but not his best.

Hey, I even liked The Elephant Man!

I will admit that I always had a soft spot for Lynch's adaptation of 'Dune'. Guess it helps that I never read the books. :lol:

David Lynch is up there as far as i'm concerned. Regarding the message of his work. Lynch is very intuitive and admits that he himself doesnt always understand why he does what he does. He quite often tells his actors that they dont need to understand certain things as there isnt that safety net in life so why should it exist in his films. For Me his films stand repeated veiwing and thats because of there sometimes unfathomable nature. Plot points dont have large dayglo arrows pointing at them as is standard in Hollywood.

When watching a Lynch film always keep one eye open for the the "eye of the duck".

He's also a Boss painter.

We're on pretty much the same page here. Eraserhead will always be #1 for me. One of the best films ever. Mulholland Drive comes next. I could watch it over and over. So hypnotic, but also funny, also creepy. It is difficult for me to take my eyes off the brunette ... :ohdear:

As much as I think Blue Velvet is a great flick, there are scenes in it that make it too uncomfortable for me to watch. One of those "great films I only need to see once" affairs.

I disliked Wild at Heart a lot the first time I saw it. It reminded me of a soap opera. But I have seen it a few times since and it has grown on me. Some wild ass characters (Bobby Peru?) and Lynch does a good job having the subplots all converge sort of.

I believe Wild at Heart was based on a novel and is the only film Lynch didn't have a huge hand in writing. I would think this would be part of the reason it doesnt sit alongside his other films terribly well.

Lost Highway gets unfairly overlooked. I haven't seen it in years. Would like to view it again.

I think Elephant Man is a fine one too! John Hurt is brilliant and Anthony Hopkins is the only actor I can think of who can totally ham it up over the top and still be classy.

Eraserhead and a collection of his early films are available through his website.

i liked elephant man too....

i will maybe watch blue velvet one day.... as it gets a lot of votes....

i'll probably regret it though
prefer to watch just a straightforward well-acted film... with no arty scenes in it at all....


eraserhead is the one i most dislike...mulholland drive is so so...half liked it , but wouldn't watch it again

dave-- I really think that Blue Velvet is Lynch's most straightforward film (well, aside from Elephant Man I s'pose...) It's a pretty open narrative; easier to follow than many of his others.

I should have mentioned Fire Walk With me too. It rather bombed in the states but I enjoy it a lot.

hmm ok then. Not convinced if any of his r that straightforward though.

eg. The Straight Story - I didn't like this one so much... was glad when it ended .. although i was enjoying it at the start.

The Straight Story? Not seen, but it's pretty, uh, linear, isn't it?

I sound as though I'm taking the piss. I'm not.

My take:
In Eraserhead, Henry is a somewhat disfunctional dreamer in a disfunctional society, who gets his girlfriend pregnant by accident. She gives birth to a strange baby, which Henry gets left with. One night he has sex with a neighbour, who turns out to be a prostitute. In disgust, he kills the baby and then, guilty, kills himself, and goes to heaven with the lady in the radiator.
That's the plot. What it's *about* is childbirth (and the difficulties it presents), growing up (and its attendent responsibilities), sexual guilt and disgust. It's about the results of sex (and more generally, the results of one's actions).

"Mulholland" is about Hollywood, I'd say.

It may or may not be "about" the baroque fantasies of a lovestruck young lady at the point of death, depending on your point of view (I could go into this at length if you like! :lol: ), but it's impossible to differentiate between fantasy & reality. Sounds like Hollywaood to me.

Silencio.

That's pretty much what I was going to say about it (honest). It sums up insecurity fairly well as does Lost highway which sees Bill Pullman having to deal with his cheating (we think) wife. The only Lynch film that I really find difficult to extract some meaning from is Mulholland Drive. I wasn't big into it but it had some great moments of course.

Eraserhead is cool cult, a real mind trip. Saw it only once, ages ago, can't remember a lot, but it was good.

Mulholland Drive is fairly simple, actually - it's mostly set in the main character's head briefly before she dies, and everything that really happened (which we know from the second part after the "Silencio" scene) is encrypted in a dreamlike manner. But it's really mainly a near-death experience.

I agree that Wild at Heart is like a soap opera, but I think it was meant to be; actually, I think it's a parody of a gangster soap opera, simply because it's so over the top.

Lost Highway is strange, but somehow oddly compelling. There are literally dozens of websites trying to explain this, but gorillabat's explanation about the layers of reality and subconscious that get confused seems to make most sense.

Blue Velvet is not bad either. I agree with gorillabat on this one, too.

That film scares the crap out of me. Great movie. The scene in the beggining with the dancing woman with the blue rose, and then Bowie's cameo. Surreality defined. What a brilliant man.

"We're not gonna talk about Judy. In fact, we're not gonna mention Judy at ALL."

I have recently watched Eraserhead again and I have to say this time I thoroughly enjoyed it. As for a disection of it, the way I see it, is that Henry is a disturbed and lonely man and the premature baby is actually his sperm. I think what the story is trying to say is that all that he has in life is his sperm. Which would also explain the radiator scene, as it is sperm that is dropping down, which the dancer is killing to his dispair. So in the end I think it is ultimately trying to say that the only people you really have to rely on is yourself. Well that is just my take on Eraserhead anyway.

Spunkhead

Something like that, there was a lot of sperm references in that.

Spermtop?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0347840/

Haven't heard of this... but the only thing by Lynch that I've ever liked is Eraserhead... :confused:

It sounds like Rex the Runt, but with people dressed as rabbits.

But nothing could ever be as good as Rex the Runt. :wub:

What's Rex the Runt?

It's only available to members of DavidLynch.com. Haven't seen any of it myself but it could well be out on DVD soon since Dumbland (another DavidLynch.com exclusive - this time animated) has just been released.

I was gonna sign up when Axxon N went online, but looks like this may have been postponed indefinitely - some problem with paying union crews or something...

Somewhat related: There is a free DVD of Dune this sunday in the Observer.

It's a 1998 series chronicling the adventures of a household of plasticene dogs. And there's more on the way, apparently!

[QUOTE]

The extended Director's Cut perchance ?

are you actually a DJ? if so. i think you ought to be reading this...........

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4609378.stm

http://www.djmag.com/newsfeat173.php

Ding's new band are called "Bobbie Peru", aren't they?

Lynch is brilliant. Even if you just treat his films as dreams, they are supremely entertaining.

"The Straight Story" is a feel-good movie without the need for a sick bag....that scene in the bar near the end with the "Zen" bartender.....sheer brilliance.

I remember seeing Blue Velvet the week it came out at the cinema- I was transfixed. Magical stuff.
Not sure about Lost Highway though... Do I need to see it again?