St. Louis Beacon - Twin Peeks

Inform our coverage: Where's your favorite wintertime farmers' market? | What's it like to be 65 or better in 2012?

Home

Cialis Online

Twin Peeks

By Robert Hunt

Posted 12:44 pm Wed., 5.14.08

Two things you will learn from the new documentary "Lynch," which plays May 23-25 at Webster University on a double bill with "Eraserhead":

1. David Lynch practices Transcendental Meditation^TM every day (OK, you may already know that, given his much-publicized fund-raising/contributions to that organization) and wishes everyone else would, too.

2. David Lynch does not own or know how to use an ashtray. Early on in "Lynch," as we see the director sitting at a desk taping one of his frequent video messages/weather reports for his Web site , it's hard not to be distracted by the clutter on his office floor. What's going on? Some kind of behind-the-radiator visual ambience concocted for the film? No, the mess is real, and the chain-smoking creator of "Eraserhead" tends to toss his smoldering butts onto the floor behind him when he's done with them. It's a curious detail - especially given that the film shows him earnestly sweeping a studio floor and carefully rearranging furniture on a set - but it's about as close to a personal detail as "Lynch" ever gets.

"Lynch," credited to filmmakers (or a filmmaker) working under the name of "blackANDwhite," appears to have been made with almost unlimited access to its subject as he worked on "Inland Empire," yet the movie has almost nothing to show for it. It's a fawning portrait of the artist wandering through trademark Lynchian surroundings, telling a few anecdotes, meticulously attending to trivial production details, yet providing almost nothing of interest about his work or career.

At best, "Lynch" is hero-worshipping without a cause. If you're looking for insight into Lynch's films or a justification of their rather narrow view of race, gender or sexuality, you'll be disappointed. If you're among those who think that the director willingly turned himself and his work into self-parody somewhere around the time of the first season finale of "Twin Peaks," you'll find nothing to change your mind.

See Lynch parodied by someone other than himself . "Lynch" has a MySpace page .

Comments

#1 Dennis Fleming 2008-05-21 11:10

Who are those who think that the director willingly turned himself and his work into self-parody somewhere around the time of the first season finale of Twin Peaks? And if there is truth in this assertion, may I ask you if you believe the director's artistry suffered? I don't think it has. He's done LOST HIGHWAY, THE STRAIGHT STORY, MULHOLLAND DRIVE, and INLAND EMPIRE (among other works) since TWIN PEAKS.

#2 Robert Hunt 2008-05-22 16:22

I don't think any of the films you mentioned are as good as "Blue Velvet" . And - this is just my opinion, mind you - the two post-"Peaks" films you didn't mention, "Wild at Heart" and "Fire Walk With Me", are simply awful. Even "Mulholland Drive" strikes me as a formulaic attempt to recreate a patent "weirdness', though I've read a few insightful and sympathetic reviews of it.

#3 Dennis Fleming 2008-05-25 10:09

Permit me a few more comments, all in the spirit of independent thinking. I'd say that roughly half of the film critics in this country hated "Blue Velvet" when it was initially released. Even so, it's popularity resides in its accessibility. "Lost Highway" is a superior work and far less accessible. However, every time I watch it, I understand it better. It keeps on giving. Nothing much is gained from repeat viewings of the beautiful "Blue Velvet". As for "Wild at Heart" and Fire Walk With Me", I'll cast my votes with judges at the Cannes Festival who awarded the Golden Palm in 1990 to the former and nominated the latter in 1992 for the same. I think the idea that the director tries to recreate a patent weirdness overlooks the fact that his films are so intensely personal and visionary that they frequently baffle us and draw from us a desire to fully rationalize them. Even the prestigious Nation Society of Film Critics awarded "Inland Empire" a Best Experimental Film for "labyrinthine Inland Empire, a magnificent and maddening experiment with digital video possibilities."

David Lynch is so far out of the mainstream of American film making that our natural desire to try to understand his work (by considering it in the context of other feature films) throws us off what he is really doing, which is creating unique and original art in a medium utilized primarily for entertainment in America.

Refresh comments list
RSS feed for comments to this post.

Only registered users can comment on an article. Please login or register.

JComments

'The Road Show' improv

Brent Jones | St. Louis Beacon

This Saturday was the debut of a new show by The Improv Shop that will bring out of town improv teams to St. Louis to play for — and with — a local audience. The Road Show brought teams "Everybody Grok" and "Felt" from Chicago.

We talked to Eric Christensen, producer of the Road Show and member of local improv team "Ted Dangerous"; Katie Nunn, member of "Ted Dangerous" and improv coach; and Melanie Penn and Ranjan Khan, members of local teams "Melanj" and "Magic Ratio"; about the St. Louis improv scene and why it's important to welcome teams from other cities to perform here.

See a larger version of the slideshow

About the Lens

Cinema St. Louis' The Lens is a multi-contributor blog aimed primarily - but by no means exclusively - at local cinephiles. The Lens will have a specifically St. Louis perspective when relevant - and will preview Cinema St. Louis events - but because film encompasses the world, the blog will offer material on every aspect of movie culture, with no ties to a particular place. Lens contributors - critics, academics, journalists, novelists, poets, essayists and filmmakers - will write, at any length and in any form, about all film-related topics, allowing for a wide array of approaches: simple reviews, stray thoughts, essays, reported articles, cartoons, photos, even audio clips and videos.

For a more complete introduction to The Lens, read the inaugural post by Cliff Froehlich.

Subscribe to The Lens via RSS.