I have tried to understand Lynch. I love challenging movies. But I am absolutely convinced now that to understand this guy's movies, one needs some sort of hallucinogen or something. His stories are so complicated and make no sense. There I said it. I dont get him.
shareI'm not a fan of Lynch's movies. They seem to be weird for the sake of being weird. I like Twin Peaks, but that's more because of the quirky small town than his weird story. The only one I liked was Mulholland Dr., but the hot lesbians may have had something to do with that
And the only non-weird one that he made is his best by far, The Straight Story.
Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Criedshare
Id say don't bother, Ive tried to like his movies and they do have bits and pieces that are interesting like the surreal quality to them but aside from that they are absolutely empty as lots of people say and I totally agree. I get the feeling that even David Lynch doesn't know what the hell he's saying in his movies he just throws a bunch of weird images together and hopes you'll think its deeper than it is and not figure out hes actually kind of hacky. The Shining is the perfect example of a film with very surreal qualities and is very ambiguous without any answers spelled out for you and its of course very weird but the reason I and so many fans of that film go back to it again and again and again is because there actually IS something going on under the surface, Kubrick unlike lynch knows that you have to at least drop some bread crumbs along the way in an ambiguous film because if you don't there really is nothing to interpret and like ebert says "pulls the rug out from under the film" like in his review for lost highway.
2001 is another great film of the same nature and while no one will ever truly 100% figure it out it doesn't leave you cold feeling like you understood nothing, you have a grasp on what you think its trying to say and the mystery of it intrigues you even more leading to want to watch the film again and again to try and pick up on new things (which you do and leads to other revelations) and it gets you excited instead of frustrated like david lynch movies. Its funny to me that Kubrick was such a fan of Eraserhead and made the cast watch it to get in the spirit for the Shining for the mood he wanted to create and then he just proceeds to bury that film and make it look ridiculous with his masterpiece. That very last scene in Eraserhead will never mean anything to a viewer and even David Lynch were were to say it does in fact have a meaning it wouldn't matter because he didn't make it accessible to anyone in anyway to have an interpretation of what it means, its just weird imagery. As opposed to the last scene in the Shining which while weird and turns the whole movie on its head you are able to draw some type of conclusion from it even if its elusive and again it just makes you want to watch it again and again to pick up on different subtle clues and no matter what you always do find something new.
Clearly the film isn't very coherent, and coherence is needed in a film, a song; art can be abstract but it MUST deliver a meaning somewhere along the line or the artist isn't doing his job, simply, and being lazy and complacent. This isn't a great film, not that my opinion is gospel but clearly, much too abstract, and long...
Harry !!....your hands are freezing !!...
This movie does deliver a meaning along the line. I don't claim to be more clever here, I didn't get it, but once I read some analysis of it it made sense.
There are some threads here explaining the meaning of this movie.
Not that you NEED to understand his movies to like them. You can also enjoy them for their atmosphere, and for an alternative/paralel meaning, even a more "on the surface" one.
Only seen Blue Velvet before 10 years ago (need to rewatch that) of Lynch and that was a bit more straightforward than this I thought, watching this was like staring at a large surreal painting in an art gallery after its closed and getting lost in it.
I know I enjoyed the experience of watching it even if I don't really get it, it was visually striking and there were no super heroes, lens flare or camera angle changes every 2 seconds at the very least. I think you have to be in a certain position and mood for this, something to watch by yourself in the dark with no distraction and on a big screen.
" . . . watching this was like staring at a large surreal painting in an art gallery . . . "
I know I enjoyed the experience of watching it even if I don't really get it, it was visually striking . . .
I revisit this film every few years (and Mulhollond Dr) cause I really want to love it, cause this is my kind of movie. But man I don't like it. I always feel like i'm sort of getting it, but by the end, i'm definitely not.
shareI think Lynch should just fuck the fuck off with films like this. It's like the man is getting paid to take the piss out of audiences. He must be laughing til he shits when he makes this crap, knowing supposedly artful types are finding whatever meaning they want in this nonsense.
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