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Inland Empire (2006)
Inland Empire
For some David Lynch fans, Inland Empire will be the ultimate Lynch movie. It takes the non-linear, abstract style of storytelling he tested in Lost Highway and perfected in Mulholland Drive and stretches it as far as it can go. If those two earlier films teetered on the edge of incoherence, Inland Empire absolutely takes the plunge. It is a 3-hour, amorphous odyssey - a primordial soup of Lynchian themes and images. This is unfiltered, unrestrained David Lynch, so be warned - if you were not a fan of his previous bizarre movies, stay far away from this even stranger, more cryptic piece of work.
If someone were to straightforwardly ask me whether or not I like Inland Empire, I would have no idea how to reply. I don't like that it's 3 hours long. There really is no reason for Empire to be so epic in length - the same mind-bending effect could have been achieved with an hour cut out. Long sections are tedious and add very little to character development or atmosphere. I also have mixed feelings about the digital images - one of the main strengths of Mulholland Drive was the velvety richness of its images. Inland Empire is too often grainy, ugly, or incomprehensibly dark. There are times when the digital images are stunningly detailed and clear, but I still yearned for the visual beauty of past Lynch films. However, sections of Inland Empire roar to life. Lynch's surrealism ranges from darkly funny to downright terrifying - there are scenes and images to be found here that I'll never forget. Also, Laura Dern gives a fearless performance. Like Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive, she is called upon to play multiple different personalities in the span of one film, and she is more than up to the challenge.
If you are a Lynch fan, by all means see Inland Empire. Classic Lynch moments abound here, but for me they did not cohere into a satisfying whole.
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
Mulholland Dr.
Mulholland Drive is often referred to as David Lynch's masterpiece. While my favorite Lynch movie is a toss-up between The Elephant Man and The Straight Story, I wouldn't argue with that claim. Mulholland Drive certainly seems like the ultimate Lynch headtrip. It's a delirious, movie-mad fantasy, a surreal film noir that steadily reveals seductive, disturbing layers. That haunting, oddball but compelling vibe found in all of Lynch's best films is here in spades.
Lynch returns to the realm of schizophrenic weirdness after the gentle, G-rated Straight Story, but the results are much more satisfying and compelling than his previous Wild at Heart and Lost Highway. From the opening moments, the strange artistry of Mulholland Drive is fully evident. If Blue Velvet was the most demented Hardy Boys mystery ever, than Mulholland Drive is like a deeply sinister Nancy Drew mystery on acid. Our bubbly, attractive heroines become Los Angeles sleuths, but the giddy vibe is held up by an ominous and seriously weird undercurrent. Mulholland Drive only grows darker and stranger as it goes on, going to some seriously disturbing and surreal places by the last act. It's about as sublimely orchestrated as films get, although occasionally hurt by the overly lurid approach that damaged other Lynch movies. Thankfully, Mulholland Drive is kept afloat by Lynch's directorial genius, and the fact that it actually does have a soulful center. It's nowhere near the emotional powerhouse of The Elephant Man, partly by design, but Lynch clearly has sympathy for his main character - a Hollywood outcast whose failed aspirations have left her an unstable, perhaps-psychotic wreck. This is partially due to Naomi Watts's monumental performance. It cannot be easy to give a human, emotional performance in such a fractured and bizarre movie, but Watts more than lives up to the challenge. She is alternately dazzlingly beautiful, appealingly innocent and horrifically damaged. A great performance in a weirdly great movie.
The Straight Story (1999)
The Straight Story
David Lynch is one of America's strangest and most compelling directors, but in the 90's his film career was heading in an ugly direction. 1990's Wild at Heart and 1997's Lost Highway both had flashes of off-kilter Lynchian brilliance, but both also seemed rather cruel, soulless and calculated in their weirdness. It would seem that Lynch had lost much of his natural talent for gripping surrealism found in Blue Velvet and Eraserhead, and all of his humanism and compassion found in The Elephant Man. In comes The Straight Story, a shockingly simple and clean breath of fresh air in his career. While many Lynch fans were likely (and understandably) disappointed by the lack of bizarre, dark elements in this gentle, G-rated tale, The Straight Story represents everything I love about Lynch films - his artistry, his eye for oddball details, and his quiet sense of compassion. It also is far more Lynchian than many give it credit for. While there are very few menacing elements here, it still is an evocative, mythic story of a physical and spiritual journey - just played in a far quieter, mellower key than past Lynch efforts.
Just about every element of The Straight Story comes together beautifully. Richard Farnsworth is incredible as Alvin Straight, a stubborn old man with years of experience and wisdom etched on his face. The dependably great Sissy Spacek is also wonderful in the unusual, touching role of Alvin's daughter. Angelo Badalamenti's music fits beautifully with the serene images of the Midwest that Alvin slowly crosses on his lawnmower - there are long scenes of nothing but music and scenery that are breathtaking. The Straight Story is, along with The Elephant Man, easily Lynch's most humanistic film. Convincing humanity is found in every corner of this movie - in Alvin's face, in the people he meets who all are carrying their own scars and fears, in the near-wordless but deeply moving final scene. The Straight Story is heartbreaking and tender - an enormously emotional movie that never even verges on melodrama or unearned sentiment. While I do appreciate David Lynch's rare gift for twisted surrealism, I think his gift for expressing deeply-felt emotion is even rarer and more valuable. Films as mature and heartfelt as The Straight Story are few and far between. It quietly snuck up on me and became one of my favorite movies.
Lost Highway (1997)
Lost Highway
Lost Highway, even by David Lynch standards, is a strange, schizophrenic movie. It is split into two stylistically and narratively distinct halves. The first half is easily the best of the two. It unfolds like a minimalist horror movie, as Bill Pullman and Patricia Arquette slink around their dark apartment, with suspicions of infidelity between them and unnerving appearances of a seemingly omniscient mystery man. While even this superior first half has none of the soulfulness that makes even the most bizarre of Lynch's works truly great, it is sleek and stylish, and Lynch has never used his knack for suspense to better effect. The scene with the mystery man at the party is utterly unforgettable - the kind of warped, genuinely scary scene that only could have come from the mind of David Lynch.
After about an hour, Lost Highway dramatically and abruptly switches gears. The second half is more akin to one of Lynch's previous films, Wild at Heart - it's grotesquely violent and sexual, a darkly comic film noir on acid. And also like Wild at Heart, there are indelible moments of surrealism and twisted genius in Lost Highway's last act, but it all seems far too soulless, affected and meaningless in its depravity. The violence and nudity becomes tiring, and just seems like Lynch showing off - I craved more of the subdued eeriness that permeated the first half. It's unfortunate, because Lost Highway does seem to be pursuing genuinely interesting themes in the last half - ones that Lynch would cover more fully and poignantly in Mulholland Drive a few years later. If seen as a sort of dry run for the masterful Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway's shortcomings become a bit more forgivable. As is, Lost Highway is a fascinating mess, sometimes offensive and sometimes head-scratching, but often brilliant and always intriguing.
Blue Velvet (1986)
The genius and madness of David Lynch
David Lynch is easily among the most uniquely talented and fascinating of directors working today. He is a truly unfiltered artist who puts all his fascinations, fears and inspirations down on film - for better or for worse.
Blue Velvet is a truly unique movie. It unfolds like the most psychotic, deranged Hardy Boys mystery ever written - and also recalls some of the same feelings and moods as other movies like Vertigo and The Night of the Hunter. But ultimately, there's no way to really describe the peculiar, mesmerizing poetry of Blue Velvet. I do have my issues with this movie that hold me back from loving it unreservedly, but I do think that it's one of cinema's unforgettable masterpieces.
Blue Velvet seems to encapsulate the worldview of Lynch films - both the Lynch that loves compassion and humble decency (seen in The Elephant Man and The Straight Story) and the Lynch that is both horrified and turned on by utter depravity (seen in Wild at Heart, Lost Highway and Inland Empire). Blue Velvet straddles the two sides of Lynch's artistic personality. This movie goes darker and deeper into human evil and cruelty than most others dare. Certain eerie tableaux from Blue Velvet will forever be carved in my mind - Lynch does undeniably have a gift for showing how inhuman and grotesque people can become when they give in to their most deeply selfish, dark impulses. Dennis Hopper's character is like an unfiltered icon of human evil in all its horror, irrationality and childish stupidity. Yet, unlike many movies that uncover evil hiding in suburbia (such as American Beauty), Blue Velvet seems to really believe in the purity and goodness of its suburban utopia. Laura Dern's character represents basic human decency - she comes across as naive, but proves herself to be brave, genuine and compassionate.
If Hopper is pure evil and Dern is pure goodness, than Kyle MacMachlan's character Jeffrey could be seen as Lynch's alter-ego. He admires Dern's decency, but is overly fascinated and a little seduced by the evil he witnesses. Lynch seems to have the same struggle. He does love goodness, but is also intoxicated by the twisted, dark realms of human nature. In fact, my main problem with Blue Velvet is that Lynch gets too turned on by his own disturbing imaginings. Good does triumph over evil by the end of Blue Velvet, but the scenes of evil (an extended rape scene in particular) are uncomfortably eroticized in their presentation. This is my main issue with Blue Velvet, and it's not a small one. Nevertheless, despite loving its own perversions a bit too much, this is an artistic masterwork - one with memorable characters, bold performances, and Lynch's typical knack for creating unforgettably surreal situations and images.
Wild at Heart (1990)
Lynch attempts to out-Lynch himself
Wild at Heart is not without superb elements, but overall, it's a disappointment. Lynch did what has been deadly to so many talented filmmakers - he bought into his own reputation. Wild at Heart is highly self-aware, furiously cranking up the Lynchian stylistic quirks with little awareness of the delicate balance that made former Lynch films great. Blue Velvet did descend into surreal, dark chaos, but it contrasted the depraved weirdness with common decency and compassion. Wild at Heart, on the other hand, is just a heady stew of violence, sex and bizarre happenings - very little here is recognizable as human behavior, and just about nothing as human goodness. If Blue Velvet was guilty of being a little too turned on by its own darkness, Wild at Heart is downright proud of presenting evil in a lurid, gleeful manner.
Nevertheless, if all you want from Lynch movies is memorable surrealism, wacky characters and delirious energy, Wild at Heart still offers plenty to savor. Parts of Wild at Heart do possess a mad energy and offbeat humor that is infectious. The performances are also highly entertaining - Nicolas Cage has rarely been better, and Dianne Ladd is hysterically funny in an utterly unhinged performance. But the madness of Wild at Heart all starts to seem too calculated, too soulless, and too ugly. The weirdness of Blue Velvet and Eraserhead almost always seemed organic, like a natural outgrowth of the film - Wild at Heart seems awkwardly scrambled together. Wild at Heart contains flashes of true Lynchian brilliance and a game cast, but they are lost in a nauseating, patchy, sub-par work.
The Elephant Man (1980)
The best and worst of humanity
...are to be found in The Elephant Man, David Lynch's masterful follow-up to his debut, Eraserhead. In many ways, this is an enormous departure from the utterly bizarre Eraserhead - it is a polished drama with well-developed characters and a clear-cut storyline. However, there are certainly artistic similarities, and maybe even thematic ones. There are a few strange Lynchian flourishes to be found in The Elephant Man, and the black-and-white images and industrial sounds are reminiscent of Eraserhead. Both films also are sympathetic portraits of outcasts.
However, The Elephant Man is ultimately a very different beast than Eraserhead, and distinctly different from most of Lynch's other works. This is a deeply compassionate, achingly sad film. John Merrick's story is heartbreaking enough on its own, but when told with Lynch's intimate, graceful approach and John Hurt's entirely believable and dignified performance, it's just about too sad to bear at points. But The Elephant Man also shows the moments of beauty and joy in Merrick's life. It may be a movie about the tragedy and injustice of human cruelty and ignorance, but is equally about human compassion, love and faith. This is one of those rare movies that everyone needs to see.
Eraserhead (1977)
Weird, wonderful introduction to the mind of David Lynch
David Lynch is easily among the most uniquely talented and fascinating of directors working today. He is a truly unfiltered artist who puts all his fascinations, fears and inspirations down on film - for better or for worse.
Eraserhead is Lynch's first film - essentially, this is little more than a bizarre feature-length student film. It's low-budget and experimental, with untrained actors and not much plot or character development to speak of. Yet Eraserhead is crafted with such care, and has such confidence and consistency in the strange, dark world it builds up, that it clearly stands out from just about every other amateur art-film ever made. This movie boldly and unforgettably marked the arrival of a genuine new talent. David Lynch is one of those rare directors who are already capable of filmmaking genius on their first try. Eraserhead is filled to the brim with strange, evocative imagery: I doubt I will ever forget the sight of the mutant baby, or the ominously cheerful puffy-cheeked lady, or sad-sack protagonist Henry as he shuffles through an unnamed industrial city. Eraserhead also is the rare movie capable of earning different reactions on each viewing - I initially found it weirdly hilarious, but on repeat watches it is sometimes frightening and discomforting. And while movies can't get much more abstract or bizarre than Eraserhead without spinning off into utter incoherence or perversity, there are some grounded, real fears to be found here. Much of the movie's imagery and scant story revolve around the terror that everyone experiences at some point when entering the responsibility of adulthood and parenthood. For some new parents, Eraserhead could function as an offbeat therapy session.
By design, this movie is not for everyone. Be aware of that before watching. But it is one of the best directorial debuts of all time - not to mention one of the flat-out strangest films I've ever seen, without coming across like it's 'trying too hard'.
Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)
Best horror threequel ever?
I was not expecting much from Paranormal Activity 3. I was a moderate fan of the first Paranormal Activity, and thought the sequel was a decent but underwhelming rehash. To my surprise, this third entry ended up being possibly my favorite of the series - it doesn't have the freshness of the original, and suffers a bit from a creepy but nonsensical ending, but is easily the scariest and most fun of the three. This is a roller-coaster ride of a horror movie, one that will leave you in agonizing suspense, inspire uncontrollable fits of nervous laughter and make your heart leap into your throat over and over again. Its unpretentious goal is to be an entertaining, scary spook show, and it succeeds with flying colors. It's not a well-rounded or intelligent movie, but I had a blast watching it with a crowd of equally entertained moviegoers, and for this type of movie that's what really matters.