Any David Lynch fans here?

[Rushy]

If so, what’s your favourites of his films?

Topic

[Unrumble]

Twin Peaks is my favourite creative thing ever committed to film, and Fire Walk With Me is probably my second favourite film of all time. 

After that it’d probably be Wild At Heart and Lost Highway (the critical darlings Blue Velvet and Mulholland Dr. are fantastic, but in terms of personal preference), though there isn’t a film of his I don’t like. Even Dune has a little going for it. 

[Warbodog]

Mulholland Drive’s been one of my favourite films since I put the DVD on at random when pet sitting at a friend’s house as a teenager, not knowing what to expect from its really uninteresting-looking cover, but certainly not that. Later really got into Twin Peaks, before it soured. Didn’t care too much for the excessively padded revival, mainly appreciate it introducing me to Chromatics.

I watched all or most of the rest of his stuff in the years since, but didn’t really feel like revisiting those.

[Rushy]

Twin Peaks is my favourite creative thing ever committed to film, and Fire Walk With Me is probably my second favourite film of all time. 
After that it’d probably be Wild At Heart and Lost Highway (the critical darlings Blue Velvet and Mulholland Dr. are fantastic, but in terms of personal preference), though there isn’t a film of his I don’t like. Even Dune has a little going for it. 

I do think Twin Peaks stands out as magnum opus. It’s got the most heart out of anything he’s ever made. I also love Inland Empire, Straight Story and Dune. 
My only issue with Lynch is his bipolar tendencies as a filmmaker. It’s most notable in Wild at Heart. The tonal shift from corny Nicolas Cage flick to teenage abortion onscreen is just too much for me personally. 

EDIT: Have you watched the Twin Peaks International Pilot? I feel like that should count as a Lynch film

[Technopeasant]

Not sure I’ve ever seen anything of his, but I know I have a tape of Dune downstairs.

[Warbodog]

Have you watched the Twin Peaks International Pilot?

Does that just tag on the Red Room scene at the end? It’d still be interesting as a standalone work if it hadn’t got a series, though a damned shame. I can’t imagine what an actual Mulholland Drive series would have be like though, and I’d be worried about it going off the rails again, so that being reworked as a film worked out for the best.

I didn’t like Fire Walk with Me the first time, I think the shift from corny soap opera with very dark undertones to full dark, and from postmortem TV–friendly descriptions of sex and violence to seeing it all full-on, was all too jarring. I appreciated it more the next time around because I knew what to expect.

[Rushy]

Does that just tag on the Red Room scene at the end? 

Not quite. 

The One-Armed Man telephones Cooper and gets him and Harry to come to the hospital, where he tells them that the killer is Bob. 

(A snippet of this sequence is seen in Cooper’s dream in episode 2)

In this version of events, Bob is a human hospital worker and he has a lair in the hospital basement. They all go down there to confront him. The One-Armed Man shoots and kills Bob. 

(This sequence is also very briefly glimpsed in Cooper’s dream, when Bob says ‘catch you with my death bag’)

Then it cuts to the Red Room scene, which opens with a title card saying that it is set 25 years later. Meaning that the scene is actually meant to take place in reality. 

[Rushy]

I didn’t like Fire Walk with Me the first time, I think the shift from corny soap opera with very dark undertones to full dark, and from postmortem TV–friendly descriptions of sex and violence to seeing it all full-on, was all too jarring. I appreciated it more the next time around because I knew what to expect.

I was sort of ambivalent towards the film at first, but the more I grew to understand Lynch’s symbols and what was really meant to be happening in the supernatural world, I began to appreciate it more. I especially liked the idea of season 2 Cooper supernaturally communicating with Laura through the Red Room, and being a kind of protector for her soul. It felt fitting. 

I can’t imagine what an actual Mulholland Drive series would have be like though, and I’d be worried about it going off the rails again, so that being reworked as a film worked out for the best. 

I must admit I never finished Mulholland Drive. I just thought Naomi’s character was so sweet and adorable that I didn’t want her to go through Lynch’s patented mindf*ck. I decided she gets a happily ever after and just closed the laptop lol. 

[Moonlight]

I first watched Eraserhead in the dark utterly fucked on dissociatives and I’m not sure I have the vocabulary to adequately convey that experience. Suffice to say, I genuinely forgot that I had the option to simply stop watching and put it on later when I was sober.

[Unrumble]

 I do think Twin Peaks stands out as magnum opus. It’s got the most heart out of anything he’s ever made. I also love Inland Empire, Straight Story and Dune. 
My only issue with Lynch is his bipolar tendencies as a filmmaker. It’s most notable in Wild at Heart. The tonal shift from corny Nicolas Cage flick to teenage abortion onscreen is just too much for me personally. 
EDIT: Have you watched the Twin Peaks International Pilot? I feel like that should count as a Lynch film

I put Straight Story on the night I heard he’d died, as it felt like the perfect way to acknowledge his impact on my cultural life, while evoking a more reflective mood than some of his more intense offerings might have. 

I can see where you’re coming from with the schizophrenia of Wild At Heart, and maybe I’m just too far Lynch-doctrinated by this point, but that’s one of the things I love about it. 

I have watched the international pilot at least once, quite a while ago. Considering the places the series itself would end up going, it feels almost more surreal that Bob is depicted as ‘just some guy’ dwelling in a basement, rather than a questionably coporeal demonic entity/metaphor for ‘the evil that men do’. 

[Unrumble]

I first watched Eraserhead in the dark utterly fucked on dissociatives and I’m not sure I have the vocabulary to adequately convey that experience. Suffice to say, I genuinely forgot that I had the option to simply stop watching and put it on later when I was sober.

Seeing as Eraserhead can sometimes create the feeling you’ve taken mind-altering drugs, I cannot begin to imagine what this experience was like for you! 

[Rushy]

I have watched the international pilot at least once, quite a while ago. Considering the places the series itself would end up going, it feels almost more surreal that Bob is depicted as ‘just some guy’ dwelling in a basement, rather than a questionably coporeal demonic entity/metaphor for ‘the evil that men do’. 

It’s also interesting how the ending of the International Pilot bleeds over into the Return. 

There’s Bob being easily dispatched, there’s a creepy basement, there’s the One-Armed Man doing his speech, there’s Laura whispering to Cooper. 

As if it was always destined to end there, one way or another. 

[Unrumble]

It’s also interesting how the ending of the International Pilot bleeds over into the Return. 
There’s Bob being easily dispatched, there’s a creepy basement, there’s the One-Armed Man doing his speech, there’s Laura whispering to Cooper. 
As if it was always destined to end there, one way or another. 

I often summarise The Return to people as Twin Peaks for David Lynch fans, rather than people who were exclusively Twin Peaks fans. 

[Rushy]

It’s a very mixed bag. I don’t really see it as a legitimate continuation to the world we saw in the original series and Fire Walk With Me. More like a separate thing that uses the Twin Peaks setting as a conduit to tell an entirely different kind of story. 

Parts of it are intriguing, other parts are shockingly bad. 

[International Debris]

So much of Twin Peaks, for me, was the setting, the slightly mundane backdrop to the weird shit, the soap-like bits that still had a Lynchian element to them. They added a human side that contrasted brilliantly with the more surreal material; I cared just as much about Norma and Shelly as I did what was going on in the Black Lodge. The Return cut almost all of that and just felt hollow as a result. 

[Unrumble]

It’s a very mixed bag. I don’t really see it as a legitimate continuation to the world we saw in the original series and Fire Walk With Me. More like a separate thing that uses the Twin Peaks setting as a conduit to tell an entirely different kind of story.  

I’ve read one of the books offering an interpretation of The Return, and effectively yeah, it seemed Lynch had things he wanted to say (not least that nostalgia should not be indulged too much), and Twin Peaks was the vehicle. 

[Rushy]

I’ve read one of the books offering an interpretation of The Return, and effectively yeah, it seemed Lynch had things he wanted to say (not least that nostalgia should not be indulged too much), and Twin Peaks was the vehicle. 

It’s worth keeping in mind that Twin Peaks is only 50% Lynch. 

For me, the biggest sinner in the Return was Mark Frost. I read the novels he published around the release of season 3, and it became quickly apparent why I felt dissatisfied with it. Frost is obsessed with American conspiracy theories and mystery boxes. I think he was in the 1990s as well, and that’s where Major Briggs and his radar base came from. 

But in the Return, he had more of a free reign to express it, and there’s just so much in that season that I can tell did not come from Lynch and also holds no interest for me. 

*The meandering Buckhorn mystery

*Whatever Philip Jeffries is supposed to be doing

*Mr C chasing coordinates

*Major Briggs chasing coordinates

*The box in New York

All of it eats up so much screentime but has no emotional impact whatsoever. It’s just Frost being obsessed with lore for the sake of lore. 

Obviously that’s not my only issue with the Return, but it’s one of the biggest sins. 

[Unrumble]

For me, the biggest sinner in the Return was Mark Frost. I read the novels he published around the release of season 3, and it became quickly apparent why I felt dissatisfied with it. Frost is obsessed with American conspiracy theories and mystery boxes. I think he was in the 1990s as well, and that’s where Major Briggs and his radar base came from. 

Sure, I didn’t mean to diminish Frost’s input, it’s a trap easily fallen into when discussing, my bad. 

Yes, ‘The Secret History’ spent too much time expanding on all the Project Blue Book stuff, that didn’t really warrant it. ‘The Final Dossier’ at least (from memory, it’s been about 7 years since I read it) was a bit more focused on the stories and characters the audience knew or cared about. Even if a lot of the gaps didn’t necessarily need filling in.
I’m happy enough to take or leave them as to whether they’re ‘canon’ in any case.

I didn’t mind most of what you’ve mentioned above, as I at least felt like it was all connected by some overarching intent, even if I don’t have the intellect to explain it. I’ll admit maybe a little bit more explanation for Jeffries would’ve been nice. 

[Rushy]

 I didn’t mind most of what you’ve mentioned above, as I at least felt like it was all connected by some overarching intent, even if I don’t have the intellect to explain it. I’ll admit maybe a little bit more explanation for Jeffries would’ve been nice. 

I’m not saying it wasn’t, simply that I didn’t care. The genius of old Twin Peaks was how everything had this emotional foundation. The details of the Laura Palmer investigation were never that important, what mattered was what it revealed about the town and its citizens. They were a vehicle to tell stories about Twin Peaks. 

I’ll freely admit that the original run is not as creatively ambitious as the Return, but when it comes to thematic coherence, it far outstrips its successor. The Return is all about complicated subversions, whereas the original is kind of a trailblazer, just there to do its thing without shame. 

[Warbodog]

Yeah, apart from after the mystery’s solved and James heads off on his bike while Cooper hangs around aimlessly and it becomes mostly shit on the spot.

[Rushy]

Yeah, apart from after the mystery’s solved and James heads off on his bike while Cooper hangs around aimlessly and it becomes mostly shit on the spot.

I disagree with that. It’s not the most compelling period of the show, but there’s still a lot of intriguing storylines. And Bob’s fate was left hanging as a massive cliffhanger after Leland died. As a viewer, I always figured they’d start delving into his background and then they did, with the Black Lodge and my beloved Windom Earle…

[Rushy]

Jennifer Lynch and Sabrina Sutherland (David’s long-term assistant) are talking about publishing his final script “Unrecorded Night” as a book. 

Apparently, it was set to be a television series of about 13 or so episodes. According to Sutherland, it would have been his greatest artistic achievement if filmed. :(

[Author]

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