Happy 75th Birthday, David Lynch
Wednesday, January 20, 2021 at 3:30PM by Eric Blume
David Lynch during quarantine this past summer
One of the greatest living American film directors, David Lynch, turns 75 today, so it's only fitting we take a moment to celebrate this unique visionary and his wonderful contributions to our cinema. Lynch is so rightfully esteemed and exulted that it's easy to forget he's only made ten feature films during his 40+ years in the industry!
But right out of the box, with 1977's Eraserhead, he delivered a film so singular that it was clear a new voice had arrived. He followed it with 1980's The Elephant Man, for which he received his first Best Director nomination, and while his second film was a bankrolled studio movie on one hand, it still bears Lynch's dark imagination throughout. Lynch was the perfect director to see the soul of John Merrick, as he's always seen the beauty in the "ugly" and spent most of the rest of his career blurring those two ideas, visually and psychologically...
on the set of Elephant Man
Lynch's other two Best Director Oscar nominations came for 1986's Blue Velvet and 2001's Mulholland Drive, and most Lynchaphiles consider one or the other to be his finest masterpiece. Both films could ONLY have come from David Lynch, and both confusing, labyrinthine tales are spun with such deft control and mastery that they'll always be mainstays of cinephile culture.
You can see why actors can't wait to work with Lynch: when they surrender to his vision, he rewards them with high-wire acts that nobody else could serve up. Dennis Hopper's work in Blue Velvet is so out there it's unforgettable. Naomi Watts delivered probably the performance of the decade for him in Mulholland Drive. And of course Laura Dern had several turns with him where she soared into another stratosphere.
A quick story. I saw 2006's Inland Empire at its first screening at the New York Film Festival. During the Q&A after the film, one of those eye-rolling bozos in the audience stood up, never really asked Lynch a question, but proceeded to do a 3-minute recap of the movie's "plot" to show how smart he was. At the end of his tirade, Lynch said to him, "I have to say, I'm impressed. Your interpretation is almost one hundred percent totally wrong."
on the set of Mulholland Drive
Lynch has so many special qualities as a director, but my favorite thing about him is that he really harnesses the power of film, the language of film, to fuck with our subconscious, to uncover fears and thoughts we tuck away to keep safe. Never has a film felt more like a dream than Mulholland Drive...the recurring images that don't add up, the loopholes of time, the juxtaposition of real and imagined locations, unleashed desires, the playing of roles, etc. Lynch realizes the power of having people sit in the dark, and he's unafraid to throw us into the middle of his fever dream. He's trying to get at you not just with your head and your heart, but with your soul, that part of you you're not in touch with yourself.
He's a titan of the cinema, and here at TFE, our birthday wish to him is to please make one more masterpiece.
10|25|50|75|100, Birthday, David Lynch
Reader Comments (21)
INLAND EMPIRE is a nightmarish masterpiece but MULHOLLAND DRIVE is an overrated, confusing mess.
ELEVEN films, not ten, ELEVEN
I had the privilege of meeting him at a DVD signing of Inland Empire. Lost Highway is my favorite of his.
The Elephant Man is my favourite,Dune is misunderstood but his vision and cinematography in it are gobsmacking,I like M/Drive but I don't get it 20 yrs later.
I still get a smile from his Laura Dern and Cow campaign in 2006.
Not to tell anyone how to live his life, but I'm sad that Lynch is semi-retired. I'd love have seen a film from him every year since INLAND EMPIRE. The TWIN PEAKS reboot was good, but I feel like he's at his best when devoting a year or more to one two hour film. MULHOLLAND DR. is the best film of the 21st Century so far.
David Lynch... a true master of art. I enjoy watching his weather reports and his new number game every day as it's often the first thing I watch on YouTube on my laptop.
PP: In terms of equivalency? 10 Features + 2 Features Worth (245 Minutes) of Short Films/Music Videos + 6 Episodes of Original Run Twin Peaks + 1 Episode of On The Air + 2 Episodes of Hotel Room + The 18 Episode Entirety of Twin Peaks: The Return = The Equivalent of 25 Feature Films as Credited Director. That's not a career to sneeze at.
I do have mixed feelings towards Lynch, MULHOLLAND DRIVE is a masterpiece, no question about it,it leaves you wondering, sweeps your feet away, it's brilliant, enigmatic, and masterfully filmed & Naomi Watts deserved an Oscar nomination, she's just superb. Also love THE ELEPHANT MAN and BLUE VELVET but sometimes I get bored watching his weird for weird's sake characters and narrative as in WILD AT HEART and LOST HIGHWAY.
I do have mixed feelings towards Lynch, MULHOLLAND DRIVE is a masterpiece, no question about it,it leaves you wondering, sweeps your feet away, it's brilliant, enigmatic, and masterfully filmed & Naomi Watts deserved an Oscar nomination, she's just superb. Also love THE ELEPHANT MAN and BLUE VELVET but sometimes I get bored watching his weird for weird's sake characters and narrative as in WILD AT HEART and LOST HIGHWAY.
I actually think LOST HIGHWAY may be Lynch's second best film, after MULHOLLAND DRIVE. It's certainly in the top quartet for me: ERASERHEAD, THE ELEPHANT MAN, LOST HIGHWAY and MULHOLLAND DRIVE.
Why is no one mentioning the Straight Story?! A minor miracle that Richard Farnsworth got nominated for it. The scene with the bundle of sticks makes me cry every time I watch it.
Paranoid Android: you’re right about Straight Story, and Sissy Spacek was great in it too (it’s a mystery for me why she did not have traction, awards-wise, like Farnsworth).
My favorite Lynch is Mulholland Dr., one of the best experiences I had on big screen. Also like Wild at Heart and Lost Highway. I can see why Inland Empire is a fan favorite, but it was too much for me, still don’t get it.
My favourite director. The only works I am not 100% ecstatic for are Dune, some parts of Elephant Man, and maybe the Polish half of INLAND EMPIRE (I haven't seen it since it came out). I have just recently rewatched the original Twin Peaks for about the dozenth time and there's truly never been anything like it. It's my favourite *work* of art. I'm also very nearly finished a rewatch of The Return and I had been scared to revisit, worried that I'd be disappointed that the allure of its newness that sustained so much of its original airing would disipate. Instead, I've found myself even more enraptured by it. It's masterful in every concievable way albeit very different to the original two seasons and yet still at a piece. It's pure Lynch heroin and, I guess, not for people who aren't keen on him diving headfirst into lore and science fiction. The entire enterprise is off-kilter, as if the entire world has come undone and is unravelling before our eyes. MULHOLLAND DRIVE is my favourite of its films, but I think his magnum opus is the creation and the world of Twin Peaks. It's an extraordinary work of art. It's not 'a movie' in the sense that it clearly aired as episodic television, but watching it again it's even more obvious that it's, i dunno, an 18-hour TV movie? Episodes stop and start in the most random, un-episodic spots. He goes off on wild tangents, and yet there's a clear three act structure (each act just happens to be six episodes long, I guess).
The only straight I can tolerate is The Straight Story.
I still want a 4th season of Twin Peaks!!
Lynch is in my Top 3 of Directors, right alongside Almodovar and Kar-Wai.
No one will ever capture the fever pitch of dreams or even the atmosphere of silence the way he does.
I was lucky enough to catch INLAND EMPIRE in its only screening at the Miami Beach Cinematheque with a good pal of mine, and Lynch himself video-called in to introduce it to us from his basement (I still see the paintings behind him, 14 years after the fact). His final words to us and the screening room: "Play it... LOUD."
INLAND EMPIRE is a work of art, and I would have named it his masterpiece, but, frankly, Twin Peaks, the entirety of it, will always be his magnum opus. There isn't a single frame of that experience that doesn't drip with the love his actors and crew have for him, and the passion Lynch himself has for creating images that will never, ever, ever go away.
Sigh. I'm not ready to lose him to the ages.
Amazing artist, Lost highway is my favourite
Happy Birthday, Mr. Lynch! Legend and auteur extraordinaire!
On a separate note, can someone explain "Dune" to me? Like, what the fuck did I just see?
Mulholland Dr is one of my all-time favs. Masterpiece. So glad he got nominated for it, but it obviously should've been nominated for more. At the very least Naomi Watts! How did she not get nominated for anything?!
Blue Velvet is also amazing, but truth be told I haven't actually seen any of his others. Well, I have seen season 1 of Twin Peaks and love that too, of course.
I want to see Inland Empire based on all the mentions here. I want to see Eraserhead since it started it all, and I want to see Elephant Man since it's a bit more commercial (though obviously still Lynchian).
What does everyone think of Lost Highway? I love Patricia Arquette and the scene with that creepy man at the party, but it doesn't seem to have been well-received. I still wanna watch though.
Lost highway is a movie about the butterfly
Joyeux anniversaire David