David Lynch - Classic or Dud

crosspost

Yeah, quite right. I read the book a year before the movie came out so my timing was perfect there...

although, N. has had my copy of the cinema one for nearly a year, now.

cremaster's opulent mythboredom reminded me a lot of dune

absolutely. it's funny how the production design seems to be the central concern of the film for much of its length, but unlike other well-appointed films, the design is actually so rich it actually sustains interest.

this movie redeems dino dilaurentis's reputation from all the europudding he's made. (well, this movie and "blue velvet.")

the last half hour is a mess, yes, but it's compelling for being so incomprehensible. the ending, if you haven't read the book, is just quizzical--all the more so for being so terrifically bombastic and theatrical.

FWWM, like Dune, does have a lot of extra footage still sitting there. As a fan of fractured, difficult art I'm not too bothered about seeing it restored. Pretty much all the series cast shot scenes.

Err, Lynch incidentally is brain-crushingly classic.

There's a much better book out there if you can find it at all -- The Making of Dune by Ed Naha. He was hired to essentially hang around on site during the entire length of filming and write a book about it all and did a fantastic job, I thought. While essentially uncritical about the final product itself, it actually doesn't talk about that so much as just the filming itself. Also laden with tons of photos.

Here's ten, in order of "classicness":

1. Mulholland Drive
2. Eraserhead
3. Blue Velvet
4. Wild at Heart
5. Elephant Man
6. Twin Peaks
7. The Straight Story
8. Dune
9. Fire Walk with Me
10. Lost Highway

1. Mulholland Drive
2. Blue Velvet
3. Eraserhead
4. Elephant Man
5. Lost Highway
6. Fire Walk with Me
7. Twin Peaks
8. Dune
9.The Straight Story

sorry, jaymc, my aside has troubled you, AND i used the wrong tense in one sentence!
and it revived a discussion, how about that ?
but huh ?, you haven't commented on Princess Anne and the BAFTAs, which was what i was getting at. Or anything else beyond the semantics of said paragraph. What do YOU THINK ?

I'm not sure I'll ever get round reading the book so could somebody please summarize what it adds to the movie?

David Lynch: Well, you know, nature can teach us a lot of things, and there's
something about, in painting, you're working within a certain shaped
canvas and there's many things that you, you know, one does
intuitively, to move the eye, you know, there's repetition of shape,
there's repetition of colour, but when you start looking at a duck,
you see your eye is moving in a certain way, and you see textures and
colours and shapes and you start wondering about a duck, what it can
teach us about, you know, any kind of abstract, you know, painting, or
proportions or even sequences, scenes, and it always is interesting
that the eye is in the perfect place - if you move it to the body, it
would get lost, if you move to the leg or the beak, it's two, kind of,
fast areas competing, even though the eye is the fastest, it's the
little jewel.

DL: Well, there's slow and fast. An empty room is a certain speed,
and a person standing there is another speed, and that proportion is,
you know, can be beautiful, if the room is a 2 and the person is a 7.
I think a person is around a 7; fire and electricity can go up to a 9,
for instance, or really intricately designed, you know, decorative
room is pretty disturbing, sometimes - it's too fast. But then if you
put something slow in it, it could work beautifully. A busy room and
a person, they fight each other. So...

MC: Is this to do with how fast our eye moves to scan it, to see
what's happening?

DL: It's a relationship thing, I think. Fast and slow areas.

MC: OK. What is the eye of the duck scene in Straight Story?

DL: I haven't thought about it. I have to think about it. I can't
just jump in and think, but I believe every film has the eye of the
duck scene. But, it can fool you. You know, which one it is - it
could be the scene we were talking about, I don't know.

MC: What's the eye of the duck scene in `Blue Velvet'?

DL: I used to know.

MC: Is it the `In Dreams' song.

DL: It's the eye of the duck, that's the eye of the duck, yes, yes.

[clip `in dreams']

MC: And what's the eye of the duck scene in Elephant Man?

DL: (laughs) I used to know.

MC: Is it the scene where he goes to the theatre? Near the end?

DL: No, I think, strangely, the eye of the duck scene is the ending.

- Lynch the American

http://www.dgp.toronto.edu/people/stam/suomi/stam/pics/duck_rabbit.gif

I always knew about Ebert's infamous "Blue Velvet" pan, but I had no idea he didn't dig "The Elephant Man," either.

Hadn't seen "The Straight Story" in ages, what a miracle that movie is.

Truly

agreed

is there a better screen performance than harry dean stanton's in this?

Btw, I have the StudioCanal 4k (looks great) and it starts off with a disclaimer, sort of like what they put in front of Tom & Jerry cartoons or certain animated shorts. "It was a different time and this movie may insensitively depict those times," something like that, though a little longer and better written. I was a little surprised, because the movie is rated G, and while not for kids, per se, it's famous for being generally inoffensive. So having not seen it in so long, I kept an eye out for what possibly got flagged, and the only thing I could imagine is Sissy Spacek's performance. She has a slight stutter, and at one point is described as "a little slow." That's the best I could come up with.

Might be there as a pre-emptive measure in case some fraudster tries to sue for 'emotional trauma' or the like

Saw it when it came out so had no knowledge of HDS's cameo, when he appeared onscreen a golden glow of happiness suffused me

HDS interviewed Madonna, I just discovered:

https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/madonna-harry-dean-stanton-interview

Spacek is wonderful opposite Farnsworth; she deserved a nomination just for the scene where she looks out the rain-splashed window.

It's great that Lynch was able to bring in Spacek, who helped fund Eraserhead.

FWIW, about 01:13:30 into this, there's a pretty amusing description of what it's like to be randomly assigned to a table with David Lynch and Albert Maysles. The posts mentioning Sissy Spacek reminded me of this. (It'll make sense when you hear the anecdote.)

Hilarious that I bought the blu-ray in great anticipation of rewatching, and before I could do so there's a 4K release. Oh well. I remind myself I live in an incredible era when near-cinema-level film experience at home costs less than a couple of cinema tickets.

xp Not loading for some reason, but at one point, the guy (who does a great David Lynch impression) recalls Lynch spotting Spacek in the distance and repeating out loud "Sissy Spacek! Sissy Spacek!"

Ah, even better, it's on Spotify - here's the direct link

Okay that is truly awesome, thanks

I sometimes imitate Lynch talking about Naomi Watts but I've got nothing on that guy.

and of course Spacek's husband Jack Fisk is one of the all-time great production designers.

He directed her and Kevin Kline in the movie Violets Are Blue which I remember as being pretty good.

Fisk was the man in the planet in Eraserhead. Lynch’s… unorthodox makeup techniques were miserable for him.

Lynch and Fisk knew each other since they were kids and they lived together for a while, they were both painters.