Movies that make you go WTF are special indeed. Just ask (or read) this Whatculture contributor who’s viewing habits make Hollywood focus groups cringe in fear that she has such influence on main stream culture. While we all bitch about the current state of cinema with its popcorn predictability, dumbed down mass releases and beating on the usual dead horses, let’s instead take a look at a visionary director that has such influence on cinema that his contribution cannot be overlooked at a time when our attention span is so short that we want to just jump into the main part of this article, so much so that it’s difficult to follow to the end of this sent
David Lynch is an oddity within himself. A non-mainstream visionary who hit the mainstream right in its American nutsack. His film genre CV reads like a student itinerary with ‘Undeclared’ written all over his class choices. Nothing wrong with that. Yet at a time when ‘family connections’ play such a large part in Hollywood’s next generation of film-makers, Lynch is the strange uncle at the family Christmas Party that nobody ever talks about yet you found he was the most amazing person in your family.
Here’s a personal ranking of David Lynch films, in order of bizarre surrealism, story-telling and cinematic vision.
11. The Straight Story (1999)
This is the easiest of the bunch when ranking WTF, although it bears special merit as straying far outside the norm, like Snoop Dogg doing a song with Miley Cyrus. The Straight Story is what it proclaims to be: a rather straight up bland Americana drama (for David Lynch) based on the true story of a man who drives his lawn mower 300 miles across America to make amends with his ill brother.
No dancing midgets, no moody soundtrack or supernatural splits of reality, it starred Hollywood legends Richard Farnsworth and Sissy Spacek and for a brief moment in time, Lynch’s confusing career trajectory looked like it was heading for ‘After School Special’ territory. It was the only Lynch movie ever to be rated ‘G’ to the viewing audience. WTF?
10. The Elephant Man (1980)
His first true ‘feature presentation’ was this adaptation of the true story of medical anomaly John Merrick. From the full length student/art film head trip on parenthood that was his first film, Eraserhead (more on that later) it led to this collaboration with a big-time wannabe Hollywood producer, Stuart Cornfeld, who’s only previous work was as an assistant to producer Mel Brooks, the man who’s work was as far away as you could get from ‘serious’ art house cinema. Cornfeld enjoyed Eraserhead so much he rounded up the funding and actors for Lynch’s next project.
The Elephant Man starred Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt as the disfigured man at first ostracized then coveted by Victorian society. Call it a pre-cursor, non-sanitary version of Edward Scissorhands. This led to an offer by George Lucas to direct Return of the Jedi, which Lynch refused. Read that again. Lynch was offered and refused to direct Return of the Jedi. WTF to what could have been…
Or you can just shove that out of your brain and watch the full version of the Elephant Man here.
9. Dune (1984)
The early eighties were the glory years of science fiction, Bladerunner, Star Wars, Star Trek the Movie, Altered States and Tron to name a few. Nobody at the time would have put David Lynch and Sci-Fi together after critical success of The Elephant Man but either it was the artistic challenge or a truckload of money that Dino De Laurentiis and Universal dumped on his driveway he opted out of directing Return of the Jedi and instead chose to helm Frank Herbert’s epic science fiction novel. Dune starred Sting, a yet to be Captain Picard Patrick Stewart and soon-to-be Lynch favourite, Kyle Maclachlan.
Not his greatest moment by far, Lynch had difficulties ‘adjusting’ to the creative control the studio had with the final cut and seems obvious even in the trailer; which features that ‘voice from every 80′s trailer’. While some images still maintained the WTF of classic Lynch, this mess would lead him away from the big budget movie trajectory he was on back into territory more to his liking; low budget films with (mostly) complete creative control that would grant him the real bedrock of having his name become synonymous with WTF.
8. Wild At Heart (1990)
There was a time when Nicolas Cage, long before his infamous ‘Bees’ incident, when he was going toe-to-toe with Johnny Depp for ‘oddest character choices’. Following a string of unusual roles, from surfer to 'maybe' vampire, Cage fell into the Lynch mentality and got involved in this quasi-road/love story with Laura Dern oozing sexuality, her mother played by Diane Ladd oozing craziness and Cage’s own inner Elvis. Winner of the Cannes Film Festival Best Picture in 1990, it again fell into that ‘love it or hate it’ category of film viewers/critics and Nic Cageophiles everywhere. Willem Dafoe and his capped teeth brings his usual menacing presence to his role as a hitman and once again, David Lynch made audiences leave the theater going “WTF?”.
About this time, Lynch’s soundtracks and musical tastes were also becoming a large part of his overall process and tone of his movies. Lynch’s schism or motif of being between two worlds plays well in the trailer as the opening moves between the metal riffs of Powermad’s Slaughterhouse to Chris Isaak’s moody Wicked Game, for those that were curious.
7. Blue Velvet (1986)
So what do you do after you jumped from art house director to creepy drama to science fiction? Return to kick small-town Americana in the balls with Blue Velvet; Dennis Hopper’s creepiest movie ever and featuring one of the oddest voyeuristic WTF moments of popular cinema in the eighties. It’s stellar cast included Hopper, Isabella Rossalini, Dean Stockwell and Kyle MacLachlan and was billed as a quasi-mystery/crime-thriller of unusual style and finish. It bounced from a sado-masochistic romance to a John Waters’-esque send up of American culture.
It also showcased the start of a trend that was to become a trademark of Lynch’s style, the bi-polar feel of his movies; the idea that there were 2 different movies you were watching that had been spliced together. To quote Roger Ebert; ”Blue Velvet” is like the guy who drives you nuts by hinting at horrifying news and then saying, “Never mind.”
6. Mulholland Drive (2001)
To most (and by most, I mean me) this is David Lynch’s crowning glory. Whatever medication that resulted in the brief moment of normalcy that hit Lynch during the making of ‘A Straight Story’ wore off in time for him to create this masterpiece. A beautifully shot film that shows elements of his past movies blend into this seamless modern film-noir of a struggling Hollywood actress played by a yet-to-be-discovered-by-America Naomi Watts. When the WTF moment hits, it’s pulled with such subtlety that it should make you want to go back and watch the movie again with this new knowledge. To think that this was to be a pilot for another ‘back to television’ project astounds.
Its plot centers around a missing actress with amnesia who, helped by Naomi Watts unravels the mystery of who she is. The twist in the plot doesn’t hit you over the head with it’s reveal but rather subtly done with mastery and ingenuity. Naomi Watts showcases why she became a lead actress with two very different interpretations of an audition scene which showcase not only Watts but the ability of Lynch to pull great performances out of his actors, much like he did with Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet.
5. Twin Peaks
So after 5 cult films under his belt by the start of 1990, what was next? American television. Back at a time when American television wasn’t threatened by HBO, Netflix or Showtime, ABC television took a chance on Lynch’s ‘small American town prime time soap opera’. Perhaps ABC executives didn’t know who David Lynch was but either way, Twin Peaks and the story of a small logging town in the American Northwest.
It hit television sets to critical acclaim and increasing decreasing viewership as the 2 seasons went on into storyline chaos. Loosely centered on the death of All-American cheerleader girl Laura Palmer, it soon spiralled it’s way into WTF territory with dancing midgets, a alternate universe Red Room, a demon named Bob, incest, drugs, a lady who carried a log and a cross-dressing FBI agent played by the yet to be famous David Duchovny. Kyle MacLachlan returned to working with Lynch again as the hub that held all these different storylines together as Special Agent Dale Cooper.
The soundtrack of the television show also became a best seller, introducing the haunting melodies of Angelo Badalamenti to a generation of disaffected people too young to be emo, too old to be goth.
4. Twin Peaks; Walk With Me (1992)
Despite its abrupt cancellation, Lynch was able to find enough support to direct a special feature film for the die hard fans that needed some closure on the show. Being Lynch, instead of concentrating on the ‘After cancellation’ part, like Serenity did with Firefly, he went with a ‘Before and After’ mix of storytelling to show what truly happened to Laura Palmer. Of course, if you weren’t familiar with the complex back story of Twin Peaks, you were leaving the theater going ‘WTF?’.
Again, reception was mixed. So now he’s hit nearly every major genre except for Action in the movie canon, tried his vision on the large screen and the small. Nothing for him to do but take a break, lick his wounds and come back swinging with another major WTF movie called…
3. Lost Highway (1997)
I remember watching this and seriously thinking ‘Seriously. What. The. F@#k.’ This movie was a schism of epic proportions that was near unheard of as a major Hollywood release. Starring Bill (don’t call me Paxton) Pullman, it was another story that jumped jarringly into another direction upon the appearance of a pale Robert Blake and a major saxophone solo which splits the movie into two different beasts.
Best I can say is that it has an amazing soundtrack featuring David Bowie, Marilyn Manson, Rammstein, Nine Inch Nails and The Smashing Pumpkins and at the very least introduced a whole new generation to Lynch and showed that Lynch’s signature musical style developed with Twin Peaks was not in danger of becoming a stereotype within itself. Bill Pullman, fresh off his co-starring turn in Independence Day managed to derail his Hollywood A-Train and fell back into his natural position in Hollywood hierarchy.
2. Inland Empire (2006)
Now we are getting to the bookends of Lynch’s film career. Lynch’s last major theatrical work, clocking in at around 3 hours Inland Empire follows the same WTF feeling of Lost Highway and Muholland Drive as we follow the movie within a movie descent into madness of an actress (Laura Dern) who believes her latest film project is cursed. There is a plethora of cameos from actors of previous Lynch films and I believe this was entirely shot on HDD video, which was just starting to make waves and without an actual finished script, a lot being just ‘free-wheeling’ scene construction on that day.
Of special note, just in case anyone was thinking Lynch was perhaps becoming predictable in his WTF ideas, that in an effort to promote the film, Lynch made appearances with a cow and a placard bearing the slogan “Without cheese there would be no Inland Empire“. Make of that what you will. It also bore some teasers of his fascination with Rabbits, a theme he would follow up in later years in his backyard studio.
Yet again, critical acclaim and ticket sales were mixed. In a world of increasing predictable money makers, Lynch has proven to be a risky investment for any studio willing to distribute his films.
1. Eraserhead (1977)
First, there is nothing wrong with the sound from the trailer. That’s how Lynch wanted it. Which as anyone who is into actually selling their film will tell you is incredibly, incredibly stupid. Or risky. For those film geeks out there we all know this is the film that he was first ‘noticed’ for. For you burgeoning film writers and directors out there it is interesting to note his script came in at 21 pages, which he stretched into an 89 minute film of WTF. Although difficult to tell by the trailer (which is a theme through the whole movie) Eraserhead is a mostly silent movie that follows the badly coiffed father of a mutant baby, was shot in grainy black and white and became a cult midnight showing in New York and Los Angeles, back in a time when Midnight showings were the greatest thing going (so before the internet gave all us insomniacs a reason to stay home and just watch it on youtube).
Lynch has proven again and again that he is at best an extreme long shot to win the box office weekend but will go down in cinema history with other great auteurs such as Kubrick, Peckinpah and (insert your choice here). Recent years have seen him move away from the traditional movie channels and indulge in his fantasies through the internet where he is able to continue his pursuits musically, artistically and cinematic-ally through whatever he chooses to edit together.
Other films/directors that remind you of David Lynch? Please add them in the comments below so I can schedule my weekend.
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