In response to my Scorcese post yesterday and friend asked what about David Lynch?. My answer below. *** Im a HUGE David Lynch fan, I actually collect Twin Peaks memorabilia, and just recently re-watched the entire show for probably the 7th or 8th time late last year. I may actually add a Twin Peaks Pilgrimage to my sabbatical first week of August (twinpeaksfest/). Im quit ashamed that he didnt come to mind when thinking of the greatest directors (I did mention my rapidly fading memory right?). That being said, Lynch is a particular beast in that he his truly an acquired taste and, outside of the commonly acknowledged quality of Twin Peaks and its impact on television as a whole for being the first series to truly bring cinematic production values to the small screen as well as a unique mood and mix of genres that have influenced many groundbreaking shows afterwards (The X-Files and Lost certainly come to mind), many of Lynchs works have not had a tremendous impact, whether critically or commercially on the masses in the vein that Scorcese, Kubrick, Scott or Eastwood have. This is a disheartening yet undeniable fact. So when someone has limited exposure and a limited core fanbase, its difficult to lump them in with the greats, and trust me I hate to use these labels... Youll notice that in my original post I didnt engage the discussion around my favorite directors, but around the ones I consider the greatest of all time (aka GOAT). I would consider the criteria for GOAT as having: 1) undeniable critical success 2) undeniable commercial success 3) a substantial catalog of work spanning a significant period of time (I would have to further ponder exactly what those quantities are, but per my original post Fincher does not fit them yet, while the others do) 4) notable influence over future filmmakers 5) a unique flair that appeals to my particular tastes So lets compare Lynchs entire body of work against my criteria of GOAT: 1) He moderately and inconsistently succeeds critically, as his most Oscar-nominated work (8 with no wins) remains for the Elephant Man, and while a great movie indeed, is that really what we will remember as the epitome of his craft and style? I think not. A real shame he didnt win the Best Director award for Blue Velvet for which he was nominated, but somehow Im pretty sure he didnt lose sleep over it either... 2) He moderately and inconsistently succeeds commercially: While Twin Peaks was massively successful in its first season, lets not forget it was quickly and abruptly cancelled at the end of the second one, mainly due to a plummet in quality of the show itself, which even I will agree to. As for his features, lets be candid here - Lynch is primarily a boutique, cult filmmaker, not a midnight-showing blockbuster director. 3,4&5) He succeeds undeniably as a director with a broad spectrum of work that has heavily influenced other current, successful and relevant filmmakers (JJ Abrams anyone?) and I personally love what he does. Blue Velvet, Lost Highway and of course Mulholland Drive are among my favorite movies of all time. I would say Blue Velvet is probably his best movie as it truly epitomizes his unique brand of filmmaking, establishing his oft-used dream-like sequences, unique polarizing characters (Dennis Hopper as the creepiest villain of all time), and a mix of almost-impossibly juxtaposable moods (from aww shucks humor to hold me tight my love compassion to full blown sweet lord that is the creepiest shit ever committed to film incestual perversion). These themes would all go on to become the creative pillars behind the mainstream appeal and success of Twin Peaks. And as opposed to Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, Blue Drive was for the most part understandable by the average mortal and didnt require a decoder from an enlightened alien species to grasp its plot and symbolism. What I loved about Mulholland Drive in particular though was that when I left the theater, I had no clue what it was that I just saw but found myself impeccably entertained. I think that unforgettable girl-on-girl scene between Naomi Watts and Laura Harring may have had something to do with that...*wink smilie with tongue out*. Ultimately, I believe that to be the charm and appeal of Lynchs work - this ability to generate truly unique audio visual portraits (Angelo Bandalamenti should be mentioned here as the greatest composer in the business) and provoke an incredible array of emotions that will have you grinning from ear to ear, crying, laughing hysterically, cringing in disgust and mortified at the core of your being all within the span of roughly 90 minutes. His work is unapologetic, unexplainable, uncompromised, and (disregarding the production mishap that is Dune) truly integral. Theres a reason why there is no such thing as a Directors Cut version of Lynchs movies...He puts them out when theyre done according to HIM and no one else. And God bless him for that. That also makes him my favorite director of all time.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Feb 2014 16:33:03 +0000
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