David Lynch

Right... let's write a bit about David Lynch... and indeed, not too much about him, because this is one topic - well, "surrealist films" in general - I am constantly prepairing to write about, but apparently never starting it. Yet, I have already posted some pieces here that I have found interesting, so why not go on with the man who is considered "the first popular surrealist"? Indeed, he has risen to popularity from what is called "underground filmmaking" or "midnight movie" circuit. One interesting thing characteristic to most if not all of his films is that there is always a central emotion in them from which the otherwise unexpected, shocking and irrational events stem from, pretty much as if feelings and emotions buried in the core of our inner realm started to filter through the outer layers of our rational self, infiltrating and finally bending the surrounding reality with them. Events unfold through hard-to-connect pieces of the greater whole, as if we looked into a cracked mirror. As we get more and more pieces, we will be able to get the general picture but of course this picture will always remain "cracked". The result is compelling, together with an intense visual style it reflects our partial understanding of the world and our own feelings. From among his early shorts, I think I would pick "The Grandmother" (1970) a metaphoric tale of childhood trauma, and the consequent intense yearning for love leading to the creation of a grandmother. "Eraserhead" (1977) became a cult hit in which a mutant newborn gives plenty of headache to his unwanting parent. Widespread popular success came with the mystery series "Twin Peaks" (1990-1), while another great successes was a would-be series "Mulholland Dr" (2001) that ended up being a full length film. These and much more could be told of David Lynch, whose other interests involve composing music, painting and meditation. Here I will include a short film from 2010, "Lady Blue Shanghai", the latest of his films that I know of. It answers a question "What film would Lynch come up with for a Dior fashion campaign?"