Comment by handfuloflight

I think it was less the original Zelda than it was Link's Awakening that had the Lynch influence, specifically influence by Twin Peaks

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/12/feature_how_david_...

An (un)obvious connection between Eraserhead and Bloodborne (spoiler!):

https://www.reddit.com/r/bloodborne/comments/xgu21c/eraserhe...

Elephant Man is perhaps the most approachable. Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt are at the apex of their acting careers in this film.

After that Mullholland Drive is absolutely brilliant and has that unforgettable masterpiece diner scene: https://youtu.be/UozhOo0Dt4o?si=GedzAdMh0KIXoHz4

On the other end, save Inland Empire for after you've seen a lot of his filmography and are in the mood for a challenge.

I wouldn't call it his best work, but it is Lynch at his most singular and uncompromising.

Other than the 1980's Dune movie he directed, I think it was either Lost Highway or Mulholland Drive that made me want to know more about David Lynch.

I had to watch Mulholland Drive at least 5 times to get a sense of what it's even about, and I think I must have been the audience for which he made that film, if it wasn't indeed just art to make himself happy (which is the BEST kind).

Anyway, it kind of endears another person to you when you connect with their work. So this one hit kind of hard.

I lost a fellow weirdo, and he'll be missed!

Wild at heart. Very approachable, but gory and brutal. The angst seep trough

Mulholland Drive was my first Lynch movie and led me to watch pretty much everything else he released. I'd still start with Mulholland Drive if I started over again I think.

The lipstick scene. There should be an emoji for that.

Nooooo, not Blue Velvet. That's on my "never watch again" list, because the people in it are so creepy I wanted to just go buy a million guns afterwards.

oh boy. I'd understand if you said to try Mullholland Drive first, second, and third and then go from there.

I'd say twin peaks season 1 and first half of season 2 are Lynch's most accessible work

Yes. Definitely his best.

Dune or Twin Peaks are probably going to be more accessible than anything else.

For Eraserhead, I understand the metaphor of how parenting can be larger-than-life and terrifying and I see how Eraserhead was trying to embody that but I very much didn't appreciate the highly pessimistic ending. It's an early movie that would have benefited immensely from an alternate ending on its DVD.

Eraserhead is borderline unwatchable. I love David Lynch, sort of, but without telling people that they're about to sit down and watch an hour-and-a-half of what is effectively an unwatchable piece of avant-garde cinema, then they're not going to be able to appreciate it.

There is nothing worse than getting excited to see a famous director's debut film, thinking you're going to have a good time, and then getting Eraserhead.

> Surreal is the word I associate with his movies and tv show

And his style of surrealism has been so influential that it has its own term: Lynchian!

    When people say "surreal" they mean "real", it's just most of your life is not very real, just repetition and routine. - Norm Macdonald

Season 3 Twin Peaks is peak "I don't know what am I looking at".

Lost Highway doesn't get the love for some reason. It's got all the DL hits and some of the best cinematography in his oeuvre. The coffee table is peak DL head wound

Also on YouTube: "David Lynch Cooks Quinoa". It's a short film that is both nothing like his films/TV and everything like his films/TV. It's that "cooking podcast" or "recipe blog" that's a meandering journey through life and maybe has some bon mots about living, but also includes a recipe because it does. Like watching a beloved elderly relative do something normal in the kitchen, but also moody and in black and white.

Look, I love FWWM, but that's a brutal way to start. Firstly, it works a lot better if you know TP. Secondly... it's a brutal film. I've seen it a bunch of times and still find some of it hard to watch.

I think that "fire walk with me" poem is so clunky I've refused to watch anything he's ever made.

Great movie, but I'm not sure I would've enjoyed it as much if I hadn't already watched Twin Peaks.

It was panned when it came out (and still inspires downvoting?? not exactly an objective convo here folks) but since then FWWM has gained tons more appreciation.

Family sexual abuse survivors in particular have lauded the movie. It's really DL's most serious treatment of an issue (but makes it harder to watch too).

I'm not really convinced he's on "the wrong side"—we're entitled to strong opinions about the role of film in society and this is either value-oriented or subjective. But I emphatically do admire his willingness to stake his claim without ambiguity.

> His reviews aren't any less interesting even when you disagree with him.

100%

I think Ebert didn't grasp what Lynch was going for with the Dorothy character, because I don't think anyone else in Hollywood was thinking like Lynch at the time.

Blue Velvet challenges you as a viewer to look at the abuse Dorothy suffers and to be a witness -- and that's hard to do as a viewer because it is ugly. Ebert did what a lot of people did and attempted to defend Isabella Rossellini, who had signed on to the movie knowing full well what would be required.

Lynch made two other movies in that same "the audience needs to bear witness and empathize" theme (Fire Walk With Me, Lost Highway) before Ebert caught on with Mulholland Dr.

Agreed. I disagree pretty vehemently with him wrt Blue Velvet but he's one of the few reviewers I trust(ed)

But for the sound track. The scene where Kyle and Laura are in the car and she's talking about — what — birds? The scene, with that sound track, is so haunting.

EDIT: yeah, this scene: https://youtu.be/ncnq2pu4PlE

"Did I ever tell you that this here jacket represents a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom?"

He's elaborated on this and is not talking about ants