Customer Reviews

Lynch: One

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Many of the best scenes from this stylish and unpredictable documentary are of David Lynch telling stories. This is a man with an apparently bottomless reservoir of true-life tales that are every bit as humorous, disturbing, and all-out absurd as the stories from his films like ERASERHEAD, BLUE VELVET, MULHOLLAND DR., and others.

For instance, there's the story about the time he became obsessed with "popping" an enormously bloated dead cow with his pick-ax. Let's just say the effort backfired.

Or the time he found himself pinned breathlessly against his steering wheel in the middle of traffic by a ponderous, house-eating floor sander.

Um...

Or there's that black and white French film ("But I swear there was color in it, although I don't know HOW!"), entitled "Blood of the Beast," in which the world's most efficient slaughterhouse makes a horse disappear in record time.

And on and on and on...

But aside from chronicling many of Lynch's alternately grotesque, hilarious, and sometimes even poignant, stories, LYNCH (ONE) also gives you insight into: Lynch the mad carpenter at work in his shops; Lynch the enthusiastic practitioner of Transcendental Meditation; Lynch the meteorologist, delivering idiosyncratic daily weather reports to his official website members; Lynch the iconoclastic artiste, brewing up a batch of baffling and compelling new works; Lynch the charmer explaining to Laura Dern the real reason why he calls her "Tidbit"; and even Lynch the rock star recording his distorted, otherworldly vocals to the INLAND EMPIRE theme song, "Ghost of Love".

And speaking of INLAND EMPIRE, quite a bit of this film is a fly-on-the-wall look at the unusual gestation process of Lynch's latest absurdist extravaganza. For those who still don't know, IE is a three-hour mind-bender (and the bonus disc provides 74 more minutes of footage entitled MORE THINGS THAT HAPPENED) that, two years after its release, absolutely no one on earth has a solid, working interpretation for. Check it out.

But getting back to LYNCH (ONE), the dvd is generously packed with bonus features which, although they can get a bit tiresome, contain all sorts of hidden gems throughout.

It should also be noted that LYNCH 2 (the follow-up to LYNCH [ONE]) is included on the sprawling INLAND EMPIRE bonus disc. L2 focuses on behind-the-scenes IE production footage, as opposed to LYNCH (ONE), which is more about Lynch's background, personal philosophies, and approach to craft.

All in all, this is a film that no Lynch fan, and no fan of INLAND EMPIRE, should ever pass up.

Oh, and happy Bastille Day!

It's great to be able to see Lynch at work in something more concrete than a DVD extra or two, and this doc gives fairly good insight into the man doing his thing. The four stars come from that.

Had to take a star away because of how short it is compared to how much footage was shot, and also because the director did a bit of an amateurish job of imitating Lynch's trademark visual mechanisms and scattered editing style. I would've rather just had a straight-up 200 minute documentary about Lynch without any huge focus on artistic representation(outside of Lynch at work of course): if the mystery is being exposed to a certain degree, don't try to shroud it in mystery's cloak.

A must-have for Lynch fans though.

From the first scene I was gripped and fascinated, not only by the eccentric Lynch, but by the pure artistry of the film itself. From the music and sounds to the vivid imagery and the intelligence of the storytelling I found the film a complete experience. I highly recommend this film.

I can only fault this film for price. I believe that Inland Empire, a hugely ambitious 3 hr. film including Lynch Two and a lot of other worthwhile content costs around the same (I bought Lynch One for over [...]bucks). Many people were disappointed in Inland Empire. That, at least amongst Lynch fans, baffles me in one way, but in light of how painful it can be, not. Anyway if that is the case with you, ignore this. It has a lot to do with the creative process behind the film. Lynch is probably one of the few living film-makers who is not fooled by the Hollywood dualistic deception between the 'entertaining' side of film and the side of a film that gives its artistic merit. I cannot say that I can name another film-maker living or dead, American or other, who so focused on fulfilling his own creative endeavors apart from secondary ambitions. Inland Empire, and Lynch is not worried about entertaining the spectators. The movie can be painful. Hell is a theme, and I would cite it as a major theme. There has not been a film, in my opinion, that has come close to Inland Empire for the magnitude of artistic accomplishment. Anyway, this film gives a surface look at the creative process Lynch uses. You will not get inside his head. He will not talk about meaning. One of the best things he does say is that an artist can't do good work when he's suffering. People are even starting to realize this about Van Gogh. The painter suffered a lot, and the suffering showed him things that would have otherwise remained hidden, yet he could only paint when he was through the roughest times. Anyway, to be honest, what you'll be paying for is a bonus disc if you buy this, though i must say one that is done very well. Beautiful photography and tidbits about inland empire. At ten, twelve bucks, it would be a no-brainer, but over twenty? Well, I suspect the hardcore Lynch fans will buy it anyway, but if you're missing one of his features, buy that first.

I was hoping for more in depth interviews and insights into Lynch's film making. This definitely has its moments, but not enough of them. I'm a Lynch devotee, and glad I saw this despite its disappointing general lack of insight. I hope the next two in the series are more revealing.