David Lynch (Paperback)

~ Michel Chion (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Everything you ever wanted to know and more-in spades-about the American film director David Lynch." -- The Observer

Product Description

frontis., 39 b&w photos Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart and Eraserhead have turned David Lynch into an American cult figure. This lively book is a uniquely comprehensive account of the only director to have a smash hit TV series in the same year as winning the Golden Palm at Cannes.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 210 pages
• Publisher: British Film Institute; 2nd Printing edition (September 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0851704573
• ISBN-13: 978-0851704579
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,821,607 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easily the best monograph on Lynch, January 23, 2006

By	Anon. (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Chion, who is a critic for Cahiers du cinema as well as an experimental composer, is the author of several exemplary works of film theory (including Voice in Cinema and a wonderful monograph on Kubrick's 2001; the one notable exception is his short book on Eyes Wide Shut, which is a bit of a stinker). Academics may not find his work theoretical enough, and lay audiences may find them too theoretical, but, for me, they are a perfect mixture of concrete analysis and speculation: one leads to the other and back again.
It is not surprising, considering Chion's interest in sound and sound/image relations (AudioVision is the title of one of his earliest books), that he would be drawn to the cinema of David Lynch. Lynch, of course, is known not only for collaborating on some of the music (writing lyrics for Angelo Badalamenti) but for designing his own sound mixes.
The first four sections cover, in roughly chronological order, all the films from Eraserhead to Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. The final section, "Lynch-Kit: From Alphabet to Word," is arranged around a series of Lynchian subjects/motifs, listed in alphabetical order, and is the highlight of the book. Chion's observations here are inspired (see, for example, his comments on Lynch's idiosyncratic use of reaction shots in "Reaction"). Although his books ends with Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, it is not hard to see how the Lynch-Kit could be extended to include everything which follows, and not by way of "explaining" them (and thereby containing the Lynchian universe) but by allowing them to resonate and continue to grow, to proliferate.
An excellent book, which, by the way,is neither a biography nor in Spanish!

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fine piece on a one-of -a-kind director, July 31, 1998

By A Customer

I've always been fascinated by Lynch, and clearly is the author of this book. Chion understands and realizes the power of film. The problems with this book (which should not prevent you from buying it) are the fact that the book is translated from French (character names are misspelled in the process) and that Chion is sometimes too tough a critic (he is hard on Wild at Heart). Overall, one of the best books on Lynch I've read.

2 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book is an interesting biography of David Lynch himself, October 21, 1999

By	Brianne Aveldson (San Diego,California) - See all my reviews

as well as a very detailed analysis of his early art and ideas, only draw back, no "lost highway" chapter