David Lynch and me

About seven years ago, I slept at my dad’s house and we got a DVD out for the night. At the video shop, he chose Mulholland Drive, which I had never heard of, had no idea about the director and wasn’t really interested. We started watching the film, and it completely threw me. Nothing made sense, there was no likeable lead character, and it scared the crap out of me.  The vision of the person behind the Winkies is still burned into my retinas. Here’s a video of it:

The film really troubled me, I just couldn’t get a grasp on it or understand what it was about. It’s now one of my favourite films. I bought it a couple of years later, just to see if I could make any more sense out of it. I still can’t now –  but I love it. There’s something about the mystery, the darkness, the whole feel of the film, the edginess, the creepiness that makes it stand out. Angelo Badalamenti’s music is astounding, and Llorando by Rebekah del Rio makes me blubber like a middle-aged woman watching Titanic.

My dad always used to bang on about how good Twin Peaks and how good it was. I bought him the first box set as a birthday present a couple of years ago, and borrowed it as soon as I could. The series is so good, so so good. The music, again was what really kept me, with Badalamenti conducting one of, if not the finest TV themes ever written.

BOB scared the crap out of me as well, Lynch has such an eye for the horrific images. The next Lynch production I saw was Fire, Walk With Me. Again, Lynch’s prowess behind the camera again scared me half to death. The scene where BOB/Leland Palmer crawls through the window to rape Laura is truly horrific. Mark Kermode has said that the only film adaptation of a TV series that has been better than the original series is FWWM. I’m not sure about that, but the imagery will live with me forever, as will the TV series (which I’m about to resume watching in a minute).

Last night, I watched Inland Empire. I’m still reeling from it. Like watching Mulholland Drive again for the first time, it has really thrown me, and I’m still yet to let it all sink in – the ideas, the characters, the length. I’m not sure if I’m going to post anything else about Inland Empire, maybe in a few days it will come calling me again, like MD did, but for the moment, I’m still trying to deal with what one blogger has called the first and only 11D film.