One of the most popular post-modern proponents of cinematic surrealism. A man whose dedication to the expression of pure art through the filmic medium has remained untarnished in the face of commercial demand for 'sellable' product. His characteristic blend of macabre character complexities, resonant social commentary and subtle, disturbing, dreamlike sequences of horror have transformed the small-town art student into a cult icon, whose films are some of the most-anticipated amongst critics and audiences alike.
In an unusual sequence of fortunate events, David Lynch entered into the competitive world of feature filmmaking from a background in the fine arts. David epitomises the modern Renaissance Man, having devoted much of his life to painting, filmmaking, photography, creative writing and musical composition. His determined obsession with the filmmaking process and his tendency to maintain a large degree of control over each of its components reveals the kind of creative drive that independent filmmakers revel in.
David's relentless artistic experimentation and his drive to convey the neuroses and paranoias that plagued him during his upbringing led him towards the development of an innovative, live-textured multimedia painting style. Rotten meat and dead insects became an intriguing feature of his work, and one that led to his interest in developing 'moving paintings'. From this inspired notion, David Lynch created his first short film, Six Figures Getting Sick (1966). His innovative art and 'moving painting' caught the attention of a number of art lovers, one of which offered him funding to create a short film of a similar type. While the project didn't succeed in its initial incarnation, the investor gave David free reign with the remaining money, which he used to make The Alphabet (1968), a short film that Lynch saw as "A little nightmare about the fear associated with learning".
Lynch went on to explore cinematic surrealism in his third short, The Grandmother (1970), before beginning production on the shoestring-budget Eraserhead (1976), which was to be his first feature film release. David Lynch acted as director, writer, producer, composer, editor, art director and special effects supervisor on the film during its five year production, sometimes shooting just one or two shots in a night. Every frame was carefully considered in accordance with Lynch's perfectionist attitude. Not only was Eraserhead the film that established Lynch's trademark brand of social commentary in relation to an analysis of the seedy, macabre reality hidden beneath the glossy façade of routine suburban life, but marked the beginning of his association with actor Jack Nance. The film is considered by many to be Lynch's most personal and most accomplished work.
While Eraserhead's bizarre, quasi-surreal nature made it a relatively unfeasible commercial release, it did gain attention on the art film circuit. This, coupled with David's obvious passion for creative filmmaking impressed Mel Brooks so much that Lynch was hired on the spot to direct The Elephant Man (1980).
The Elephant Man, though shot in black and white and possessing many of Lynch's unique touches, was accessible to a mainstream audience. Its immense critical and commercial success awoke the industry's interest in Lynch's talent. This interest led to Lynch directing the hugely expensive science-fiction epic Dune (1984), which proved to be a box office failure.
Lynch followed this up with another independent feature, Blue Velvet (1986), which is regarded as the archetypical Lynchian work. Blue Velvet stars Kyle MacLachlan, Laura Dern and Isabella Rossellini, three of the director's staple actors, while presenting audiences with a particularly disturbing and complex view of the dark side of the human psyche. Since Lynch's main concern is with human relationships, the horror present in Blue Velvet is intensely psychological. His surrealism, while seemingly existential in nature, is disturbing in its relative familiarity. The film's opening image of white picket fences, blue skies, flowers and manicured suburban lawns have in the past been associated with images of Brady Bunch families and laundry detergent commercials. Lynch is quick to dispel this myth, though, as the tracking shot drops beneath the ground to reveal dirty cockroaches crawling beneath the epidermis of false suburbia.
The director continued to explore the dark underbelly of life in his fresh and innovative Twin Peaks (1990) television series. Unpredictably, Twin Peaks became a huge success as audiences around the world tuned in from the comfort of their seemingly 'normal' lounge rooms to observe the bizarre inhabitants of Twin Peaks with one question in mind, "Who killed Laura Palmer?". In typical Lynchian fashion, the program's most captivating and seemingly central question is left unanswered.
Lynch has often stated that his films reflect life more faithfully than Hollywood's more conventional product because while "In Hollywood…the entire story is understood", "Life is very, very complicated, and so films should be allowed to be, too.". David Lynch was also quoted as saying "I don't think that people accept the fact that life doesn't make sense. I think it makes people terribly uncomfortable.". This uncomfort, though, worked wonders for Lynch in his ultra-violent road movie Wild At Heart (1990) - a post-modern retelling of the Wizard of Oz legend, minus the dog. The film was awarded the Palm D'Or at Cannes, the most significant artistic merit granted to a filmmaker.
David Lynch's latest effort, Lost Highway is arguably his finest, and most complex, works since Blue Velvet. Harking back to the film noir tradition both stylistically and in terms of its mysterious, multi-layered narrative, Lost Highway asks many questions, probing deep into philosophical realms, without offering any answers on the surface. It traverses the bounds of space, time, reality and fantasy, while presenting some of the most intriguing and thrilling characters seen in any Lynchian work.
Even after making films for some twenty years, David Lynch has avoided the lure of the more commercially viable product of mainstream Hollywood, realising his dream of creating works that force his audiences to ask questions about themselves and the reality that they have come to accept. His dreamlike horror is all the more affective in its subtle nature, as it crawls beneath the skin of the viewer, enticing him to open his mind to the fantastic, the magical and the surreal aspects that make humans so very unique.
