David Lynch - The Art Life

David Lynch fingerpainting and whispering "motherfucker" MUAH

David Lynch makes Philadelphia sound like the worst place on Earth... get him on It's Always Sunny.

A somewhat informative study of a great artist, but not without shortcomings. I mainly take issue with its obtrusive style (its - often unnecessarily - dark undertones / copious amounts of superfluous shots of Lynch smoking cigarettes). It's certainly enjoyable, but with such an interesting figure I can't help but think it would've benefited from more often stepping back and letting him speak, à la Eraserhead Stories.

Just saw in a theater as a double bill with Blue Velvet. Will be reviewing at some point

The moments that inform Lynch's work, as always, are the pregnant punctuations of what is left unsaid. The mystery of sexual anger in a suburban idyll, a father figure lacking empathy, a passing recognition of the violence found in the boundary between nature and civilization.

He chose The Art Life

Mediocre documentary. Lynch, who has a bit of the naif about him, makes for a compelling interview, no matter what the context.

Paints nicely the part of David Lynch he used to not talk about.

Lynch talking about his life before he made movies.

Lynch's work, be it the films or the paintings, haven't ever struck me as things that could be enhanced by a biography. This documentary takes the painting as its principle focus. I dunno, mostly it seemed that Lynch's life and background were pretty uninteresting, and it added nothing to my appreciation. The scenes of Lynch at work are best.

I found I had more in common with David Lynch than I thought; I'd walk out on Bob Dylan in a fucking heartbeat.

It doesn't illuminate much about his filmmaking process -- Lynch is known to dodge this kind of interview -- but it's a solid profile about what drives Lynch, his fears, desires and memories. It covers mostly his youth life until Eraserhead and how living in Philly informed his work in an often disturbing way -- a city of fog, oppression, racist, mad people and a huge sense of inner despair and loneliness. Also, that story about the pale nude woman seen in his childhood could easily be in TP.

David was a happy kid but got really scared and is scared still but makes scary paintings now.

É um belo pedaço de vida sobre o Lynch, focando sobre sua juventude e arte que veio pelo caminho, mas é isso mesmo: apenas um pedaço, um relance, um piscar de olhos sobre si. Na Mubi.

It's a decent documentary for Lynch-fans, but it's not really much more than that.

If you love Lynch then you'll love this documentary. We go to the master's childhood and learn about the events that affected him the most. We are lucky to live at the same time as a genius like him.

Documents Lynch's formative experiences, right up to completing Eraserhead (presumably because he's completely reticent when it comes to talking about his films). Clearly edited for affect at times but it doesn't matter - it's normally fairly congruent with Lynch's tone anyway. There's enough here for you to come to your own conclusions about the darkness he's lived through, and how his life has coloured his films.