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The Grandmother

The Grandmother

1970
Horror
Animation
Short Film
34m
A young boy plants some strange seeds and they grow into a grandmother. Short, surreal, and David Lynch's third film. (imdb)
Your probable score
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The Grandmother

1970
Horror
Animation
Short Film
34m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 57.62% from 482 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(481)
Compact view
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Rated 12 Jan 2021
70
53rd
This movie about a boy growing a grandma is too long. The person handing out these grants to filmmakers either doesn’t watch anything that is submitted and picks at random or is a crazy person. You put the Flying Circus theme over these animations and they’d be a hoot.
Rated 03 Feb 2009
85
88th
My personal favorite of Lynch's shorts. It's creepy, got some cool effects, and has that unrefined energy of a talented director still learning the ropes and feeling out his cinematic niche.
Rated 24 Feb 2012
78
50th
This movie was surreal. I would say my favorite elements of this movie was the use of shadow and color. The boy seems happiest in the shadow and in black and white. When the color orange appears in the film his life gets really bad, from bed wetting to abuse from his mother and father, the color orange is very prevalent in this. The boy uses magic seeds to plant a large potato like capsule that in essence gives birth to his grandmother, his only friend in the film. Sounds are top notch.
Rated 03 Aug 2023
70
52nd
I am choosing to believe this is the prologue to Pierre and Mrs. Tremond in Twin Peaks. And yes, I had to look up both of their names. Thanks to the Twin Peaks Wiki chronicling biographies of every character which seems to so extensive that it is actually fake.
Rated 05 Mar 2009
82
76th
I knew where babies came from, but had always been a little curious as to where grandmothers came from. Thanks David!
Rated 21 Jan 2010
23
1st
Too experimental. Even stanger than Lynch's later work.
Rated 01 Feb 2009
5
80th
The line of reality and imagination is merged again through the twisted mind of David Lynch, this time, in a young boy's perspective. A lot of what I love about Lynch is established here, but it could probably have worked better at half the length.
Rated 14 Mar 2012
95
72nd
A wonderfully creative early masterpiece from Lynch.
Rated 06 Oct 2010
76
53rd
Some pretty creepy shit here, but I adore the dense-void style. Bed-wetting has never been this shameful before.
Rated 19 Feb 2008
74
72nd
Already strong Lych stuff. I like all of the characters in this weird story.
Rated 16 Nov 2007
67
43rd
Expectedly weird, but not as visual as I expected and would've liked. Also for some reason fails at delivering as strong mood as Lynch usually does.
Rated 10 Oct 2020
4
52nd
The first Lynch short film where his cinematic ideas are really able to be seen. The sound design in particular is pretty vintage Lynch. It's still in its infancy of course but the bare bones are there. It drags a bit which is a shame since it's only about 30 minutes long.
Rated 10 May 2011
70
41st
Very good, but I feel if he'd ended it at the part when the kid imagines (?) killing his parents, then smiling at his grandmother it would have been more effective. Everything after that makes it feel too long.
Rated 31 Jul 2009
65
38th
It's Eraserhead Jr, bizarre and creepy, but nothing so disturbing or haunting.
Rated 25 May 2014
66
39th
The Grandmother is very interesting as a milestone in Lynch's development of sound and art design, but as a watchable film, it really struggles. The animation bits are really beautiful though, and I wish he did way more work in that medium.
Rated 06 Jan 2011
70
69th
Odd & Beautiful.
Rated 31 Jan 2021
84
46th
Way too long
Rated 25 Oct 2010
8
80th
Even early on, Lynch was a creepy dude. Thumbs up though.
Rated 12 Nov 2010
72
81st
The clearest evidence prior to ERASERHEAD that David Lynch possesses a singular ability to masterfully manipulate sound and image in order to concoct a world of mystery and nightmare.
Rated 13 Jul 2010
90
86th
Rich and strange. You can totally see visual motifs and themes that continue to develop in Lynch's later work -- the "Monty Python in Hell" aesthetic in _Eraserhead_, and, more generally, Lynch's embrace of the darkness in everyday life
Rated 27 Feb 2007
80
74th
Really weird, just what I expected.
Rated 10 Mar 2010
85
82nd
So now I know how Lynch grew up. As if I had any doubts.
Rated 02 Jul 2010
3
38th
Overlong, but distinctly "Lynchian." Well worth a look.
Rated 19 Jul 2016
3
45th
Primitive and slightly too long, but captivating, especially for its sound design which is of low-budget fidelity, but just as eerie, evocative, and important as in Lynch's later films.
Rated 28 Jun 2017
83
73rd
Apesar de sua linguagem cinematografica rebuscada, o que mais salta aos olhos na filmografia de Lynch desde os primórdios é a alta injeção de sentimentalidade em seus filmes.
Rated 03 Jun 2010
80
79th
Weird. Very typical Lynch movie. It was quite good. Matt! Matt!
Rated 02 Sep 2008
85
77th
#839 - 02 Eylul 08, 03:53 & guclu, urkutucu bir lynch kisasi. Sanirim Lynch'in diger kisa filmleri arasinda en guclusu, en rahatsiz edici ve de en basarilisi bu.
Rated 09 May 2012
78
56th
I see the seeds of Eraserhead being planted here. Lots of odd images that somehow spark an emotional resonance. By the end I was definitely moved even though I didn't know exactly what I had seen. I like Lynch's use of all different styles of shooting and his use of bizarre music and sound effects. It all comes together to form the kind of peculiar world that only Lynch can create.
Rated 23 Jan 2009
80
87th
quite disturbing short
Rated 12 Oct 2015
51
69th
Pretty interesting, both intrinsically and as a document of Lynch's burgeoning insane, cinematic vision.

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