The Elephant Man (1980)
The Elephant Man
”A surgeon rescues a disfigured man and discovers his kindness and intelligence.”
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Why watch this film?
Following the success in the underground circuit of his first film, the unusual and nightmarish "Eraserhead," David Lynch fell into Hollywood's radar where he got the chance to direct his second feature. Although much more traditional in narrative structure, "The Elephant Man" maintains Lynch's fascination with finding beauty in what others would say is horrifying or grotesque, among images of coldness and even decadence. The script, adapted by Lynch, Christopher De Vore and Eric Bergren, is inspired by two books (from 1923 and 1971) about the true story of Joseph Merrick (called John in the film), who suffered the most severe case of Proteus Syndrome recorded to date, interpreted with great sensitivity by the great John Hurt ("Alien: The Eighth Passenger"), which earned him an Oscar nomination for his performance. The film is also responsible for creating the Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling at the Oscars, as the lack of recognition for the film's achievements in this area caused such indignation, that the Academy began to award the category the following year.
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Plot summary
A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of kindness, intelligence and sophistication.
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From the same director
Blue Velvet
It is impossible to classify David Lynch's filmography into specific concepts and definitions, and it is extremely difficult to determine which of his films is the ideal starting point to dive into it. But this starting point could be 'Blue Velvet', perhaps the one that most concentrates his aesthetic and thematic interests in a more digestible, though no less strange and disturbing way. Just like 'Twin Peaks' would do years later, 'Blue Velvet' proposes a Dantesque journey to the dark depths of the American way of life, behind the facade of peaceful neighborhoods with white fences, colorful gardens and united families, a direct and bold look at all the dirt that lies beneath the roses.
What Did Jack Do?
Anyone who knows David Lynch's films knows that his style is instantly recognizable and, at the same time, unclassifiable and hard to describe. The filmmaker has also not made a feature since 'Inland Empire' in 2006, so any new work, however brief, is welcome by his fans. Filmed in 2016 and presented for the first time at the Festival of Disruption (curated by Lynch himself) in 2017, 'What Did Jack Do?' is a peculiar short film that brings back the same strange and absurd style that characterizes the director, similar to his first film 'Eraserhead' (especially for its sinister setting and black and white photography) or the return of the acclaimed series 'Twin Peaks'. Does the plot make sense? Maybe not at first - and maybe not even on the second or third viewing. But one thing is certain: you've never seen anything like it.
Wild at Heart
David Lynch (‘Dreams of Empire’) loves to play with elements and styles of classic cinema, such as noir, 1930s monster movies, and the like. In 'Wild at Heart', the filmmaker makes a kind of reinterpretation and counterpoint to the classic 'The Wizard of Oz'. To do this, he tells the story of a couple (Cage and Laura Dern) who must flee after the woman's mother hires professional assassins to kill her husband. The journey is strange and psychedelic, surrounded by traditional elements of Lynch's cinema. Cage's performance, taken to the extreme, helps to give texture to the story that, as it is being concluded, gets closer and closer to Dorothy's plot in the Land of Oz. And who would have said: together with Dern, he formed one of the most interesting couples in Lynch's filmography.
Fire (PoZar)
Among cinephiles, David Lynch is most known for movies like 'Blue Velvet' or 'Dreams, Mysteries & Secrets' (Mulholland Drive), but his most passionate fans know he is a total artist who has also ventured into acting, music, and particularly painting. ‘Fire (PoZar)’ is a short film written, directed, and drawn by him, animated by Noriko Miyakawa (who has collaborated with Lynch as an editor on projects such as his series Twin Peaks or his short film What Did Jack Do?), and scored by Marek Zebrowski (a musical collaborator who composed the music for The Empire or Inland Empire). With an ambiguous narrative of surrealistic style and a similar atmosphere to his early short films or his first feature film Eraserhead, the short film was originally presented at Lynch's Festival of Disruption in 2015, but made available for free on YouTube until 2020.
The Spider and the Bee
Few filmmakers could film a spider eating a bee and call it art. Even fewer would put that footage on the internet for general appreciation. And only David Lynch would be praised for it. That's what happened with 'The Spider and the Bee', a short film Lynch shot and released during the new coronavirus pandemic while he was self-isolating at home. Here, over 12 minutes, Lynch captures a spider in full attack mode on a bee. What could have been banal, however, becomes a chilling product with custom sound editing, giving depth to the home video. It's obviously no 'Eraserhead'. But it's still something worth noting. Available for free on YouTube.
How Was Your Day Honey?
Throughout the quarantine caused by the new coronavirus pandemic, filmmaker David Lynch has dedicated himself to shooting a series of shorts, many of them simple and experimental. But none is as abstract and experimental as 'How Was Your Day Honey?', made available for free by the filmmaker on YouTube. Here, he plays with the expression - traditionally used at the dinner table, in family, after a long day of work - with shapes, provocative music and a strange character. It is, without a doubt, a short that should bring more interpretations. But, being Lynch, obviously no one should get close to his intentions with this work. To appreciate, feel and try to understand something.
Scissors
The films of David Lynch often divide opinions: you either love them or hate them. The director has a peculiar way of adapting his ideas - bordering on nonsense and dark. 'Absurda' is disturbing and strangely captivating. It is worth noting that surrealism is present, a very common trait in Lynch's works. Those who have followed the series 'Twin Peaks' or watched 'Eraserhead' will notice the very Lynchian traces. The film is part of a collection entitled 'Cada Um com Seu Cinema', a special to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, released in 2007, which also features collaborations from other directors. At the time, the production was titled 'Absurda', but the director released the film with the name 'Scissors' on his YouTube channel - which is available to be viewed for free.
Dune
The novel 'Dune', written by Frank Herbert and published in 1965, is considered one of the most ambitious works of science fiction literature. It is a deep story that not only launched an entire book franchise, but delved into various topics ranging from environmentalism and ecology, spirituality, the Arthurian model of heroism, and colonialism in human history, among others. For its depth and breadth, it has long been considered an impossible work to adapt to the cinema, though this has not stopped filmmakers like Ridley Scott and, especially, Alejandro Jodorowsky from trying. 1984's 'Dune' was the first attempt at entering the cinema, but could hardly be called a success. Though with quite innovative visual effects for the time, it was a production with pacing and structure problems in its screenplay, an attempt to condense five hundred pages of literature into just over two hours. The film was a terrible box office flop and only achieved cult status for having attempted the impossible. In retrospect, it is unusual in the filmography of its director, David Lynch, as the only multi-million dollar megaproduction in his career after his independent debut with 'Eraserhead' and the modest 'The Elephant Man'; although it was also the film responsible for introducing him to actor Kyle MacLachlan, with whom he would have much more fruitful collaborations in 'Blue Velvet' and 'Twin Peaks'. The cast also drew attention, with talents like Patrick Stewart ('Star Trek'), Virginia Madsen ('Candyman Mystery'), musician Sting and Sean Young ('Blade Runner').
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
After the cancellation of the acclaimed TV series 'Twin Peaks' - caused by low ratings, a consequence of a decline in production quality - David Lynch returned to the world he created with Mark Frost to tell the last days in the life of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), whose murder triggers the events of the series. However, defining 'Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me' as a prequel would be inaccurate, since once again we have Lynch playing with the boundaries between dream and reality, past and future. Unburdened by the limitations of television, the movie is a violent psychological thriller that openly addresses the difficult themes that were only hinted at in the series, giving it a radically different tone and less comic, much more disturbing and equally captivating. Although it was panned upon its release at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival, 'Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me' has been reappraised as one of Lynch's best works, where themes such as corruption and perversion hidden under the beautiful facade of the American dream (as in 'Blue Velvet') recur. As an extra point, the movie is the perfect bridge between the first two seasons of the series and its acclaimed continuation, 'Twin Peaks: The Return', from 2017.
Eraserhead
With a production that was delayed for years due to a constant lack of funds, "Eraserhead" (also known as "Draft Head" or its original title) premiered in 1977, becoming a favorite of the American underground circuit and, at the same time, one of the most powerful and distinctive film debuts. In retrospect, everything that would define David Lynch's later filmography was already present in his first movie, from his twistedly distorted vision of American domestic life to the surreal narrative logic we would see in later works such as "Mulholland Drive" or the "Twin Peaks" series. And like any good Lynch work, the story is far away from both definitive answers and single readings, with explanations ranging from metaphors about human reproduction to anxiety about sex or parenthood. Without a doubt, this is the ideal starting point to approach the director's filmography, as an alternative to the subsequent (less surreal) "Blue Velvet".
Lost Highway
After having developed -with varying success- more traditional narratives in structure with 'Wild at Heart' and 'Blue Velvet', director David Lynch returns to plunge into his surrealist and film noir influences to tell a story that, more similar to 'Eraserhead', escapes the explanations of logic and adopts a texture more similar to that of a nightmare. 'Lost Highway' (also known as 'Lost Highway' and 'Lost Highway', its original title) is a mystery that does not skimp on violence, disturbing images and disconcerting twists, but it does with the explanations. And that's okay: here what matters is the journey, not the destination. As a datum, this is Lynch's first film set in Los Angeles, followed by the narratively similar 'Mulholland Drive' in 2001, and 'Inland Empire' in 2006. Together, they are unofficially known as his 'Los Angeles Trilogy'.
Inland Empire
With totally and absolutely surreal aspirations that discard all traditional narrative logic, 'El imperio' ('Inland Empire') is, so far, the last feature-length film by David Lynch ('Eraserhead'). It is also David Lynch in his most "lynchian" mode, offering here what appears to be a story of an actress (Laura Dern) who, when submitting to filming the remake of an unfinished and supposedly cursed movie, gradually loses her contact with reality. The result is a challenging three-hour footage that follows a similar line to 'Por el lado oscuro del camino' ('Lost Highway') and 'Sueños, misterios y secretos' ('Mulholland Drive') -unofficially forming the 'Trilogía de Los Ángeles'-, interweaving various nightmarish stories whose relationships between them are abstract at best, filmed in digital video format that exalts its delirious aesthetics. Definitely it would be the worst movie for those interested in entering Lynch's filmography, although fans of the director will not only know what to expect from this feature-length film, but will also see his most ambitious, grotesque, sublime, and deliciously confusing and impenetrable work.
Drama
Underdog
In its effort to raise awareness about the precarious social reality of certain sectors of the population, Mexican cinema tends to fall into miserabilism (or so-called "poverty porn"), whether in documentaries or fiction. The quest of Mexican cinema for new creative and narrative horizons is ongoing, and in the case of Underdog (Correr para vivir), director and co-writer Gerardo Dorantes opts for what, in its conventions, is an action and crime thriller extrapolated to the context of the Rarámuri (or Tarahumara) indigenous people of northern Mexico, famous for their running tradition (and their extraordinary talent for it). The plot follows two brothers: Omero (Vladimir Rivera), who dreams of being a runner; and Capó (Manuel Cruz Vivas), who is more talented but also troubled. Both are dragged into a life of service to the drug trade when Capó, in an attempt to provide for his pregnant girlfriend, fails in a cocaine delivery. To be honest, it's a good attempt to steer Mexican cinema towards other directions that are not the typical exploitation of social dramas or anthropological documentaries. However, the film ends up falling into the same vices, representing Rarámuri culture from a superficial and idealized exoticism, creating entertainment from a real social context with little sensitivity.
Downtown Owl
'Downtown Owl' - Searching for a break from her cosmopolitan life in Milwaukee, Julia Rabia (Lily Rabe), arrives in the closeknit Reagan-era town of Owl, North Dakota for a one-semester high school teaching job. But when the small town turns out to be a wonderland of second-string poets, smoldering Marlboro Men, and a social hierarchy that echoes high school, Julia doesn't know if she's come to town to get away from home or to find it. Ed Harris, Vanessa Hudgens, Henry Golding, and Finn Wittrock also star in this Great Plains dark dramedy directed by Lily Rabe and Hamish Linklater. Based on the novel by Chuck Klosterman.
Baby
After his release from a juvenile center, Wellington finds himself homeless in São Paulo. At a porn theater, he meets Ronaldo, who mentors him in street survival. Their bond evolves into a turbulent affair.
Cake
'Cake' takes us into the darkly funny world of Claire Bennett (Jennifer Aniston) who initiates a dubious relationship with a widower (Sam Worthington) while confronting fantastical hallucinations of his dead wife (Anna Kendrick). With her feisty housekeeper cum caretaker (Adriana Barraza) ever at her side, Claire searches for human connection and self-forgiveness in this tale of personal redemption.
