There
are two types of David Lynch fans who will want very different things from a
Lynch documentary. Casual fans will just want Twin Peaks relaunch spoilers and Dennis Hopper anecdotes from the
production of Blue Velvet. Serious
fans will want something as inscrutable and ambiguous as Lynch’s most recent
films (that really aren’t that recent anymore). Jon Nguyen, Rick Barnes, and
Olivia Neergaard-Holm do not even try to find a middle ground, fully opting for
the latter option throughout David Lynch:
The Art Life (trailer
here),
which opens tomorrow in New York.
Shot
in stylized grainy sepia-tones, Art Life looks like it might exist in the world of Eraserhead, the pseudo-climatic event Lynch’s reminiscences sort of
build towards. Rather than moviemaking, we see Lynch painting in his studio and
telling stories from his suburban youth. Mostly, these are just hints of
artistic bildungsroman, but he gives us one obviously significant and cinematic
incident that clearly helped inspire Blue
Velvet. If anyone ever produces The
David Lynch Story as a narrative feature, it will surely start with that
scene.
Beyond
that, Nguyen and company go about soaking up the Lynchian atmosphere rather
than push him to be more revealing or to stay on topic. It is interesting to
see photos and footage of Lynch as a Kyle MacLachlan-looking youth and he has
some pleasant memories of his old art school buddy and future production
designer Jack Fisk, as well as his early mentor, Bushnell Keeler. However,
audiences should understand going in, there is much more discussion of Lynch’s
paintings (they’re dark, go figure) than say Dune, Wild at Heart, or Mulholland
Drive.
