A Film Babble Blog Retrospective: David Lynch In Three Films

The passing of one of my all-time favorite filmmakers, David Lynch (January 20, 1946-January 15, 2025), made me go back to the reviews I’ve written of his work over the years for Film Babble. In the almost 21 years that I’ve had this blog, I posted about three of the ten theatrical releases he made from 1977-2006: ERASERHEAD, MULHOLLAND DRIVE, and INLAND EMPIRE. These were interesting for me to revisit, as I had forgotten some details like I wrote that I had a “love/WTF?” relationship with the films of Lynch,” and that one of my first dates with my now ex-wife was a midnight show of ERASERHEAD, so I thought I’d gather the reviews for this tribute post.

My first review is from that midnight movie screening that was at the Colony Theater (sadly closed in 2015) in Raleigh, North Carolina as part of their Cool Classics series in the summer of 2008. 

I was mounting a series that didn’t go on very long called “Hey, I finally saw…” where I blogged about seeing a classic film for the first time, and before that night, I’d never seen Lynch’s mesmerizing debut ERASERHEAD in full (I think I saw parts of it in the ‘80s on cable, but I’m not sure). Here’s how it went down (click on the title to read the post):

Hey, I Finally Saw ERASERHEAD (August 8, 2008)

Later that year, the North Carolina Museum of Art presented a screening of Lynch’s ninth film, 2001’s MULHOLLAND DRIVE, which my then girlfriend, and I attended. I had seen the movie before, but only when it was released on DVD in 2002, so it was great to see it on the big screen in the museum’s auditorium. 

The film was introduced by a great local film critic, INDY Week writer/editor David Fellerath, who I quote the in the piece, which amuses me because like with ERASERHEAD, I was trying to figure it out. I also am amused by something I had forgotten, the confused reaction of one of the attendees at the end of the movie. I believe it’s worth the read:

Seven Years Later, Does MULHOLLAND DRIVE Make Any More Sense? (October 28, 2008)

Lastly, I go back further in time (just a  year earlier) to my first review of a Lynch film, his last feature-length production, INLAND EMPIRE, which came out in late 2006. 

I viewed, and reviewed the DVD when it was released in 2007, and I enjoyed re-reading, and re-living my thoughts on the bizarre film (I know, they’re all bizarre). I had forgotten the line “One can not casually watch INLAND EMPIRE - that would be like casually visiting somebody in prison.” Read the rest:

INLAND EMPIRE Burlesque (September 4, 2007)

So that’s what I had to say in past (the 2000s) about three of Lynch’s films. I’m definitely going to revisit his work in the weeks to come, and may post some new re-evaluations here. As for the rest of the master’s movies, I saw THE ELEPHANT MAN and DUNE on cable, but was too young to appreciate them as Lynch works. It was BLUE VELVET (1986) on VHS in the late ‘80s that blew me away, and made me a fan. The others that followed, I saw mostly on home video, but did see a Cool Classics showing of WILD AT HEART at the Colony in 2012.

The Carolina Theatre in Durham, NC, is hosting a free screening of BLUE VELVET as part of their Retro Film Series next Tuesday, January 21, at 7pm, which I might attend, and I’m sure there’ll be a number of other showings of Lynch films in the area in the months, and years to come.

In the mean-time, I posted this handy guide on Facebook, and  it’s worth re-posting:

R.I.P. David Lynch

 

More later…