DIRECTOR DAVID LYNCH EXAMINES WHAT LIES BENEATH

.....David Lynch is one of those directors that you either really get, or you don't understand him at all. I've seen several of his films, including the infamous "Eraserhead", which was triple-billed with other interesting cult classics at an art-house theatre. He was the executive producer of "Nadja", which is a vampire picture that most people missed out on. It has a wonderful soundtrack and stars Peter Fonda. I also really enjoyed "Lost Highway", "Blue Velvet" and Elephant Man."

.....However, what I want to write about today is his work on "Twin Peaks", a television series from the early l990's. It was absolutely ground-breaking. It was accompagnied by the film "Fire, Walk with Me" (which had a cameo by David Bowie). This was the darkest and most brooding series to be featured on a mainstream cable network. David Lynch managed to sneak in several double entendres. How he got them by the censors, who must have been asleep at the switch, is amazing. It was most likely a reflection of the intellectualism of the wit. Lynch did not pander to the lowest common demoninator. This series forced a person to think. It challenged people to examine the nature of good and evil; is evil actually an entity onto itself?

.....In "Twin Peaks", David Lynch looked at what lies beneath. The show was set in what appeared to be an idyllic, small town in the Pacific Northwest. Ironically, it looked a lot like the town that I had to move to due to my job. Then, Lynch began to peel back the layers. The homecoming queen was a cokehead. It examined incest and the devastating outcome on the victim. The men who seemed to be the leaders of the community might actually be the boogie men from whom we need protection.

.....Well before the X files, he examined what other forces might be out there. There was a sense that the woods could carry a dark undercurrent for all its look of calm. He incorporated native legends into the narrative. Lynch was the first person to really make use of dream sequences to a great extent. At times, it is like watching a surrealist film. The violence, at times, was intense. The scene of the killing in the train car was frightening in that one could imagine the terror of this girl. As an aftermath, the critics at the time commented that never before had grief been so realistically captured on television film. The moment when the mother discovers that her daughter has died is gut wrenching.

.....There is a great deal of very fine acting in the series and the film. For instance, there is a scene towards the end of "Fire, Walk with Me" where we see the extent of Laura's cocaine usage. She is doing it just to get through her mundane days and nights. She is doing it to get dressed. It captures that feeling that the sun is coming up, all of the drugs are gone, one has done an eight-ball by themselves and been awake for three days solid. Now, the day is to be faced---sober. Along with that is the realization that one would also have to face what one was doing the drugs to avoid in the first place. Dead sober with no chance of sleeping.

.....David Lynch asks whether there is redemption or if all hope is lost. His ending is such that you have to make the decision.

.....Each year there is a convention in the town where this series was filmed, with various people involved from it. One year, I would love to go. I just need to talk somebody into being my road trip partner.

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Here's a clip from "Fire, Walk With Me." I've posted another below, in which Laura and her friend have a seemingly philosophical discusion, which takes a poignant turn. I've also found one from "Nadja", for those vampire fans.