I think it’s the fulcrum between BV and WaH and LH and MD. Combines the best of everything he’s even done – small town surrealism, obtuse symbolism, nut-shriveling terror, and plus it’s really sexy. Plus Sheryl Lee gives the what I think is the best performance in any Lynch film, not to mention the best (along with Emily Watson’s perf. in Breaking the Waves) performance by any Actress in the 90s. It’s a shame that when it comes to time to award people and recognize the best performances actress like Lee are overlooked in favor of hi-brow SNL caricatures a la Meryl Streep, et al. Lynch’s direction of actors is the most overlooked and undervalued skill as a filmmaker.
I think they’re all great (with the exception of LOST HIGHWAY, which is still better than most films). I would argue for Laura Dern’s performance in INLAND EMPIRE as the best Lynch has directed, but Sheryl Less is amazing in FWwM. Of all the Lynch films though—okay, after ERASERHEAD—it’s the only one I don’t feel compelled to watch if it’s one TV or something (in contrast with BV or MD, which I’ve watched literally dozens of times on HBO or Showtime or whatever). FWwM is terrifying and icky and ultimately, really sad. But a great film.
Six Men Getting Sick (six times).
Sorry about the above. I’ve never typed it before and it sounds phonetically beautiful. Wild at Heart. Because of The Wizard of Oz.
suddenly i feel a great need to sit in a booth at an all-night diner and spend several hours discussing Lynch’s work, all the while drinking coffee and milkshakes, knowing full well that when we emerge in the early morning hours, we will see things that are simultaneously goofy and horrifying, and that when i finally get to sleep, my sugar- and caffeine-saturated brain will manufacture synchronistic dreams of such random(?) haunting intensity, that when i’m asked by some sinister stranger, “Do you want to live in a David Lynch movie?” the only possible reply will be, “Yes I think I already do, in the margins — I just know not to look behind the diner.”
I. Mulholland Drive
II. Inland Empire
III. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
IV. Wild at Heart
V. Blue Velvet
VI. Lost Highway
VII. Eraserhead
VIII. The Straight Story
IX. The Elephant Man
Okay and then for X. I am going to throw a wild card and count the Werner Herzog directed My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done because although Lynch is only credited as producer, his feel, HIS FEEL, I can totally FEEL it in that movie… Don’t get me wrong I feel Herzog too. I sense both masters at work. (Lynch’s influence at least)
I’ve never understood the high regard people have for Mulholland Drive. I’ve seen it a few times and each time all I think is that it feels like a TV series that got cut down to two hours (which is what it is.)
Blue Velvet
Inland Empire
Eraserhead
The Elephant Man
The Straight Story
Lost Highway
Dune
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
Wild at Heart
Mulholland Dr.
(though the first three might be a tie for 1st)
Mulholland Drive feels like a self-contained, perfect movie to me (which–and sorry for being redundant right here, and maybe something else–is what it IS to me and, it would appear, it is a consensus among many critics). The psychological calisthenics necessary for the comprehension of MD as a holistic work (which is what it most definitely is (or, at least, what it seems to be to me)) is key..I think. I don’t know I guess I just can’t understand anything other than a high regard, no a superlative regard for the film. I sound dogmatic. But it’s more complicated than that. Patchwork, or a truncated TV series, or anything else that is not the greatest movie of the past 22 years: nope. So, yeah, dogmatic: plain and simple I guess Damn.
1. Mulholland Dr.
2. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
3. Inland Empire
4. Blue Velvet
5. Twin Peaks pilot & final episode
6. Wild at Heart
7. Lost Highway
8. Eraserhead
Still haven’t seen Elephant Man, Straight Story, or Dune. Sometimes (1) & (2) switches depending on which one I’ve watched most recently.
I think FwWM is probably his masterpiece. Inland Empire comes very close, but it doesn’t have the emotional impact of FwWM. In some ways, I see FwWM as the melding of the best of Mulholland Dr. and Inland Empire.
I am one of those Lynch fans who thinks Fire Walk With Me is his masterpiece.
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I think Inland Empire is his masterpiece. But my favorites are MD and BV.
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I think it’s the fulcrum between BV and WaH and LH and MD. Combines the best of everything he’s even done – small town surrealism, obtuse symbolism, nut-shriveling terror, and plus it’s really sexy. Plus Sheryl Lee gives the what I think is the best performance in any Lynch film, not to mention the best (along with Emily Watson’s perf. in Breaking the Waves) performance by any Actress in the 90s. It’s a shame that when it comes to time to award people and recognize the best performances actress like Lee are overlooked in favor of hi-brow SNL caricatures a la Meryl Streep, et al. Lynch’s direction of actors is the most overlooked and undervalued skill as a filmmaker.
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I think they’re all great (with the exception of LOST HIGHWAY, which is still better than most films). I would argue for Laura Dern’s performance in INLAND EMPIRE as the best Lynch has directed, but Sheryl Less is amazing in FWwM. Of all the Lynch films though—okay, after ERASERHEAD—it’s the only one I don’t feel compelled to watch if it’s one TV or something (in contrast with BV or MD, which I’ve watched literally dozens of times on HBO or Showtime or whatever). FWwM is terrifying and icky and ultimately, really sad. But a great film.
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Six Men Getting Sick (six times).
Sorry about the above. I’ve never typed it before and it sounds phonetically beautiful. Wild at Heart. Because of The Wizard of Oz.
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I left his short films off this list; also docs and TV. Bobby Peru FTW.
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Agree that Mulholland Dr. is his best. The first 2/3rds are hilarious. The first season of Twin Peaks is just as funny.
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suddenly i feel a great need to sit in a booth at an all-night diner and spend several hours discussing Lynch’s work, all the while drinking coffee and milkshakes, knowing full well that when we emerge in the early morning hours, we will see things that are simultaneously goofy and horrifying, and that when i finally get to sleep, my sugar- and caffeine-saturated brain will manufacture synchronistic dreams of such random(?) haunting intensity, that when i’m asked by some sinister stranger, “Do you want to live in a David Lynch movie?” the only possible reply will be, “Yes I think I already do, in the margins — I just know not to look behind the diner.”
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I honestly do not eat breakfast in LA diners out of abject fear of that hairy creature behind the dumpster.
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I. Mulholland Drive
II. Inland Empire
III. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
IV. Wild at Heart
V. Blue Velvet
VI. Lost Highway
VII. Eraserhead
VIII. The Straight Story
IX. The Elephant Man
Okay and then for X. I am going to throw a wild card and count the Werner Herzog directed My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done because although Lynch is only credited as producer, his feel, HIS FEEL, I can totally FEEL it in that movie… Don’t get me wrong I feel Herzog too. I sense both masters at work. (Lynch’s influence at least)
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I’ve never understood the high regard people have for Mulholland Drive. I’ve seen it a few times and each time all I think is that it feels like a TV series that got cut down to two hours (which is what it is.)
Blue Velvet
Inland Empire
Eraserhead
The Elephant Man
The Straight Story
Lost Highway
Dune
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
Wild at Heart
Mulholland Dr.
(though the first three might be a tie for 1st)
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Mulholland Drive feels like a self-contained, perfect movie to me (which–and sorry for being redundant right here, and maybe something else–is what it IS to me and, it would appear, it is a consensus among many critics). The psychological calisthenics necessary for the comprehension of MD as a holistic work (which is what it most definitely is (or, at least, what it seems to be to me)) is key..I think. I don’t know I guess I just can’t understand anything other than a high regard, no a superlative regard for the film. I sound dogmatic. But it’s more complicated than that. Patchwork, or a truncated TV series, or anything else that is not the greatest movie of the past 22 years: nope. So, yeah, dogmatic: plain and simple I guess Damn.
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Its just a list, man. Why even respond to someone’s list? It’s like… idk.. THEIR list. Fuck your list!
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Favorite Lynch films:
1. Mulholland Dr.
2. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
3. Inland Empire
4. Blue Velvet
5. Twin Peaks pilot & final episode
6. Wild at Heart
7. Lost Highway
8. Eraserhead
Still haven’t seen Elephant Man, Straight Story, or Dune. Sometimes (1) & (2) switches depending on which one I’ve watched most recently.
I think FwWM is probably his masterpiece. Inland Empire comes very close, but it doesn’t have the emotional impact of FwWM. In some ways, I see FwWM as the melding of the best of Mulholland Dr. and Inland Empire.
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Lost Highway has one of the best movie soundtracks ever!
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