On My Shelf: Eraserhead (1977) ...And an Extended Twin Peaks (2017) Rant
So, in preparation for watching the last few episodes of Twin Peaks: The Return (aka Season 3)... We decided to do some other David Lynch viewing, and watched the movie Eraserhead.
First off, I'd like to say that I have avoided watching this movie (despite owning it) for a couple years, based on one of my relatives telling me that it was "kind of a downer." I tend not to enjoy downers (who is in the mood to get purposefully depressed? Not me!) so I put it off. After watching it, though, I was like, "Was that a downer? I can't actually tell."
The Plot: A sad, desperate man in an ugly world full of ugly sounds finds out he has impregnated his girlfriend (who has since given birth to something "they aren't sure is a baby"). He passively marries her at her parents' behest, and takes her and the "baby" home. (The "baby" is a mass of bandages with a head like a fetal calf). Initially, he escapes into a fantasy world (where a woman with massive papier-mache cheeks who lives inside his radiator sings to him) and is happy, but immediately things take a turn for the worse and the "baby" is disgusting and weird -- and then some stuff happens and it's really unclear what's going on. (Okay. When I say the ending is unclear, I'm not saying I didn't get what happened -- I'm saying I didn't get whether or not what happened was in our main character's mind or in reality -- or whether there is any distinction in this movie between the two.) ...The end?
Why does she have giant papier-mache cheeks? Who knows?By the way -- that description I gave above, vague as it is, is wholly open to interpretation. It's very unclear in this movie how many of the things in it actually happen and how many of them are just inside our protagonist's head. (And that's why I state that I'm not clear on whether this movie is a downer or not. If you take things a certain way - totally! If you take things another way -- it's not a downer at all.) The one thing that is certain is that David Lynch doesn't like living in the city, because he portrays it as a disgusting, dirty place full of constant horrible, metallic sounds.
Oh, and it's full of weird, upsetting people, too.It's very hard to apply traditional cinematic rules to this movie. Well, some of them, anyway -- mainly "storytelling" rules. From a traditional filmmaking perspective, I can say that this movie is that it's a well-made movie that clearly a painstaking amount of effort went into.
This scene just might give you an idea what you canexpect from this movie.
I can also say that your average Joe in the street (you know, the same Joe who poured all that money into Michael Bay's Transformers movies) probably isn't going to enjoy this film. That's not a criticism of Joe; he likes what he likes, and that's his prerogative -- but I can tell you, Eraserhead will probably not be an enjoyable experience for him.
I can also say, from one perspective, that I enjoyed watching it (because it was clever, strange, original and memorable, beautifully shot and full of truly remarkable, evocative sound design) and I can say from another perspective that I did not enjoy watching it (because it was also at times disgusting, unsettling, and painful).
So.... Do I like this movie?
Yes and no.
Do I recommend this movie?
Yes.... and no.
In truth, it's probably a bad time for me to be reviewing this movie. Having just finished Twin Peaks: The Return (aka Season 3)... I'm kind of upset at David Lynch stuff right now. I can't tell you why I'm upset at him (without spoiling the ending of the show for you)... SUFFICE IT TO SAY, I'm upset with him for some of the same reasons folks were mad at him over Fire Walk With Me.
My face, when people say, "The end of Twin Peaks was so artistic!
It was exactly what I wanted!"(...In that, since Season Two of Twin Peaks ended with a cliffhanger, people were hoping that Fire Walk With Me would continue the story and give them some closure. Turns out, Fire Walk with Me was a prequel that only explained things that had already been thoroughly explained on the show already... so, in other words...
Fans, left -- David Lynch, right.Well, The Return isn't a prequel, but, anybody hoping for closure -- that maybe, just maybe, the wound could finally be sewn closed and heal up -- is not only going to have to sit through a bunch of interminable waits in the emergency room, but have the dressing ripped off the wound, and have that followed by several half-hearted attempts at sewing it shut followed by tearing it open a bit wider and the doctor inviting random children to spit into it and jam sawdust in it.)
Does that metaphor make sense? It probably got too complicated. What I'm trying to say is that many parts of The Return were really good and really enjoyable -- but many parts of it also felt like they were edited with no sense of timing or pacing, and there was enough pointless fluff (I mean, stuff that literally did nothing and went nowhere) in the show to make you scream; especially in the middle of the run, and especially in the final episode.
Plus, I now have to endure a lot of extremely pretentious people talking about how "great" and "artistic" it was -- and how anybody who was left unsatisfied better go back to their precious Michael Bay Transformers movies for something a little bit more their speed.
I'm not going to say the new season didn't have its moments, but depending on how it is interpreted, the final episode either leaves us with a very interesting question -- or basically just renders everything else we just watched a moot point. If we're going to get a season four, that's one thing, but David Lynch did already give us the extremely unsatisfactory Fire Walk With Me as a terminal chapter to the show, so this might just be it. In which case --
David Lynch in black tights, fans in yellow tights.
Fans, left -- David Lynch, right. In case you can't quite tell,
he first delivers a stone-cold stunner, then flips us off.... But, oh, Eraserhead. Yeah, that thing.
I will say, after watching Eraserhead, some parts of Twin Peaks: The Return that had previously been kind of inexplicable actually do feel like scenes from Eraserhead. (EPISODE EIGHT. When you have seen both Eraserhead and episode 8, you will know what I mean). And that's not necessarily a good thing. The tone and structure seems wholly out of place
Like Eraserhead, episode 8 was in black and white, and had a lot of very weird imagery.
However, unlike episode eight of Twin Peaks: The Return, Eraserhead comparatively
moves along pretty well and has a clear narrative structure. As I mentioned, right now my opinion of everything David Lynch is colored by my annoyance with that very final episode of Twin Peaks. Maybe, over the coming days, things will change, as I read interpretations of the final episode and the series as a whole and people point out things that I missed... but not right now.
And I guess, for "film literacy" reasons alone you should probably watch Eraserhead -- and appreciate all the many things it did right. Not to mention the fact that this movie is 40 years old now, made in the 70's, but could be a brand-new movie in its timeless weirdness and sheer filmmaking quality. So, watch Eraserhead if you can handle really, really weird movies, and want to get a bunch of oblique pop-culture references that have been made in the ensuing years. (But, it's probably not going to be the casual movie-watcher's cup of tea.)
(And, if, like me, you're kind of upset with David Lynch right now, maybe you should give it some time before you watch this...)
RECOMMENDED(With Reservations).
First off, I'd like to say that I have avoided watching this movie (despite owning it) for a couple years, based on one of my relatives telling me that it was "kind of a downer." I tend not to enjoy downers (who is in the mood to get purposefully depressed? Not me!) so I put it off. After watching it, though, I was like, "Was that a downer? I can't actually tell."
The Plot: A sad, desperate man in an ugly world full of ugly sounds finds out he has impregnated his girlfriend (who has since given birth to something "they aren't sure is a baby"). He passively marries her at her parents' behest, and takes her and the "baby" home. (The "baby" is a mass of bandages with a head like a fetal calf). Initially, he escapes into a fantasy world (where a woman with massive papier-mache cheeks who lives inside his radiator sings to him) and is happy, but immediately things take a turn for the worse and the "baby" is disgusting and weird -- and then some stuff happens and it's really unclear what's going on. (Okay. When I say the ending is unclear, I'm not saying I didn't get what happened -- I'm saying I didn't get whether or not what happened was in our main character's mind or in reality -- or whether there is any distinction in this movie between the two.) ...The end?
Why does she have giant papier-mache cheeks? Who knows?By the way -- that description I gave above, vague as it is, is wholly open to interpretation. It's very unclear in this movie how many of the things in it actually happen and how many of them are just inside our protagonist's head. (And that's why I state that I'm not clear on whether this movie is a downer or not. If you take things a certain way - totally! If you take things another way -- it's not a downer at all.) The one thing that is certain is that David Lynch doesn't like living in the city, because he portrays it as a disgusting, dirty place full of constant horrible, metallic sounds.
Oh, and it's full of weird, upsetting people, too.It's very hard to apply traditional cinematic rules to this movie. Well, some of them, anyway -- mainly "storytelling" rules. From a traditional filmmaking perspective, I can say that this movie is that it's a well-made movie that clearly a painstaking amount of effort went into.This scene just might give you an idea what you canexpect from this movie.
I can also say that your average Joe in the street (you know, the same Joe who poured all that money into Michael Bay's Transformers movies) probably isn't going to enjoy this film. That's not a criticism of Joe; he likes what he likes, and that's his prerogative -- but I can tell you, Eraserhead will probably not be an enjoyable experience for him.
I can also say, from one perspective, that I enjoyed watching it (because it was clever, strange, original and memorable, beautifully shot and full of truly remarkable, evocative sound design) and I can say from another perspective that I did not enjoy watching it (because it was also at times disgusting, unsettling, and painful).
So.... Do I like this movie?
Yes and no.
Do I recommend this movie?
Yes.... and no.
In truth, it's probably a bad time for me to be reviewing this movie. Having just finished Twin Peaks: The Return (aka Season 3)... I'm kind of upset at David Lynch stuff right now. I can't tell you why I'm upset at him (without spoiling the ending of the show for you)... SUFFICE IT TO SAY, I'm upset with him for some of the same reasons folks were mad at him over Fire Walk With Me.
My face, when people say, "The end of Twin Peaks was so artistic!It was exactly what I wanted!"(...In that, since Season Two of Twin Peaks ended with a cliffhanger, people were hoping that Fire Walk With Me would continue the story and give them some closure. Turns out, Fire Walk with Me was a prequel that only explained things that had already been thoroughly explained on the show already... so, in other words...
Fans, left -- David Lynch, right.Well, The Return isn't a prequel, but, anybody hoping for closure -- that maybe, just maybe, the wound could finally be sewn closed and heal up -- is not only going to have to sit through a bunch of interminable waits in the emergency room, but have the dressing ripped off the wound, and have that followed by several half-hearted attempts at sewing it shut followed by tearing it open a bit wider and the doctor inviting random children to spit into it and jam sawdust in it.)Does that metaphor make sense? It probably got too complicated. What I'm trying to say is that many parts of The Return were really good and really enjoyable -- but many parts of it also felt like they were edited with no sense of timing or pacing, and there was enough pointless fluff (I mean, stuff that literally did nothing and went nowhere) in the show to make you scream; especially in the middle of the run, and especially in the final episode.
Plus, I now have to endure a lot of extremely pretentious people talking about how "great" and "artistic" it was -- and how anybody who was left unsatisfied better go back to their precious Michael Bay Transformers movies for something a little bit more their speed.
I'm not going to say the new season didn't have its moments, but depending on how it is interpreted, the final episode either leaves us with a very interesting question -- or basically just renders everything else we just watched a moot point. If we're going to get a season four, that's one thing, but David Lynch did already give us the extremely unsatisfactory Fire Walk With Me as a terminal chapter to the show, so this might just be it. In which case --
David Lynch in black tights, fans in yellow tights.
Fans, left -- David Lynch, right. In case you can't quite tell,he first delivers a stone-cold stunner, then flips us off.... But, oh, Eraserhead. Yeah, that thing.
I will say, after watching Eraserhead, some parts of Twin Peaks: The Return that had previously been kind of inexplicable actually do feel like scenes from Eraserhead. (EPISODE EIGHT. When you have seen both Eraserhead and episode 8, you will know what I mean). And that's not necessarily a good thing. The tone and structure seems wholly out of place
Like Eraserhead, episode 8 was in black and white, and had a lot of very weird imagery. However, unlike episode eight of Twin Peaks: The Return, Eraserhead comparatively
moves along pretty well and has a clear narrative structure. As I mentioned, right now my opinion of everything David Lynch is colored by my annoyance with that very final episode of Twin Peaks. Maybe, over the coming days, things will change, as I read interpretations of the final episode and the series as a whole and people point out things that I missed... but not right now.
And I guess, for "film literacy" reasons alone you should probably watch Eraserhead -- and appreciate all the many things it did right. Not to mention the fact that this movie is 40 years old now, made in the 70's, but could be a brand-new movie in its timeless weirdness and sheer filmmaking quality. So, watch Eraserhead if you can handle really, really weird movies, and want to get a bunch of oblique pop-culture references that have been made in the ensuing years. (But, it's probably not going to be the casual movie-watcher's cup of tea.)
(And, if, like me, you're kind of upset with David Lynch right now, maybe you should give it some time before you watch this...)
RECOMMENDED(With Reservations).
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