Is it organic?
December 9, 2011 12:37 AM   Subscribe

 
The amazing thing about it is that there is no way to parody it. It eats its own bizarre tail and chases it with a cup of coffee.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:46 AM on December 9, 2011


I miss David Lynch. I hope Mulholland Drive wasn't his swan song. Inland Empire was basically a bad omen.
posted by ReeMonster at 12:49 AM on December 9, 2011 [1 favorite]


I found it here, I think.
posted by vrakatar at 12:53 AM on December 9, 2011


i liked INLAND EMPIRE, what's wrong with it?
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 1:02 AM on December 9, 2011


This is not the first time David Lynch has brought surrealism to the kitchen...

Nice, fresh water. I'm going to set this pan on the stove and I'm going to light the flame, and it's a nice hot flame. And then I'm going to get the sea salt, this here is sea salt...

The train pulls out of Greece and into Yugoslavia at night. The train went through a barren landscape, you couldn't see anything, it was so dark. And a moonless night, a barren landscape, where we were in Yugoslavia...

And some time, I don't know how long it took, to get to Venice, Italy. And Jack had met this girl on the train and I don't know what nationality she was. Jack and this girl, they became close friends. And in talking to her -- Jack introduced me to her -- it turns out she had never had a Coca-Cola in her life...

And you can see in there, you got the broccoli cooked, the quinoa is all swollen up and cooked, and the bullion is getting mixed in. And now we get the bowl. And we put the quinoa into the bowl...

David Lynch Loves Quinoa
posted by nickrussell at 2:09 AM on December 9, 2011 [3 favorites]


His latest short film is the trailer for the 2011 Viennale, The 3 Rs.

Also, Laura Dern Is Our Only Hope For Bringing David Lynch Back.
posted by muckster at 3:23 AM on December 9, 2011


Have we seen David Lynch's smartphone commercial?
posted by cavalier at 3:38 AM on December 9, 2011 [4 favorites]


Damn fine coffee...
And hot!
posted by brevator at 4:43 AM on December 9, 2011 [1 favorite]


Damn fine coffee...
And hot!


I can't believe this took eight comments.
posted by howfar at 4:54 AM on December 9, 2011 [3 favorites]


:continues to stare, mouth agape, at laptop screen:
posted by Kitteh at 5:12 AM on December 9, 2011 [2 favorites]


I think I'm going to need a cup of coffee before I can watch this. And afterwards, a cup of scotch.
posted by the painkiller at 5:27 AM on December 9, 2011


I don't think we've lost David Lynch. He's right here. Don't you see him? At the counter, of course. Making a pot of quinoa. Yes, he's right there. Hello, David! I'm feeling quite fine. As is my friend David. How are you feeling, David? Of course. Can't you see him? The quinoa is almost ready. If you can't see David you won't be able to have any quinoa. I know you want some quinoa but you say that David isn't there. I'm not sure what to think. Perhaps some coffee? It's hot.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:31 AM on December 9, 2011 [3 favorites]


Damn fine coffee...
And hot!

I can't believe this took eight comments.


And yet no mention of cherry pie?
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:18 AM on December 9, 2011 [1 favorite]


If you haven't read it, David Lynch's Catching the Big Fish is a short book that provides quite a bit of insight into his creative process.

I would definitely suggest the audiobook version because the pacing and effect of his narration really elevates the experience. We all have our Eraserhead stories, and there is plenty of trivia and behind-the-scenes gems in the book to make it worth the short read. But the thing I was most impressed with is how "ordinary" he is, and how his work is the product of, well, actual work.

He shows up in the morning. He has some good ideas and some bad ones. He meditates regularly in an effort to give the good ones space to rise to the surface. He tries to ride the wave of an idea, accepting that some will be good rides and some will be abandoned early. And then he gets it done. He seems passionate and focused while still coming off as a kind man, grateful to have the help of the many that make his work possible. It makes him (and his work) seem a little less divine. But I like that.
posted by nickjadlowe at 7:44 AM on December 9, 2011 [1 favorite]


And THIS is why I drink David Lynch coffee. Havin' a cup right now as I type this. DAMN fine cup of coffee.
posted by morerio at 7:58 AM on December 9, 2011


i liked INLAND EMPIRE, what's wrong with it?

i liked inland too but found it a bit too indulgent even by lynch's standards. we all knew he was basically making it up as he went along (since he more or less said so) and the thing just felt a little bloated. sure it was an art-house smash and a great experience but if he continues to make movies like that then.. meh... i'll get tired of it. how many shots of hallways with sub-bass rumbling can he make?
posted by ReeMonster at 9:10 AM on December 9, 2011


INLAND EMPIRE is a masterpiece
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:17 AM on December 9, 2011 [1 favorite]


Lynch's ouvre is sort of all over the spectrum for me, but one thing that I have always consistently loved is his use of sound. He may be an auteur of film, but he is equally (or more so) an auteur of sound design*. Just blows me away.

*Badalementi of course cannot be denied is integral role in this matter.
posted by Doleful Creature at 11:14 AM on December 9, 2011 [1 favorite]


err, Badalamenti, that is.
posted by Doleful Creature at 11:15 AM on December 9, 2011


My goodness, how I love David Lynch. I've got five pounds of quinoa at home not so much because I like it, but rather because I like to recite that quinoa bit as I prepare it in my unbelievable super heavy pan that I fill with fresh water.

I had the peculiar experience of watching Inland Empire in Los Angeles at the Sunset 5, a theater that Lynch had to four wall because no one would take the film on, even in LA. I sat directly behind an well-known actress who does her own millinery, and was so hypnotically, mystically bored that it somehow occurred to me to very slowly remove my shoes, socks, and trousers, carefully fold them up on my lap, point out to my friends that I'd done so, then very methodically put them all back on.

"So, what—you hated the movie?" asked my then it's-complicated as we all headed back to the valet stand.

"No, it was great. My god, it was so boring."

"Wait, it was great, or boring?"

"It was great and boring. I still feel like I'm sort of high, like I want to roll around on the sidewalk giving directions."

"I never understand a thing you say."

Lynch is boring in the way great ambient music is boring. You're not meant to get it. You're just meant to be there, breathing, waiting for something to happen.

Is it fairly traded?

Yes, it is fairly traded.
posted by sonascope at 11:16 AM on December 9, 2011 [6 favorites]


Pony request: a David Lynch thread that doesn't feature an ongoing series of relatively unsupported assertions and denials concerning the quality of Inland Empire.
posted by treepour at 11:25 AM on December 9, 2011


I once had a teacher that told us he'd rather be bored by our work than entertained. Entertainment is everywhere, it's nearly impossible to escape things that are desperately trying to entertain you. He welcomed the opportunity to delve into a deep state of boredom.

That was a VERY weird class.
posted by buriednexttoyou at 11:31 AM on December 9, 2011 [4 favorites]


Wait, David, Don't drink that coffee!

You'd never guess.

There was a fish... in the percolator!
posted by saul wright at 11:55 AM on December 9, 2011 [2 favorites]


He peaked with Eraserhead. Then Elephant Man was merely tremendous. After that he's just been trying too hard, and it shows.
posted by Decani at 12:28 PM on December 9, 2011


I'm not saying they don't mean anything—I just don't think they're speaking in a sort of higher cognitive language that lends itself towards overt interpretation. His aforementioned brilliance when it comes to sound, a field where you can tell intense, visceral stories without words, is a big part of it. There's some great brain stem storytelling in Lynch's latter work, and sometimes it seems like the conceit of these things being film is really just the carrier wave for the unspeakable.

Mind you, I'm no film theorist, so I could well be wrong. When I stop trying to figure out what's going on, though, and just let it sort of wash over me, I come away feeling like I've experienced something that's a good bit more coherent than the actual narrative would describe.
posted by sonascope at 1:23 PM on December 9, 2011


Lynch's work inhabits the spaces between the motion picture frames. Nuance and implication are his brushes; where another artist would paint broad strokes he leaves a single line that might seem rangy and ill-formed yet blossoms, almost fractally, in the subconscious.

I swear it's the meditation: he watches ideas emerge in his mind and, like a cloud chamber records the path of cosmic rays, uses the path to relate the idea rather than simply present the idea itself.

Shadows, after all, are much more than the object that casts them.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:26 PM on December 9, 2011


INLAND EMPIRE was not boring

it was TERRIFYING
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 3:02 AM on December 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


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