I’m a bit obsessed with David Lynch. But I’m not alone in this. Plus the Northwest Film Center is getting in on the Lynch love with a weekend of America’s strangest innocent. They will be showing 1977’s Eraserhead (!!), 2006’s Inland Empire, and an interesting documentary about the man himself, Lynch (2007).

Northwest Film Center’s Whitsell Audiorium
1219 SW Park
$7 a film

Eraserhead
Fri & Sat 9 pm; Sun 7:30 pm

Inland Empire
Sun 2 pm

Lynch
Fri & Sat 7 pm; Sun 5:30 pm

So I’ll see you there.

Check out what I had to say about Inland Empire when it first came out. And if you haven’t seen Eraserhead yet… what the fuck? Get on that. Read about Lynch, the documentary, after the jump.

Lynch
dir. blackANDwhite
Fri Jan 4-Sun Jan 6
NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium

Juxtaposing annoying homages to David Lynch's directorial style and thoroughly interesting interviews with Lynch himself, this 2007 documentary gives amazing insight into one of cinema's most interesting directors. Lynch shadows the cult filmmaker over the course of two years as he works on paintings, furniture, and most notably filming Inland Empire. And after having read a lot about Lynch through books, interviews, and fan sites, this doc does more to provide insight into his creative process (and his personality) than anything I've encountered.

Lynch comes off as a storyteller and a creative whirlwind, with a mind that is overflowing with bizarre images and snippets. However, he also comes off as a curmudgeon and a grump, yelling at the set crew and muttering to the camera, "Fucking morons everywhere." He is great with his actors and intolerent of ineptitude with his technical crew, which is a side of his personality that you won't see in prior interviews with him. Lynch in Lynch is a man who would rather add texture to the floor of a set or cut out holes in a set wall than let the crew carpenters do it. He is a perfectionist who improvises.

Lynch is also a man who loves to tell odd stories about dead bloated cows, while extolling the virtues of Transcendental Meditation. He is a mixed bag. In one particularily funny moment Lynch gathers his Inland Empire production crew and says, "You guys are charged with: When you finish mediation, write on a piece of paper three names [of] actors in their 40s who are leading men with an edge. Present them to me on our power walk." In other words, Lynch is insane, loveable, and a grump all rolled up into a creative tour de force, and Lynch gives fans a glimpse into his creepy, ant-filled head.

The documentary style itself actually detracts from Lynch as an onscreen presence. The subject matter is infinitely more engaging than director blackANDwhite's (ugh!) use of wipes, ambient sound, and split screens. When you're making a documentary about someone like Lynch, it's silly to think that your film school tricks will be the star. It's best to sit back and let Lynch do his thing.