Dude was one-of-a-kind. I was never the biggest fan of his, but I respected his artistry and when he was good -- like those early episodes of TWIN PEAKS -- he was really good.

AndyDursin wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2025 1:44 pm Dude was one-of-a-kind. I was never the biggest fan of his, but I respected his artistry and when he was good -- like those early episodes of TWIN PEAKS -- he was really good.

That's very much the way I would put it.

I was never a fan of Blue Velvet, which was a little too disturbing for me. Yet, for someone to make a film that bizarre, and generate critical and box office success -- and get Hollywood to underwrite his genuinely unique and offbeat ideas -- was definitely healthy for the business, and art.

I admit another part of the reason I didn't didn't warm to his work, was that many of my peers in film school salivated over Lynch's work (their other "cinema darlings" were Alex Cox, Oliver Stone...and Jonathan Demme!). Those of us who liked Spielberg were mocked.

I even had a date with a girl who loved Blue Velvet (in addition to "well-remembered classics" like River's Edge and Letter to Brezhnev), who rolled her eyes when I spoke highly of Jaws.

So I came to associate David Lynch with a fanbase of pretentious, faux-punk poseurs.

All the same, I always considered The Elephant Man a work of genius, and one of the greatest films of the 1980s -- from top-to-bottom a perfect film. I've also re-evaluated my opinion of Dune over the years. I better-appreciate its distinctive character, and unique visual style (especially in the wake of the comparatively bland -- and less faithful -- Villeneuve remake).

For me, his crowning achievement was WILD AT HEART. I liked DUNE but it falls short for me in a lot of ways (though I appreciate the visual style). To this day I have never seen BLUE VELVET - RIP to a truly unique visionary artist.

Lynch is the only director of "weird" movies that I enjoy. There was something about the way he could combine image and sound in ways that were surreal, perplexing and astonishing. No one else could do "weird" like him. My favorite works of his are Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive and The Elephant Man. I watched The Straight Story last night and that one's pretty good too.