The Short Films of David Lynch

1967-1995

Rating: 14/20

Plot: Ranging from the 55 second 'Premonitions Following an Evil Deed' to the 30-odd minute 'The Grandmother,' these six short films show the development of Lynch's techniques and vision.

'6 Men Getting Sick (Six Times)' is wholly animated. In the interview segment prior to the minute short (the interview segments are great, by the way...I could listen to David Lynch talk for hours probably), Lynch says that he wanted "to see a painting move and have sound." That's pretty much what is going on with the abstract, surrealistic '6 Men'. It's crudely animated and has sirens and is meant to be looped.

'The Alphabet' from 1968 is nightmarish and a little silly. Dark stuff though.

'The Grandmother' from 1970 predates Eraserhead and contains similar imagery and ideas, especially in the really strange way the people interact with each other. There's no dialogue--only grunts and whine and barks. I thought this was pretty difficult to watch. Very bleak mix of dark live action and child-like animation and including some stop-motion animation with actual people. Creepy kid brother to Eraserhead.

'The Amputee' was made while on hiatus from Eraserhead because he had run out of money. This wasn't worth watching.

'The Cowboy and the Frenchman' from '88 was the oddball of the bunch, and if it weren't for the wackiness of Wild at Heart and that failed television shows he did in the early nineties ("On the Air"...I looked it up), you might not even think it's Lynch at all. He toys with cliches and stereotypes affectively and the "western" turns out to be pretty hilarious. I love when Lynch's sense of humor pops out from the darkness of his films.

The best of the bunch is the 55-second short he did for the one hundredth anniversary of the Lumiere brothers' camera along with 39 other directors. I'd seen that, and 'Premonitions Following an Evil Deed' is one of the few that were memorable. What he does with this rudimentary camera in his 55 seconds is absolutely stunning. It might be my favorite 55 seconds of Lynch's career actually.

Here I am watching these short films (not pictured: me):