I found this documentary when it was broadcast on television, I have always been fascinated with the filmmaker, and I assumed this was going to be a traditional insight into his life and career, I was only partly right. Basically, David Lynch, the film and television director, producer, and screenwriter, is best known for his surreal style and creative genius in his small and big screen projects. But he also a passion for art, from painting to sculpture, and this film examines his creativity. Lynch narrates his own story, talking about his early years, including hi childhood growing up in Montana, Washington State, before growing up and moving to Philadelphia to pursue a career as a painter. As he tells his story, we see him at work on many of his paintings, sculptures, and other creations at his home studio, and many of his past art pieces are shown on screen. It has archive footage of his childhood years, with his parents Edwina and Donald, his ex-wife Peggy, and during his present-day creativity, his daughter Lula is seen. Lynch tells about how he got attention from his peers as an impressive artist, and then he got into filmmaking and found another medium to express himself. He obviously talks about his experiences during the making of his debut film, the surreal fantasy horror Eraserhead. To be honest, I was expecting this film to be something like most films about filmmakers, people talking Lynch and his films and television work, and clips from his most celebrated and successful works: The Elephant Man, Dune, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks, Lost Highway, and Mullholland Drive. However, this was simply Lynch seen creating his many interesting and surreal art pieces, with him narrating his story. I'm not going to pretend I know a lot about art, but there was only so much of seeing it in the process of being made I could stand, at least the stories from Lynch were interesting, otherwise it was a slightly boring only just watchable documentary. Okay!
Review of David Lynch: The Art Life
