I think your review of Mulholland is a little vapid, because it's basically just a long condemnation of the surrealist/abstract film style, but overall i think eraserhead is visually appealing and i do intend to watch that again. You are a very good writer by the way, and I wish that folks on the internet would put as much effort into the things they write as you do.
Agreed.
I got into Lynch when I was about 12 years old and we have been having a passionate one-sided emotional affair ever since.
Which is not to say I love every single film/project of his equally (or even at all), but I do think there is a greatness to everything he does.
I dont think he is a better/greater surrealist than Buńuel. I have rewatched the Lynch filmography a bunch of times but dont think anything comes close to the in-your-face surrealism seen in
The Exterminating Angel. That might be why none of the Lynch films have made their way into my favourites and
The Exterminating Angel did the day I first saw it.
I agree that
Twin Peaks is the most consistently fantastic project of his. I controversially prefer season 3 to the other two, but love the show to death, mostly because it manages to be all-out weird but also excel at the small town detail and human psychology aspect (I think that human element is not as prominent in
Mulholland Drive or his other work).
On a separate note, Im never quite sure if its even helpful to classify anything as surreal at this stage. Were obviously past the period and lots of filmmakers have come to embed light surrealist notes into their work (Villeneuve off the top of my head and whatnot). So the word seems almost
irrelevant?
I dont think Ill feel as consistently at home with anything as I do with Lynch.
On a personal level, I think
Eraserhead is very brave because it shows the father staying out of necessity with his emotion towards the baby being mainly revulsion. The subject is close to my heart for personal reasons & I dont think anyone these days or in future will dare explore that male resentment towards an unwell and/or unwanted offspring in quite as much detail.
Also still find the scene in
Inland Empire where Nikki gets confused as to whether what shes saying is her or part of the script to be the scariest thing Ive ever seen in my life. There are more films exploring that loss of distinction between life/art which is something I personally find terrifying (
Black Swan, which imo doesnt succeed at it, and
Black Bear which to me does), but none of them come close.
Something like that on my end.