David Lynch: The Art Life

We meet David Lynch in fine-art mode in this dreamy doc with few penetrating insights

Film Review by Thomas Hughes | 05 Jul 2017
Film title: David Lynch: The Art Life
Director: Jon Nguyen
Starring: David Lynch
Release date: 14 Jul
Certificate: 15

David Keith Lynch, a septuagenarian painter from Missoula, Montana, moves around his studio making a mess with resins and paints, plastic and metal and power tools. He chats with his tiny daughter, or sits before a microphone, smoking, talking in a polite, reserved manner about his early life and inspirations. His speech is quaint and wholesome, sprinkled with folksy apple-pie idioms and – for Pete’s sake – no cussing as he eulogises gently his parents (lovely but straight-laced) and the city of Philadelphia (scary but inspiring). If you didn’t know him already you’d never guess that this is one of the most disturbing and revolutionary visionary artists alive today, and one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.

From the profoundly troubling nightmare-logic of Lost Highway or Inland Empire to the searing, fever-dream fantasia of Wild at Heart, Lynch’s visions seem dredged from an abyssal ocean layer of psyche most people can’t access in waking life. Like dreams, much of their power lies in their enigmatic quality: what makes them so compelling? What do they mean? Fans seeking a rare horse's mouth insight into these mysteries will find slim pickings in The Art Life.

Tracing a line from Lynch's childhood to the shooting of his stunning debut feature Eraserhead, this portrait of the artist as both a young man and an old one misses the productive middle section of his life. This is a clever approach to the subject, but even within these confines, something seems held back. Narrating the film himself, Lynch is candid and forthcoming about those topics he wishes to discuss, but (perhaps unsurprisingly for such an uncompromising purist) he exercises strict control over what those topics are. Others are skirted around, or notable in their absence. It’s lovely to spend some time with the great man, but ultimately this portrait falls short of its promised intimacy. Then again, perhaps some things are better left unexplained.

Released by Thunderbird Releasing