David Lynch: The Art Life

Some revealing insights into Lynch as an artist, his childhood and his films which open the lid on his creative process.

David Lynch at around 70 years old talking, smoking, and doing his art. That's about it. But as he says about his childhood, when the whole world was only 2 blocks, but you can have everything you need in the world in 2 blocks, David Lynch - The Art Life - a film about 2 blocks long compared to a Hollywood blockbuster - still can give you everything you need for a really fascinating film experience.

If you are hoping for an exploration of the films of David Lynch, and of the filmmaker David Lynch, stay at home. Only David Lynch the neophyte filmmaker is explored because this is a natural development of the real star of the show - David Lynch the painter. One day he sees one of his paintings moving, and that's when the seed is planted for him to make movies - he wants to make moving paintings.

We see a lot of the finished artwork of David Lynch, and most of it is stunning and quite dark, the latter being somewhat of an incongruity considering that David Lynch seems to be a happy and contented person. In one scene, Mr. Lynch talks about showing his father some of his art as a young man, and his father's reaction is grave concern that Mr. Lynch is seriously mentally ill. "Don't have children," his father tells him. David Lynch once described his art as "violent comedy". Indeed, if you get the violence but not as much the comedy, you might think something is deranged about the man. During the whole 90 minutes I spent at the TIFF Lightbox Cinema in Toronto with David Lynch, I never got the sense that he was a nut job. His toddler of a daughter made several appearances in the film, and David Lynch was warm, playful, and attentive with her, and never acted bothered by her as she played while he was painting. He told story after story the way that regular guy that everybody likes in your life would. It finally occurred to me that Mr. Lynch had found the perfect catharsis in his art for anger and violence - which are within all of us - and the result was a cleansing of sorts, the mentally wholesome fellow I spent some time with yesterday at the cinema.

Every art student, budding artist, artist wannabe, art appreciator, and artist appreciator should see David Lynch - The Art Life. And every David Lynch fan, of which I am one...a BIG one. The rest of you might be bored.

I'm predisposed to love this. I love David Lynch. Who doesn't. People with no imagination. No sense of wonder. That's who. Lynch is someone who sees art everywhere. Sees possibility. Draws on his experiences. Here he talks candidly about childhood memories as he works in his home studio, painting, drawing, playing. He talks fondly of his mother, her role in encouraging young David to experiment. It sounds like an idyllic start in life. Visualised by happy photos and home cine footage. Until he recalls an early traumatising memory, that sparks wonder and mystery. From here the stories get dreamier, darker. House moves, new friends. More introspection. Disapproving parents, perhaps not understanding where he might be headed. We don't see anyone but David. He works. He smokes. He narrates. The only punctuation are shots of the art he's produced and bits of archive. It's heady stuff. Inspirational stuff. He talks of his own inspiration. Exposure to "The Art Life", "You drink coffee, you smoke cigarettes and you paint and that's it. Maybe girls come into it a little bit". I can certainly see the appeal. If his mother disapproved of early choices. His fathers hands on look at the world, building, fixing, promotes that work ethic. Both parents though are clearly hugely influential and the way he speaks about them is with pure love. That slow methodical delivery. Every word from him feels careful, special. Wise and yet completely humble and honest. The shots of him sat smoking in his studio, contemplating as he looks at something he's working on are a picture of pure zen tranquility. He's such an interesting character to watch, that hair, those eyes. He's like a canvas himself. The stories build a world. His world. An insulated place where he called the shots. Made the rules. No rules. He returns to the same things time and again. Work ethic. Being challenged. A young artist being forced. Forced to find his way. It's a brilliant documentary. You feel totally immersed. It's not, but it sometimes feels as engulfing as one of his films. It's fascinating to hear him talk and make sense of his origins. Through art, through painting. Losing himself in the work, ideas mixing in his head, until... "That idea stuck in my head. A moving painting".

OMG! I fell asleep!!! Having David Lynch tell his own story in his soft MONOTONE voice makes a fascinating story, a yawner. NOT the stories themselves, but the way the tone in which they are told.

I am a David Lynch film fan and his art, while fascinating, isn't my "taste". I appreciate the visuals along with his stories.

He is a fan of home movies - which helped. And he is honest about his family.

But this movie is by far mostly about his art and his life, not his films. That was a bit of a disappointment. 95% of this is about the first 22 years of his life.

Not wasted time at all. But just not what I had hoped for.

As "David Lynch The Art Life" (2016 release; 89 min) opens, we are introduced to some of David Lynch's paintings. We see Lynch at work in his art studio. Then Lynch starts talking about his roots and upbringing. At this point we are 5 minutes into the movie.

Couple of comments: I sought out this movie after the recent passing of David Lynch. I really didn't know much about this documentary. As it turns out, this is not a conversation with Lynch about his various movies, so if that is what you are looking/hoping for, you may wish to reconsider. Instead, "David Lynch The Art Life" is an almost abstract documentary about Lynch's upbringing and his view on the arts in general. In essence, this documentary shows the road that led David Lynch to Eraserhead, his 1977 brilliant debut feature length. The way that Lynch talks about Eraserhead makes very clear this movie is dear to him, perhaps more than any other of his films? (That is speculation on my part, as this documentary makes no mention of any Lynch movie after Eraserhead.) In the end, while this was not exactly what I had expected, I quite liked this documentary.

"David Lynch The Art Life" is currently streaming on Max, where I caught it the other day. Since his recent passing, I want to rewatch some of his films, perhaps none more so than Eraserhead. If you are a fan of David Lynch's art works, be it movies or paintings or whatever else, I'd readily recommend you check this out, and draw your own conclusion. RIP David Lynch.