Lynch/Oz

I was discussing with some film buffs a few months ago about the best films of all time. The usual suspects were rolled out. Casablanca, Citizen Kane, The Godfather, The Shawshank Redemption etc.

I was the outlier. I mentioned The Wizard of Oz and the others were nonplussed. Maybe they regard it as a kid movie these days. It is a technical, visual and metaphorical masterpiece brought to life by its various directors with only Victor Fleming getting the screen credit.

Lynch/Oz is a documentary where various critics and filmmakers speculate how The Wizard of Oz has inspired Lynch's vision in his movies and television shows. The spikiest contribution is from John Waters, a friend of Lynch and he admits the land of Oz has inspired his own creative contributions.

At least it validates my opinion of The Wizard of Oz. I did remain unconvinced as the documentary makes clear that a lot of movie makers have been inspired by the Oz movie. Lynch's vision also had a lot to do with the white picket fences movies of the 1950s. Only Lynch felt there was something dark lurking behind the curtains.

The biggest fault is that we needed to hear from Lynch himself. Many of the contributors covered the same ground and I felt listless by the end.

Film directors tend to be inspired by those who came before them. Martin Scorsese loved Powell and Pressburger as well as John Ford movies. Brian De Palma was heavily influenced by Alfred Hitchcock.

Today's filmmakers would look to Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino and Scorsese himself. I wanted something more here and it fell short.

There were several walkouts in the screening I attended, but I did sit through all of this documentary, so I can state that I've seen far better, more watchable analysis of David Lynch films in homemade videos on Youtube.

So, we have five filmmakers and one film critic who each get their own segment where they explain how David Lynch was inspired by the Wizard of Oz. To me, there was maybe about twenty minutes worth of material in there and then the rest of the 108 minutes was filler; or maybe there were even just about five or six interesting observations, plus one fun, goofy promo for Twin Peaks from back in the days, near the end, which I had never seen and did enjoy.

The tangents that the commentators were allowed to go on, without it being edited out, made a mockery of the effort behind this documentary. If I had done my homework before going to see this at the cinema, the involvement of the director of Room 237 should have been a huge red flag.

Basically 6 video essays where critics/academics/industry figures talk about the influence of the Wizard of Oz on David Lynch's work. With an exceedingly pretentious introduction.

And that's it.

Nobody is interviewed on screen, it's all narrated off screen. Like an arthouse version of one of those TV clips shows about "the glory days of the movies".

The point came across in the first essay. The rest added hardly anything. Clips are repeated endlessly because all the the essayists talk about the deceitful wizard, and curtains, and slow fades.

Honourable mention to John Waters for getting involved. Him talking about his own meetings with Lynch is the most interesting thing on offer. Shame it's buried in this bore of a documentary.

I'm sitting in the cinema writing this review just after seeing this film. However speculative some people may have found some of the opinions, I found them pretty insightful.

For decades Lynch has been one of my all time favourite film makers, but I'd never related any of his movies to The Wizard of Oz (confession: Wild at Heart is the only Lynch move I haven't seen).

I'll just make two quick points:

I feel this is a documentary which really situates David Lynch in the great tradition of American cinema!

And, I'm delighted to learn of his love for Wizard of Oz, as that movie (alongside movies like Mullholland Drive, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Melancholia, Pulp Fiction, etc.) has always ranked among my favourites.

Definitely happy to have watched it!