David Lynch: The Art Life

Putting aside archival footage and his young daughter making cameos in parts of the film, David Lynch is the only person in the cast. His monologues do have an overarching story and chronology, but lots of it could come off stitched together. Not a bad thing, but The Art Life doesn't give you some deep understanding of his motivations behind every single one of his movies, rather why he does what he does. Beware: This is only logging his life from childhood to Eraserhead. Not his story of fame and success.

Some found it too shallow, but in my opinion David has a lot of interesting stories to tell and he's a charismatic storyteller. It's almost a very organized podcast. Pretty decent all in all, if not some life-changing perspective on what we already figured about everyone's favorite Hollywood surrealist.

David LYNCH: THE ART LIFE: INSPIRING

I know David Lynch mainly from the Twin Peaks series I love. The fact that Lynch is not only a great film director but also an artist - and an inspiring one – comes as a pleasant surprise.

ARTISTIC

During the film Lynch is busy with extraordinary figures, shapes and materials. I did not understand what he was doing and at the same time it was very inspiring to watch. His artistic talent becomes clear from purely looking at him. I also saw many impressive paintings from him.

CINEMORE

The documentary about Lynch was shown during a monthly evening in Cinecenter, Amsterdam: Cinemore, an in-depth program for special films. Prior to the film a lecture was held, which was brought with humor. A nice introduction to this documentary.

TWIN PEAKS

One of the reasons I wanted to see David Lynch: The Art Life was to learn more about Twin Peaks and how he developed it. Unfortunately, this is not discussed in the film. Only a small part is about how he entered the film world.

PERSONAL LIFE

For the most part, and of course the name says it all, this documentary is about his artist's existence. In addition, his family ties and his personal life are discussed. Funnily enough, he himself is often the narrator of the story. That sometimes makes the film chaotic and difficult to follow.

CONCLUSION

The biggest conclusion I can draw after watching is that David Lynch is an intriguing man. David Lynch: The Art Life is an inspiring documentary, with the only two drawbacks that Twin Peaks gets no attention and that the voice-over by himself is not always the most informative choice. Nonetheless: recommended.

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As far as documentaries go, there have been more substantial and significant, affecting ones that have come out about artists' work. However, considering that David Lynch is one of the most enigmatic directors who fully represent and defy what art means, of course any film revolved around him would get the job done. This film takes a pretty simplistic approach in examining him and it's a collection of stories he gives about his childhood, but they're all worth it. This would be a fascinating documentary for any die-hard fan as well as any other film buff in general. Definitely recommended.

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.

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