rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 2002; made for video
Directed by David Lynch; produced by Arash Ayrom; written by David Lynch
Starring David Lynch (narrator), Harry Dean Stanton, Talisa Soto, Tracey Walter, Peggy Lynch, Michael Horse, Catherine Coulson
Let me start by saying I am a fan of David Lynch. His weirdness, in my opinion, creates truly original work, and even his lesser attempts contain interesting aspects. 'The Short Films of David Lynch' exists out of the short films Lynch has made. In between he comments on them. He tells how they were financed and how he got the chance to make them. In a way his comments play like his shorts: weird, but very interesting.
The short films are 'Seix Men Getting Sick (Six Times)', 'The Alphabet', 'The Grandmother', 'The Amputee', 'The Frecnhman and the Cowboy' and 'Lumière'. I liked all of them in one way or another, and if you appreciate the usual Lynch films you will too. If you normally don't like his work that much, I think only 'The Frenchman and the Cowboy' could be your thing, but I have to warn you: the auteur puts his mark on every short film. A good thing for people like me, but it keeps his audience within certain limits.
Six Men Getting Sick (Six Times)
'Six Men Getting Sick' (or 'Figures') is the first David Lynch film project he directed. It is an animated short of six men vomiting. We see the same images six times and that is a good thing. Normally when you see something six times in a row you would not be very excited but we're talking Lynch here. If you expect some normal animation you are very wrong. In a surrealistic way we see the six men, who's heads are on fire at one point, and their stomachs sort of exploding when they start vomiting. Projected on to a sculptured screen this is weird, original and very Lynch.
The Alphabet
Since this is a short film from Lynch I was not very surprised with what
I saw. At first I had no idea what I was watching but slowly things became
pretty clear. It gives a very symbolic view of a girl growing into a woman.
Most of it is animation although we see a real girl, Lynch's then wife
Peggy, expressing some emotions.
The alphabet is the main thing in this short but in animation we see blood
and a little sexuality. The way this is done gives it a disturbing look. The
soundtrack, the alphabet song, and the voice of the girl that ends with the
phrase "tell me what you think of me" all add things to the atmosphere
created by Lynch. Fascinating, at least.
The Grandmother
'The Grandmother' is David Lynch's first real narrative project and it
contains all the Lynch elements. It is a dark and disturbing short film
about a boy who is treated terribly by his parents. To find some peace he
creates a grandmother in the attic. He does this by planting a seed in a bed
up there. Something starts to grow and in the end the grandmother is born.
In the meanwhile, after the boy has wet his bed, his parents still bark at
him and beat him up. He finds comfort with the grandmother in the attic.
Like I said this short film contains all the usual Lynch elements. It is
dark and disturbing, it has a haunting soundtrack, there is strange use of
makeup, costumes, sets and there is some surrealistic animation as well. Of
course the whole short is quite surreal. Lynch fans will love this. If you
are not a fan you must find something interesting here, I guess, but there
is a good chance you will really dislike it.
The Amputee
David Lynch wrote this short film to test two different types of
videotape stock for the American Film Institute. We see a woman played by
Catherine Coulson with two amputated legs. A nurse, played by Lynch himself,
walks in and he takes a look at one of the stumps. On the soundtrack we hear
Coulson reading a letter she has in front of her. The letter is about some
issues with friends. We see her making changes in that letter while she is
reading it. In the meanwhile nurse Lynch has made her stump bleed but the
woman doesn't notice anything. In the end, when the wound is really
bleeding, Lynch walks away and the woman is at a highpoint in her letter.
She still does not notice a thing.
This short is interesting because it has the story of the AFI with it. Of
course it has some funny moments, although some will find disturbing
instead. I liked it in a way, but his other short films are much more
interesting.
The Frenchman and the Cowboy (Segment of 'Les Français vus par')
'The Frenchman and the Cowboy' is David Lynch's look on the French. It is
a little piece of comedy and that is not what you normally expect from
Lynch, although his dark humour occasionally rings through. Don't think it
is just comedy, it is also very Lynch. We see a couple of cowboys with their
leader Harry Dean Stanton and something is coming down a mountain. After a
while they discover it is a Frenchman. He has a basket with him and in that
basket they find all kind of typical French stuff.
Basically that's it. There is also a little singing and a little dancing.
Pretty funny stuff. I wasn't bored while watching this, I had some great
laughs (especially with Harry Dean Stanton who uses the word "damn" a lot),
and Lynch proves he is pretty capable of comedy.
Lumière (Segment of 'Lumière et compagnie')
The last short from 'The Short Films of David Lynch' is a 55 seconds film called 'Lumière'. It is a segment from 'Lumière et compagnie', a documentary where a bunch of directors made a short film using the same cinematograph that the Lumière Brothers used. Lynch's segment is one of the few worth watching. No matter what you think of his films, as a director the man is outstanding.