Eraserhead (1977)

Eraserhead is a 1970’s Surrealist film written, directed and produced by David Lynch and starring Jack Nance as Henry Spencer. It is also worth noting as the only known film in existence that took me a few minutes to stare blankly at the screen after the film ended and comprehend what I just watched… and still felt confused. The tagline “Where your nightmares end” is an enormous understatement.

The film, from what I’ve managed to understand so far, is set within an industrial era in a declining and deteriorating urban area. Henry is invited by his girlfriend to have dinner with her and her family, and is then told is pregnant. Empire Online’s review has “The central conceit of boy-meets-girl-has-mutant-baby is still the stuff of American Gothic nightmares and Lynch's repertoire of soft squelches, thin skins, horrible blobs and panicky gestures remains an enduring archetype of puritan sexual disgust.”(Beard 2006) The rest of the movie is following Henry as he tries to cope with taking care of the mutant baby, as well as some of the more surrealistic situations the audience follows with him, such as his dreams of the lady who lives in his radiator, who at one point appeared to be enjoying stamping on fetuses.

Fig. 1

Eraserhead stand out significantly for me for one notable reason, its surrealism pushes the bounds of what can be achieved within cinema, by far. The BBC’s Film review says that “This is a film so consumed with surreal imagery that there are almost limitless possibilities to read personal theories into it.”(Haflidason 2001) Before this film I thought surrealism could only be deployed as an element within the misc-en-scene of a film, a notable example being The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Eraserhead shattered conceptions of how anomalous a director can be. Throwing out generic horror flicks’ usual scare tactics, Lynch manages to create a sense of discomfort within the audience throughout the movie, and paces it very well.

Fig. 2

And that is where this film lies in-between, Surrealism and Horror. David Lynch manages to create the stuff of nightmares, and then charges people money to see it. Film 4’s review says “David Lynch had well and truly arrived as one of America's boldest and most original explorers of the shadowy subconscious, unfolding a narrative of knotted dreams and darkest desires.”(Bitel 2008) As far as I’ve seen, no one goes as far as David Lynch’s Eraserhead in terms of creating a simple plot concept of boy-meets-girl-has-baby and twists every detail so far into the irregular and unknown that the audience is left without any sort of concise explanation for what they’ve watched. The parts that stuck within my mind particularly were the girlfriend’s oddly-upbeat father and bleeding chicken dinner, the stomping of foetuses which appeared to drop the sky (as well as get thrown onto the wall), Henry’s head popping off and the baby’s head appearing in place along with a tree, and the exquisite yet dismaying killing of the baby with a scissors causing it to spurt out what appeared to be far more oatmeal than its bodyweight could have possibly had.

Fig. 3

List of Illustrations

Fig. 1. The Mutant-Baby
Link


Fig. 2. Henry, our Hero
Link


Fig. 3. One of the more surrealistic scenes
Link



Bibliography

EmpireOnline Reviews - Eraserhead (18)
Author: Steve Beard
Dec 30, 2006
(Accessed on 18.01.10)
Link


BBC MOVIES Review - Eraserhead (1977)
Author: Almar Haflidason
16 January 2001
(Accessed on 18.01.10)
Link



Film4 Eraserhead Review
Author: Anton Bitel
Sep 3, 2008
(Accessed on 18.01.10)
Link

Blue Velvet (1986)

Blue Velvet is a 1986 mystery film directed by David Lynch, the movie stars Kyle Maclachlan (Dune), the late Dennis Hopper (Speed), Laura Dern (Jurrasic Park), and Isabella Rossellini (Friends), as well as the Swave Dean Stockwell (Quantum Leap) making an apperance.

The atmosphere of the film is classic David Lynch, who is known particularly well for his surrealistic filmography, particularly elements that push the boundaries of discomfort within his audience. This is most notable within the later reviewed movie, Eraserhead. Blue Velvet doesn’t disappoint with its surrealistic themes, in fact the movie builds upon the surrealistic elements from Eraserhead, whilst still pushing the boundaries of comfort within the audience through the film’s storyline. It is worth noting that he manages to pursue this through the delicate levels of emotion that characters show throughout the film.

Fig. 1

Identity can be considered one of the strongest points of the Blue Velvet; “The permutation of roles and attributions, positions of identity and desire, are every evident in the texture of Lynch’s narrative” (Brauckhoff : p6). The characters are what capture the audience’s attention; the easily distinguishable roles played in part with the chemistry between them create characters that can be classified as three-dimensional. It is also worth mentioning that identity stretches out from simply the characters and roots within even the props and strong distinguishing sets, Slant magazines review writes “The many rooms of Blue Velvet are fascinatingly representative of internal moods: the white walls of the virginal Sandy's home; the garish blues and vaginal pinks of Dorothy's kitschy modern apartment; and the cluttered, homely look of the Beaumont home.”(Gonzales, 2002). The characters’ homes are simply the reflections of the characters identities.

Fig. 2

One dislike I had about the film was the pace within it, the chapters within the film created an irregular pace within the film and it either made scenes hard to keep attention, or comprehend. The development of the story also fell somewhat short as well, The Washington Post’s review describe the film as “The story is insubstantial, a Hardy Boys mystery engrafted with noir themes and it doesn't go anywhere--the themes are introduced but not developed. The characters aren't developed, either--they're stand-ins for ideas about sexuality, not sexual beings themselves.”(Attanasio) Yet, the film manages to stick into one’s mind. It’s somewhat trying to sympathise Dorothy’s situation, without getting quite there, yet the situation stays within one’s subconscious. Alternatively Jeffrey, who appears to be the main character the story follows, is torn between Dorothy’s situation, and the romantic love interest Sandy, yet one finds it somewhat difficult to relate to his character.

Fig. 3

The film also manages to employ inconsistent themes in terms of its era. Consequently, one generally thinks a bright red fire-engine rolling past whilst the “fireman” smiles and waves so…artificially would create an unnerving tone for the film. The film also manages to switch back and forth between 1980’s and 1950’s themes. The way the characters are dressed, the props, the lighting as well as the scenery is inconsistent. Jeffery drives in a 50’s Car, This is notable with Sandy and Dorothy’s clothing; Sandy’s being around 1950’s pink jumper and long skirt whilst Dorothy is within the 1980’s with long expensive dress-wear.

In contrast with contemporary films, Blue Velvet is classic David Lynch, it manages to employ elements that create a certain lack of comfort to what the audience is seeing, yet the inconsistency, or abnormality of film is intriguing. While the plot or story doesn’t seem particularly engaging or seem deep and philosophical. The way the direction is created simply seems to create an impression that manages to stick in one’s head.



List of Illustrations

Fig. 1. The Ear
http://ordinarytalesofaraisingirl.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/blue-velvet-david-lynch1.jpg

Fig. 2.
Ben, One Suave Fuc*er
http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/candy-colored-clown-blue-velvet.jpg

Fig. 3.
Jeffrey and Dorothy
http://hwcdn.themoviedb.org/backdrops/04c/4bedb70d017a3c458e00004c/blue-velvet-original.jpg


Bibliography

Identity Construction in David Lynch's Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive
Page 6
Author: Ina Brauckhoff
(Accessed on 17.01.10)
http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/71791/the_haunting.html


Slant Magazine's Review of Blue Velvet ****
Author: Ed Gonzalez
May 27, 2002
(Accessed on 17.01.10)
http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/blue-velvet/51


Washington Post
‘Blue Velvet’
Author: Paul Attanasio
(Accessed on 17.01.10)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/bluevelvetrattanasio_a0ad54.htm

Unit 3 maya final scene

CG Texturing - Treasure Chest (partial finish)

or what's left of it :(