From Montana To The Moon :: A Reflection On David Lynch
Photo: Helmut Newton / Alice Springs
People, places, and things come and go. That’s our MO (Modus Operandi) here on this mortal marble, and while those earthly elements are well understood, or more so existentially expected by every person that was and ever will be, one can never quite prepare for the perplexing departure from the body to the sophistication of the spiritual world in what seems like the blink of an eye. From one plane to the next, Lynch captured the esoteric essence of life and death by exploring its deepest depths of elemental enlightenment, extraterrestrial eagerness, and the creative commitment to all things beautiful and obscurely overwhelming. It’s been a little over a week since Lynch passed, and while this is still just as strange as the world we now live in, the wonderous work he left behind for all of us to ponder and reflect upon for eternity is only the beginning of a cosmic celebration just waiting to happen. I’m sure you felt something similar after Bowie passed, who starred in Twin Peaks, or when Lou Reed kicked off the prehistoric planet over a decade ago, but David Keith Lynch? The wonder-boy of cosmic cinema, surrealistic satire, and caffeinated chaos? The director’s director and artist’s artist, this loss will echo throughout the congested caves of space and time for the remainder of the human race, which seems to be a ticking time bomb these days. While we continue to occupy a wobbly world filled with endless lies, false information, and radical rumors, unfortunately, this moment is true. I sincerely believe the universe is far less cool and poetically motivated without his polarizing presence to help stir up the soup of the soul, but goddamnit, do we have a hero to look up to now more than ever.
Photo courtesy of Janus Films
“This whole world is wild at heart and weird on top.”
Unlike Kubrick, whose favorite film was “Eraserhead,” Cocteau, Scorsese, and countless others, Lynch’s dynamical demand was subtly sophisticated in that what he was doing behind the camera was for the first time every time. An eagerness so childlike and juvenile in its juxtaposition that you often wondered if he was in on some sick joke at the actors’ expense, only to realize the joke was life’s mysterious mania all this time. It’s not that he knew what the exact outcome would be at any given point as he subconsciously became part of the film himself in a way that severely separated him from anyone and everyone that has ever explored in the entirety of filmmaking history. Whether acting, reacting, or simply attacking the nocturnal narrative of life, death, and anything in between, Lynch’s true nature relied heavily on the people he worked and surrounded himself with. A rich community of talented, beautiful, and endlessly motivated actors and actresses who not only helped fuel Lynch’s fever dream of surrealistic soma but effortlessly established unique and unforgettable relationships that, to this day, are as iconic as the films themselves.
From the ear-shattering emptiness of the 1977 masterpiece “Eraserhead,” the rush of the luscious language spoken throughout “Twin Peaks,” to the volumeless vertigo of “Mulholland Dr.", and everything between, Lynch bastardized the multi-faceted boundaries of creature comfort and subconscious suicide by combining a never-ending romance between his characters and their subliminal situations that would take his viewers on an esoteric expedition through an elemental nightmare lavished in perplexing perfumes filled with invigorating isolation. But with everything he’s achieved in his career over the last half-century, he’d most likely want you to celebrate his legacy by drinking that third Coke or biting into the fifth chocolate chip cookie before sunset’s supper because what the hell are you waiting for? No one’s coming to save you, and life is realizing the ship had already departed while simultaneously sinking way before it ever had any destination in mind. Thank God for David Keith Lynch. Think about it: we had the lovely honor of occupying a time and place in human history the same time he did while occupying gorgeous suits and smoking as if his life depended on it and never complained once about reality’s universally unfair nature. He effortlessly expressed all these elements in his work and got on with it. Rest in Peace, you beautiful man of many faces, tastes, and extraterrestrial expertise.
