Filmmaker reacts to Eraserhead (1977) for the FIRST TIME!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ต.ค. 2024
- Hope you enjoy my filmmaker reaction to Eraserhead. :D
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Original Movie: Eraserhead (1977)
Ending Song: / charleycoin
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One of my favorites. It’s actually easy to grasp once you see it multiple times.
Fear of becoming a father, fear of commitment, fear of the industrial environment, wanting to escape (erase) your past decisions.
Lynch just chose to show it all in a very abstract way.
Yeah but with that context it’s about his marriage and child so Damn he was terrified😂. But seriously if this is what was going through his head Jesus lol.
Lynch is surely intense but I love it.
The abstractness probably describes the emotions he felt more accurately than a straightforward interpretation.
the main thing I don't understand about this movie is the lady in the radiator and her singing. Most of the abstract imagery I kinda get but I never figured out how she fits in.
desperate escapism @@specificsoup
David Lynch: "Believe it or not Eraserhead is my most spiritual film."
Interviewer: "Elaborate on that."
David Lynch: "No..."
HA! Typical.
Not even a "No..." just a straight up "No."
it follows the same formula as all lynch films. the main character is stuck/trapped in hell, or some kind of purgatory. every so often the main character is given a glimmer of hope, a glimpse of salvation or some way of escaping the hellish nightmare, but only so that they be tortured more by it never coming to fruition.
@@env0xi was gonna say that you’re oversimplifying his films.
but giving some thought to what I get out of each film of his, yeah. Yeah, you’re essentially correct.
Every film takes place inside some kind of mental prison for at least a portion of the narrative, and the few that don’t like The Elephant Man are about a person literally trapped in a prison of his own body.
Twin Peaks, thanks to Mark Frost’s contributions, may not be so cut and dry. But also it might be exactly what you said too lmao
@@robertyeah2259 i don't mean to discredit the man, i still think he is a creative genius. he just has a very typical formula that can be worked into an infinite amount of scenarios. he's got it down to a science. he really knows how to probe deep into the pits of existential dread. his practice of transcendental meditation likely helps with that.
Finally some more Lynch, now we just need a Twin Peaks reaction 😭😭😭
It’s a commitment but there’s no channel I’d rather see do it.
@matthewhearn9910 same thoughts, I'm half way through it now and not sure how it'd lend itself to youtube but god would it be great to see him watch it
Yes please!
Twin peaks is so good I'd love to see James commentary on it
All seasons. 😃🌲⛰️
fun fact, Stanley Kubrick made the entire cast of The Shining watch Eraserhead as prep, saying it’s his favorite movie
That’s really awesome!
Stanley is a big joker and sadist))
Both main characters are "chosen".
Lynch is a mastermind. Pleeeeeease consider Twin Peaks. It’s right up your alley.
Yes!!! All the Twin Peaks AND Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. TP is so magnificent and surreal.
Yeah, that would be great, I was thinking he should do that.
Twin Peaks was truly groundbreaking. A lot of what's on television now that most take for granted began with that show. Lynch raised the bar. I still remember discovering it by accident one evening after work, probably three episodes in. I'd never seen anything like it on tv, kept wondering what the hell was going on, but it was utterly compelling. I could not look away.
@@lisak2580 AND The Return
Heck yeah! For sure The Return! That’s 💯 what I meant by All the Twin Peaks! It’s all so good 😊
David Lynch stood outside a theater while Mel Brooks was inside watching this. When it was over Mel Brooks walked out and went right over to Lynch, gave him a hug and said "You're a madman, I love you.". He then hired Lynch to do The Elephant Man.
Don't forget to mention Brooks' famous description of Lynch - Jimmy Stewart from Mars.
You know you're on the right track, when Mel Brooks loves your movie!
Lost Highway is gonna blow your mind. For my money the scariest film I've ever seen. I grew up on horror and never got scared, but something about what Lynch does in Lost Highway is so unnerving. It's a horror masterpiece
Same boat with horror. Nothing scares me. I just watch for the entertainment. Some films put me on edge or makes me slightly tense which I always appreciate, but never full on scared. I won't let you fool me into watching this lost highway movie! If this eraserhead is anything to go by, because it seems like a snoozefest
@@NYC_Goody no trust me there is so much more going on in Lost Highway than Erasarhead. It's much more concise in its vision and has a coherent story. It's really special
i.postimg.cc/05nRjNwb/Lost-Highway-04.jpg
@@CT.1982I disagree, Lost Highway is kind of a mess with a bunch of almost ideas and the way Lynch talks about it confirms it in a sense but that stands for a lot of his art, it “comes to him” more than it is methodically writing and planning, he’s a methodical filmmaker but his best ideas come from whims. I would argue Eraserhead is one of his most cohesive and understandable films if you can get over the hurdle of disturbing seemingly meaningless imagery, but when you put it together Eraserhead is solid and consistent in its themes of desolation/fatherhood which aligns with not only the birth of his club footed daughter but the separating from his wife at the time, Peggy Lynch
Great Director, long List of amazing films Lost Highway is next level, blue velvet and Wild at Heart... Twin Peaks too
Yes!!!! I’ve never seen anyone react to this! I’m so happy you watched this crazy trip! I bought this DVD and the Pixies live in Boston DVD the same day. I watched the Pixies first, and it’s crazy that they brought this movie up, and do a cover of “in heaven, everything is fine” ❤
Synchronicity for you. Must have made the experience even more surreal for you.
Fantastic cover too.
Crazy good cover! Kim's voice is a perfect balance of sweet and weird❤❤❤
@Introduckshins Bauhaus used to play this live in the early 1980s i.e. before Pixies.
Oh, so happy this one got through in the poll. A wild and disturbing masterpiece from one of the greatest directors ever.
"They're not even sure if it _is_ a baby!" That is so much horror just packed into so few words right there.
David Lynch attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in the 60s, and he calls the city of Philadelphia his greatest inspiration and the biggest influence on his work. Eraserhead, while it was filmed in LA, was intended to capture the mood and atmosphere that Lynch felt during his time there. You could say that Eraserhead in a way is David Lynch's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
I showed this movie to my dad. He called me a little asshole for this one
LMFAOOOO well damn 😂
lol
I recently saw this in a packed theatre with 900 people.
That was crazy. Also I completely agree with "in heaven everything is fine" being an absolute banger.
David Lynch is one of those artists who has really expanded the boundaries of how I think about art and film in general.
I think the reason his work is so different and really falls into avant-garde territory, even more so than almost any other popular experimental filmmakers, is the way that he's completely unconcerned with giving people a "way in" to understand his films. He truly only cares about one thing, and that's representing his ideas on film as true and accurately to their original inspiration as possible. Not modifying them in any way to be better understood. This is why people love him or hate him. He doesn't intentionally place any kind of markers on his films to give people an outside reference point how to interpret them. They are almost totally insular, they reference images and concepts and themes that are totally personal to Lynch himself.
This both uncomfortably forces you to accept that extremely individual quality, but at the same time also frees you to listen to your own intuitive response. Nobody is guiding you towards a specific interpretation. The work isn't hinting at you, like, "psst, hey, there's a correct way to watch this, and here are the clues." There's no answers at the back of the textbook you can skip to. Lynch really taught me to love that quality of not being told what to think, but to just trust my own feelings, the same way he stays completely true to himself.
After I got into David Lynch, all other movies began to feel slightly predictable to me. "Not knowing" is a really beautiful gift to receive from an artist. The opportunity to go, wow, this doesn't just immediately make sense. Let me sit with this for a while and be in my feelings about it. It's something that I've come to really love and appreciate when interacting with art.
You mention a lot how much this feels like diving into someone's head. And right there at the beginning of the film is literally the image of a planet, _inside_ Henry's head superimposed on top of it, before the camera moves closer and closer, and finally we go inside _that_
Don't try to find too much in it. David Lynch is often more obvious than you think. What's happening in the film? A guy has a child with his girlfriend. It is a monster. She leaves him alone with it. It gets sick. He'd rather sleep with the neighbor. The woman in the radiator tells him that if he just leaves it all behind (in heaven = either he dies or the child just dies), it's all gonna be fine.
I think it's mostly just about a man being afraid of the responsibility of having a child.
I just want to add: This is probably the movie with the BEST sound design ever put on film. It's downright brilliant just on that level.
James always full of surprises. Certified classic of a movie!
Damn straight. 🤘🏽
The hand gestures you made when the movie ended are part of a universal instinctive sign language that spontaneously comes into being after watching David Lynch.
Thanks for watching this James, it's mind blowing. I first saw it when I was 17, my then girlfriend was pregnant with our first child. We lived in a condemned tower block in a bleak city with no furniture or carpets. It was winter, we couldn't afford heat or much food. I was very stoned. This film was an experience, it spoke to me, the poetic projection of my then-life onto the 12" black and white TV screen I watched it on.
I watched THX-1138 on that black and white TV too, another mind blowing unsurpassed first film from a famous director 😉
I love Eraserhead's world, it's proto steampunk practically. I often call Bill my favorite side character of all time, he's not around for long but he just steals the film. Him immediately just diving into a rant about their hellhole neighborhood kills me.
Bull was going wild hahahaha
Look at my knees! LOOK AT THEM
@@sarabrucker7847 I find it super sad his wife seems to resent him so much she wants to hook up with Henry apparently. If this man was my husband I'd consider myself as killing it in life.
3:28 - "Like being trapped in someone's head" - Yes! That's _Eraserhead._
Lynch is a master of realistically capturing the feelings of being in dreamscapes and nightmares.
My favourite film from my favourite director. Glad you’re picking the good ones James!
When i first watched this i found it really interesting that whenever someone addresses him or asks if his name is Henry there's a pause like he's unsure of his identity
I saw this in a midnight show at an art film theater in Newport News, Virginia, when it first came out. I was staying with a friend while attending a science-fiction convention. On our way to the show, we picked up a friend who lived in an old, incredibly creepy, Victorian house that was supposed to be haunted. I got an earful of ghostly stories, which set the mood rather well. Later I saw it again at the American Film Institute in the Kennedy Center. After the second viewing, I felt like I knew what it all meant and wrote an essay about it (I’m a professional writer and editor), but it got rejected by about a dozen magazines---so maybe I was full of it. Now, your reaction makes me realize that I no longer remember what I thought I knew.
I still think highly of this movie and will probably go out and buy it so I can see it again. My favorite moment is when the protagonist says to the parents, “I’m on vacation.”
??????????????
Want to vote on what I should watch next? Click here! www.patreon.com/jamesvscinema
Have a great day!
Before settling on weirdest movie, you have to watch. Naked Lunch
Rosemary's Baby!!!! Classic!
I defy you to watch grungy Australian masterpiece Bad Boy Bubby
This movie took me two watches to understand what David Lynch's intention was with this movie. The first time I watched it, I was like what in the F is going on??????? Like, I knew it had a lot of symbols and what not, but at the time, I was like 15 years old. The 2nd time I did watch it which was after college is when I finally understood what it was about. It was about NIGHTMARES. Fear of being a father, fear of meeting the wife's parents and what not to name some. Weird as it is, I think it works perfectly. Still a super odd movie, but that's David Lynch for you.
Look for , Tetsuo The Iron Man .....
James, bro, you are very bold. I don't think anybody on You Tube with a regular channel would touch this film with a 10-foot pole. Thx for the reaction. Great work.
always so stoked to see more Lynch here. my all time favorite director by far
What's actually the weirdest thing about this movie to me is that the actress who plays Mary was the first school teacher in the family show Little House on the Prairie. And I think she made this movie while still on that show.
Hoping deep down this leads to a Twin peaks reaction series, your analysis of that would be crazy to watch
"In Heaven \ Everything is fine ..." aka Lady in the Radiator Song is the most beautiful section of the audio track in this film. And yes it's been covered and sampled and otherwise preserved. Pixies covered it when they visited the BBC. John C. Reilly was 12 years old when this film hit the cinemas. I'm sure he saw the posters for it at his local movie theater. I was ten and I know I did. Eraserhead quickly became a midnight movie favorite. He probably watched it in an art house when he was a teenager. I know I did. Heh. PS. Check out The Elephant Man (1980), if you haven't already, for a more mainstream taste of David Lynch.
First time I saw this was in college, during an all night horror movie program, at about 4 a.m., draped over the hard wooden chairs in an ugly lecture room, lapsing in and out of consciousness. It really added to the effect.😅
Eraserhead really freaked me out when I first saw it due to how vague and abstract the story is, combined with all the uncanny valley, with the black and white presentation making it all the more unsettling. It kind of made me realize how terrifying the unknown and not being able to make sense of things can be to me. It kind of forced me to see film in a new way that changed my perspective of how effective it can be. However, I have really come to appreciate this film with repeat viewings, even coming up with my own way of interpreting it that just so happened to click with me after a few viewings. Now, it has become a film that I'm definitely a fan of.
Watching this on VHS back in the early 80's was what got me into Industrial\Noise music. Sonically and visually, the only other film that ever came close to this experience was Tesuo: The Iron Man. I highly doubt you'd ever react to Tetsuo, but I'd love you forever if you did.
I absolutely love you for watching this movie!!!!! I mean I watch your videos anyways, but this just elevated you to a whole new level !!!!
15:33 Fun fact, there's a band called Apartment 26 that made a song called "Heaven" which samples the "In Heaven, everything is fine" part from the movie and is also used for the chorus which is sung by them.
That song is so great. I cannot stand this movie, but I totally agree about that song!!
Actually, sorry, no, that’s not it, I was thinking of a totally different song, In Heaven, by The Fires of Ork. Which is great 👍
I feel like the cinematography of this film gets overshadowed by the "weirdness" of the whole thing. This film *looks* amazing. Like, you could take a screenshot of almost any random point of any scene in the movie and use it as a desktop background or poster print or whatever.
David Lynch, the master of surrealism. Every single element of this movie, every object, every angle, every light, every line, every single element of this movie is metaphor. The best summary I can give is that it's about fear and trauma.
I’m so glad you watched this film. It’s one movie that I never had the nerve to introduce to anyone else. This and the movie Naked Lunch. Have you seen Naked Lunch? I’m glad you gave a shoutout to my favorite guy, Salad Fingers! You’re the best!
Cronenberg is my second favorite David director. After Lynch. Fincher, third.
Just have to say, been watching the channel for quite a while, love your thoughts, love your selections, and THANK YOU for doing this one. My favorite film, pretty much, and not often reacted to (maybe twice before, I've seen?). Just wanted to encourage you to keep visiting the older and sometimes odder films. Thanks again.
Keep the horror going man. I'm here for it. Love the genre. And love your channel as well. Your commentary is always insightful. Thank you.
Side note: I had no idea this was a David lynch film.
There is an episode of Twin Peaks: The Return that has similar vibes to Eraserhead. It’s also in black and white, and very abstract and weird. I don’t think I’ll ever understand either of them 😂
This film is absolutely wild! I mean, nearly all of David's work is. But this one was really ambitious. It took him 5 years to make this, funded by his job delivering the Wall Street Journal. And all those years, Jack Nance maintained that hairstyle.
I feel that Lynch comes closest to what it like to be in a dream on film. The uncomfortable and almost alternate reality feel to it all. I first saw Twin Peaks when it first came out and it just made me feel mentally I'll when watching it so I avoided it. I then saw Lost Highway when it came out and loved it. It was made me think about the films being dreams because it has the same person being two different people during the same dream. Something I experience alot in dreams. Anyways, Eraserhead just gives pure anxiety but I do love that constant industrial grind as a soundtrack of sorts. The awkwardness of everyone also reminds me of how everyone in dreams don't act right and behaving randomly. So creepy.
So glad you watched it. I just saw that someone else had watched it too but wanted to see your reaction first.
TWIN PEAKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! especially The Return (Season 3) some of the best stuff Lynch has ever done.
This was inspired by David Lynch's own fear of becoming a father.
Ah!!!
I mean, if babies weren't "cute", this is actually a pretty realistic depiction of parenthood^^ Btw, "Eraserhead Baby" is a reference that sometimes pops up here and there, now ya'll understand.
And I understand his daughter was born somewhat disabled, with clubbed feet that needed surgery, reflected in this film in the way Henry feels so disturbed by the baby.
It also reflects Lynch's experience of living in a rather scummy apartment when he was in art school in Philadelphia at the time.
I don't know if it's a screen, video, my eyes, or my brain but is anyone else seeing the slightest fade of warm earthy tones in the black and white?
"gristle" 😂, that is exactly the vibe. It's almost cosmic horror, a feeling from the most ancient, primordial, instinctive, unkowable gut dread.
Omg my 10th grade teacher showed us this and changed my life. You’ll fall in love with David lynch the more you watch
Welcome to the club. As a person who has devoutly been watching movies for over 50 years, this one parks in your psyche and stays there. It may fade in memory but I guarantee you'll never forget the experience. A masterpiece in its uniqueness and otherworldly nuanced storytelling. Lynch is a madman and we love him for it. ✌️
I once saw Czeck Punk band Uz Jsme Doma at a local club on Halloween. The person standing next to me was dressed up like The Lady in the Radiator and she spent the entire time doing the dance in the movie, regardless of song tempo. Still the coolest person I've ever seen.
Oh wow! This is one of most stunning films ever made. I watch it every time I can. And when I see it in the cinema I like watching the reactions of others in the audience as well. Seeing hip, young cineastes, who think they know what they are getting into, getting their brains mangled is a particular pleasure.
I know you're not usually watching tv series here, but it would be great if you watched David Lynch's Twin Peaks series, because it opened so many possibilities for the medium television was at the time and I still haven't seen a series like it to this day. The right order is Twin Peaks Seasons 1&2 (1990), then the movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992) and then Twin Peaks: The Return (2017). Anyway thanks for this reaction! Being left completely confused is totally normal when watching Eraserhead. By the way, the actor playing the main character here also plays in Twin Peaks.
James, your reaction to this is priceless! Looking into how Lynch got this film made and got it done is a great lesson in filmmaking.
These are the beginnings of the one who is in my opinion the greatest audiovisual artist of the last 50 years. He was already developing a unique personal style of surrealism.
Dude your reactions in this are EPIC lol. Also, there are a few covers / remixes of "In Heaven". The artists that covered it: Helios, Bauhaus, Michael Forrest, Krinkle, Glumurphonel, Figure of Wax and a couple others I'm forgetting at the moment. Much respect!
Haus Arafna.
The Pixies also did a great cover of “In Heaven”. I’ll have to check out Bauhaus’s version. 🤘😎🤘
This film is so mental I absolutely forgot about his head popping off 😅
Oh wow, this takes me back. This was the first film my Film Studies lecturer showed us in college and when it ended, the silence in the room seemed to go on forever. It's been 20 years and I still don't know what to make of this hahaha. Loved your reaction.
20 years after showing this to my friends, when I suggest a movie I still get the occasional "Is it like that movie where a guy just walks around?" (They only saw 10 min before refusing to continue).
Was wondering if you’d be getting around to this one day. My favorite film, hands down. Never considered it a horror film, though it does get categorized as such.
Eraserhead is cinema gold. The imagery and soundscape is on another level. I first watched it on VHS back in 1984 when I was 14. Dude at the video store recommended it to me. He said “I think you’ll like this one.” I thank him for introducing me to David Lynch as many of his films are some of my favorites. I just let his movies happen and go for the ride.
“I’m sure salad fingers was inspired David Lynch”
Funnily Lynch features on a song by Flying Lotus “Fire is Coming” telling a surreal story and the music video for it is directed by Salad Fingers’ David Firth. Small world!
It's about 'fear of parenthood,' in my opinion. This dreamer had a baby with someone he shouldn't have. "In heaven, everything is fine" means it's OK to NOT want to be a parent. Imo.
Eraserhead feels like a 40s film that was made in the 70s. I’m enthralled by the sureal elements of the film.
Finally!, I have been waiting for you to review this classic!
Brilliant reaction, loved it! Especially at the end where you were at a loss for words. LMAO
Yep. This is a total WTAF movie. I've seen it like 5 times and I'm still not entirely sure what the hell is going on. Possibly Lynch at his weirdest and most opaque.
I hope you some day watch Twin Peaks, on camera or off.
3:23 that’s Sissy Spacek’s husband, Jack Fisk. They both collaborated in the budget.
Twin peaks next!!!! Cmonnnnn
the next Lynch film you should see is Lost Highway a nightmarish dreamscape masterpiece
I’ve been waiting for this reaction for a long time. One of my favorite films.
This film in my opinion is the most twisted nightmare you could possibly have, waking up, picking up a camera and then trying to capture it. The sound design, the visuals and the story (whatever the F it I is) is haunting. Only watched it 4 times but creeps me out.
Eraserhead is classified as horror. I think it's better classified as humor. I laughed my arse off the first time I saw it. I learned later that the film, Lynch's first full length film, is about his nervousness about becoming a father.
So glad you've watched this, and given it the some respect. It's quite a debut!
On the surface it's just a nightmare, and he captures dreamland like no other filmmaker, as it really can be nonsensical and absurd yet still kinda mean something.
It's also one of those films you can experience with or without delving too deeply into its meaning, and I like that. No wonder Kubrick loved it.
Wow, I'm so glad you found this. The 1st time for me was long ago when I first started exploring David Lynch, the master. I finally found it on VHS at a Blockbuster is PHX AZ.
I saw this late at night in October 2021, and I gotta say, this movie threw me for a loop. Found myself laying down at night completely baffled and trying to wrap my head around what I just watched. It's really great, but definitely an acquired taste, especially for people who want clear answers and endings. To me, it seems like a sort of meditation on anxieties about parenthood, the bizarre fragility of newborns, fear of commitment, fear of dying, the temptation of novelty, and alienation in mundane life. Really profound stuff, and I appreciate how it doesn't try to give you clean answers to every question. I really appreciate well-made abatract films. I honestly don't think this movie would've worked nearly as well if it wasn't in black-and-white.
You should really do twin peaks. It’s the best TV show of all time. No question about it
16:15 Watching Eraserhead again with eyes a bit more seasoned than before, it really hits home how David Lynch's first love was painting. The framing of this shot, seriously, is just mind-blowing. It’s like he’s painting with the camera, and that artistic touch is actually everywhere through the movie. Knowing he wanted to be a painter first just makes so much sense. Some of the scenes are truly a masterpiece in its own right. Just amazing!
That song is forever stuck in my head too 😭
James, so glad you took on this rarely reacted-to film. Saw it when it was relatively new and felt it was the most nightmarish, queasiest film ever, a film I vowed I would never, ever watch again--and still haven't, at least not in its entirety. The early John Waters films I was enjoying in that era were mild by comparison, BUT for something completely different, I'd strongly recommend Waters' magnum opuses Pink Flamingos (1972) and Female Trouble (1974)!
Some John Waters would be great
For some films occupying the same unusual frequencies I strongly suggest Alejandro Jodorovsky's Santa Sangre and the even trippier Holy Mountain.
great reaction!
my favorite lynch film next to mulholland drive
You have my respect. It takes a lot of bravery for a person unprepared for this film to watch it... Or even considering it. Subscribed now that I know there is no bottom to the depths you may need to plunge for filmmaking.😂
Yes! Next how about “fire, walk with me “
That would be dumb since he hasn’t seen twin peaks season 1 and 2
Yeah you gotta watch the first two seasons of Twin Peaks before FWWM.
Buddy yes. I couldn’t click on this video fast enough. This movie is everything man. A few months ago I was visiting the beaches around Fort Bragg in Cali and hit up this little book store and found the Criterion Collection of this there for $3.
Side story. My girlfriend and I have a monthly date where we make a double feature out of 2 wildly unfitting films. Last month we paired this and The Fault in our Stars. 10/10 experience.
Re: In Heaven (the Lady in the Radiator Song) you asked "I wonder if this song has ever been sampled" oh yes, yes it has. My favorite reference is in the song "Workin' On Leavin' the Livin'" by Modest Mouse. It's also been covered by Bauhaus, Devo, The Pixies, and others. Besides all that- Julee Cruise did a lot of the music for David Lynch back in the day, some lovely haunting tracks for Twin Peaks. Her Lynch-related album was called Floating Into The Night and is worth a listen, imo.
Do "Lost Highway" as your next Lynch experience, one of my favorite movies!
Lynch is just something else, like pulling out a dark side from within yourself that you didn´t (wanna) know about...
Lynch was very young when his first child was born. I guess this reflects quite a bit of the angst he expericenced.
And Jack Nance is absolutely perfect here. (He was in Twin Peaks as well, but this is beyond everything.)
When this came out, it played at midnight on the weekends. We went expecting it to be a Rocky Horror Picture Show experience. Well, it was a rocky horror, all right.
You mentioned liking when films start off with one take, and immediately thought of Breaking News (2004) which has one of the best one take action scenes for it's intro.
David Lynch is a painter. He paints Dreams. But instead of painting with acrylics or oils or watercolors, his best-known works are painted on film.
(Granted, he’s also an actual, physical painter too, but that’s a true artist for you!)
Fun fact, this movie is pretty much the result of Lynch living in Philadelphia for a while
Funny Games and now this. Thank you for tackling movies that most people don't.
My favorite scary movie! It's just the cold absence of logic. Nothing makes sense and plays on subliminal fears.
I remember seeing this at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago, and I remember the audience started giggling. But it wasn't because they found the movie funny. It was nervous laughter, like the movie was gonna come at them with a knife.
You do not try to understand Lynch, you just go along for the ride. 🤠
I now and than love me a movie that just flashes me and leaves me with a lot of questions. Lynch clearly had an idea what to tell, but he kept it so vague and experimental, every viewer can read something else into the movie (similar for example to the second half of 2001 - A Space Odyssey). And that's part of what makes it so great. You as the viewer are not in control, and nobody holds your hand. Just accept it.
That plus the weird charm of a - at that point - young director, not following the rules, not using the go-to framings and cutting, just expressing his vision. It sure helped that Lynch is not only a director but more or less a allround-artist, he paints, writes music.
And the sound design - that somehow became a trademark of Lynch - is next level. This unsettling humming and industrial noise drones that are probably in 95% of the scenes alone puts you on the edge, gives you that uncomfortable brainf**k vibe.
I accidentally rented this on VHS when I was 16 and watched it with my mom. It's nightmare fuel.
In a nightmare Lynch placed one of my favorite characters. The Lady in the radiator. Reminds me of Betty Boop. I was twenty nine when this came out, I saw it at a midnight show. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. A student film tour d'force.
Just saw Bergman's "Hour of the Wolf" which I guarantee influenced Lynch in making Eraserhead.
Duuuuuude yessss I’ve been waiting for you to react to this 🤘🏼🤘🏼
This is what made me want to be a filmmaker.
It seems like very time I see a David Lynch film, my final thought is always, "I like you, you insufferable asshole."
I love Eraserhead hope you make some cool movies we need more filmmakers
I would love to see you react to Twin Peaks. Although season two was a bit of a chore to get through there were still some great Lynch directed episodes in it. Season three was such a treat. I'd join your Patreon to see the full versions of that. I do enjoy your channel.