374 - Eraserhead, United States, 1977. Dir. David Lynch.

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

374 - Eraserhead, United States, 1977.  Dir. David Lynch.

This is what it is like watching Eraserhead.

1.     I love David Lynch.  I can't wait to see this one.  I'm excited.
2.     Oh, it's in black and white.  Cool.
3.     Listen to those strange sounds.  He's good at that.
4.     Hmm.  Looks like David didn't have any money.  I get it.  It was early in his career.
5.     Is that supposed to be a planet?
6.     How long before he starts telling the story?
7.     So this is what this film is about.  That's different from my assumptions.
8.     Did he make this before or after Elephant Man?  I thought it came after but it looks like before.
9.     Maybe this is a student film.  Was it his Masters thesis or something?
10.   I feel like I've seen this same movie at a hundred film-school screenings and low-budget festivals.  And I've been an actor in several of them.  A lot of those student filmmakers are now doing something else with their lives.
11.    Don't eat the chicken!
12.    Even though he has a lot of bad special effects in here, he has some good ones as well.  Like that creature.  Pre-E.T.  That's cool.
13.     It's also gross.  Blech.
14.     Which one of them gave birth?  Her or him?  And out of his mouth?
15.     That lady singing prefigures Rebekah Del Rio in Mulholland Drive.  "Cry-y-y-y-ing.  Over you."  Or shall I say, "Llor-r-r-ando.  Por tu amor"?  But with a bad face prosthetic.  Silencio!
16.     I could always run to the kitchen and get a snack.
17.     This is the kind of film you make when you want film scholars to use words like dread, unease, paranoia, and alienation in their journal articles.
18.     What time is it?
19.     Well, that was interesting.  I still love David Lynch.  I'm still excited.
20.     That was surreal.  Literally.
21.     Now I'll go read up about it to find out what I missed.  That'll be faster.  Then I can move on with my day.  The next time around I'll appreciate it more.