I rewatched Crumb, which I had not watched since the 1990’s. I’m working on the biography this summer, too. I forgot Dian Hansen was in it.
I also watched David Lynch’s The Art Life. It has mostly favorable reviews, but, like Eraserhead, I wonder how much improved it might be after some aggressive editing. I was expecting a generous, insightful and frank discussion of creativity and process (I don’t know why, maybe from some Instagram posts I’ve seen).
Instead, there are:
- many lingering shots of Lynch smoking
- many shots of his fabulous hair
- lots of shots with him smearing goop in surfaces
- lingering shots of his fabulous hair while smoking
- shots with him smearing goop in surfaces while smoking
- some nice historic photos
- childhood anecdotes told while smoking
At one point, Lynch begins telling a story about a childhood neighbor who came out to see the family off as they were moving. He stops mid-thought, and the film makers never return to this.
He is laboring over a work called What I learned in School (or similar) which is honestly the most interesting part of this. Yet, he doesn’t discuss it, and we never see the finished work. WTH?
And, that sums up Lynch for me – a lot of his work seems incomplete, or abandoned. Meh.
