Modern Day Renaissance Man

  2011.

 It's been almost 6 years since cinematic genius and hairstyle master David Lynch last released a feature film. "Inland Empire" is about a woman in trouble. I could tell you more, but that's all Lynch would want me to say.

 No, really. 

 The film represented two firsts for the acclaimed director; the first time he had a film breach the three hour mark, and the first time he shot an entire feature on digital video, afterwards stating that he will never again shoot on film. Despite many people not knowing exactly what the film was about ( and I include before viewing AND after), Lynch decided to promote it, and especially Laura Dern's fantastic performance, in his own inimitable way.  While traffic slowed to a crawl and people stopped and stared, Lynch hung around Sunset Boulevard with a large banner bearing the slogan:

"Without Cheese, there would be no INLAND EMPIRE" 

Right......

....Oh, also present was eh, ahem, a live cow. 

I'm sure it was like a scene from one of the great man's films.

It was NOT the first time Lynch had displayed his wacky sense of humour and/or (?) erratic and odd behaviour. None of it anti-social of course. Just a bit odd. 

And I think that's great. Lynch is a man who is not afraid to take chances and risks. He actually just does whatever he wants, in order to express himself. And it's very refreshing to see a figure in the world of cinema do that. To not worry about media scrutiny, or how they look, or what they should do to appeal to the masses. I think Lynch's creativity and passion for expression even at the simplest level really is epitomised by his comic strip " The Angriest Dog in the World" which was published every day by the LA Reader from 1983 to 1992. The cartoon has to be one of the simplest ever devised. It consists of 3 identical frames. The 4th frame is the same except it is now nighttime The only things that change are the speech bubbles from a couple inside the house, usually in the form of a non-sequitur or an aphorism or adage.  Their nonsensical palaver is heard every minute of every day by their dog, who is chained to a post. He is a very angry dog. Here is an example

The Dog who is so angry he cannot move. He cannot eat. He cannot sleep. He can just barely growl. Bound so tightly with tension and anger, he approaches the state of rigor mortis

I think it is genius in it's simplicity!

Lynch relationship with music in his movies has always been a cornerstone of his film-making style, and in almost of all of his films there is a strength behind the music, or a piece of music. For an artist who doesn't reside only in the world of cinema, the next logical step ( if someone can ever use the word logically and David Lynch together) was to create an album. 

And so David Lynch's latest venture to express himself is his debut album "Crazy Clown Time", which was released just last month. The really decent opening track, entitled "Pinky's Dream"  has some really odd, minimal and seemingly dull lyrics ( the word Pinky is heard over 40 times in a 4 minute song!) but somehow they work. Thankfully Karen O ( you'll hear in trailers for Fincher's upcoming little film) has a great voice, so I don't mind listening to her sing about Pinky so singularly and effusively. Lynch's voice probably wouldn't be as quite as pleasant, which is fair enough. Perhaps he understands this himself, which is why when he sings on tracks it's usually through a vocoder or modified by some sort of modulator. Or maybe he just wants it to sound different. Bear in mind, however, that if someone ever uses the word "different" to describe something to do with David Lynch, they are understating. Just like Lynch himself does when describing his own works.

 You just have to experience them to get them. And if you do get it, you're one of the lucky few. 

And if you don't get it, it's ok... Just always remember, that Cheese is made from Milk.