Lynch
Did David Lynch direct this lively, Lynchian documentary (self?) portrait of eccentric genius David Lynch at home and at work?
Lynch denies it, and Lynch is being officially (and mysteriously) credited to the pseudonymous blackANDwhite - who, the story goes, is "choosing to remain anonymous," but is someone "who lived and worked at Lynch's home." (Maybe it's Lynch's filmmaker daughter Jennifer?) Whatever its provenance, Lynch offers rare behind-the-scenes insight into the Lynchian method and madness.
Shot over two years, it finds the filmmaker at work on Inland Empire; contributing to davidlynch.com; telling tales about his days in Philadelphia; and waxing philosophical about Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Transcendental Meditation (of which, it seems, Lynch has been a devotee for decades).
Lynch is surprisingly hands-on in his approach to production as he prepares to film Inland Empire in several derelict and abandoned Polish factories. He describes the movie as an experiment, because he's shooting it without a script, and claims to be reading the Bible for inspiration - something, he says here, he also did with Eraserhead!
Lynch emerges as a humorous, engaging, highly determined and occasionally irascible personality. This intimate, impressionistic documentary keeps things visually interesting with its mix of colour, monochrome, video textures, split screens, and other formal devices. Lynch is a must-see for admirers of David Lynch's work. (Pacific Cinematheque)