Following the death of visionary auteur David Lynch, several of his films (and films about him) are now streaming completely for free and without ads, thanks to both Kanopy and The Criterion Channel. Eraserhead and Lost Highway are streaming for free on Kanopy along with the fascinating Alexandre O. Philippe documentary Lynch/Oz, which explores the director’s longtime fascination with The Wizard of Oz and that film’s influence on him. Meanwhile, The Criterion Channel is streaming perhaps the most intimate documentary made about the filmmaker, David Lynch: The Art Life, for free.
Separated by two decades, 1977’s Eraserhead and 1997’s The Lost Highway are two of Lynch’s more oblique films, with the former gaining cult status and the latter, originally a failure on several fronts, becoming more appreciated over the years. Eraserhead was Lynch’s first feature film after a decade of boundary-pushing shorts, and the film carries those experiments into a disturbing feature length about a new father living in a post-industrial hellscape. Known for its groundbreaking sound design and horrifying imagery, the film has become a midnight movie staple and a huge influence on horror films everywhere. Befuddling to many, it’s often considered an allegory for abortion, parenthood, or the American dream; whatever it’s about, it’s unforgettable.
Related
The Great David Lynch Heads to the Red Room, Passes Away at 78
The famed director and visionary artist has passed away at the age of 78 following his evacuation from LA during the fires.
Lost Highway is a certainly more accessible film, but is nonetheless bizarre. In many ways, it’s the antecedent of Mulholland Drive, in that it explores how a traumatic, violent moment splits the consciousness of a person between reality and a illusory dream world. The film initially follows a jazz musician (Bill Pullman) who is sent to jail on suspicion of murdering his wife (Patricia Arquette). The next day, though, an entirely different person (Balthazar Getty) is in his jail cell. Upon his release, he falls head over heels for a gangster’s wife (also played by Arquette), leading to all sorts of trouble. The film has one of the best soundtracks of the ’90s, with original songs from David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Lou Reed, Marilyn Manson, and others.
Perceptive Documentaries About David Lynch
Lynch/Oz and David Lynch: The Art Life provide two very different looks at the filmmaker and his process. The former is more of an essay film that brilliantly deconstructs Lynch’s ouevre and its connections with The Wizard of Oz, fantasy, bifurcated consciousness, Hollywood, and women in trouble. The Art Life is a much more straightforward documentary that looks at Lynch’s life but also spends time with the director at his home as he paints and sculpts, opining about his work, his career, and what it means to be an artist. Lynch defines what “the art life” means to him at its most essential and reductive: “You drink coffee, you smoke cigarettes, and you paint, and that’s it.”
Related
David Lynch, Johnny Depp, Sam Raimi & More Made a Zombie Film with a Dying Boy
Anthony Conti was on his way to be a great young filmmaker before cancer stopped him in his tracks, but he was able to make this cool short film.
Two complementary films from 2007 and 2008, though, might be the best documentaries about the filmmaker. LYNCH (one) and LYNCH2, directed by the pseudonymous artist blackANDwhite, document Lynch with unprecedented access as he works on what would become his final feature film, Inland Empire. Told in a nonlinear, abstract approach (in such a way that many thought Lynch was the actual director behind the pseudonym), the documentaries evoke “the feeling of what it was like to be around David – the thoughts that he makes you think – the avenues your creativity goes down,” as blackANDwhite told Filmmaker Magazine.
I saw LYNCH (one) when it premiered at the Minneapolis Film Festival in 2007, and it felt like watching a secret. It’s very intimate, a personal meditation on Lynch’s process, and is an essential document for fans of the director. That film and LYNCH2 are available as special features in The Criterion Collection’s monumental release of Inland Empire.
You can find Lost Highway, Eraserhead, and Lynch/Oz at Kanopy here. Other films and content on Kanopy are always no-cost with no ads, just with your public library card or university login. Download Kanopy, or go to Kanopy.com to sign-up. The Criterion Channel is streaming David Lynch: The Art Life completely for free here.
