In heaven, everything is fine

I’ve called myself a David Lynch fan for years, mostly because of Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart. Loved Mulholland Dr. too; swinging wildly between the stylishly enigmatic and the viscerally erotic makes for quite a cinematic experience.

I say “called myself” because I only just saw Eraserhead last week. I know, I know, but that’s just how it is with me and what many consider essential viewing.

Anyway, Eraserhead has stuck with me mentally like maybe no other film I’ve ever seen. Some thoughts:

• Hadn’t the slightest what to make of this right after I saw it, which I suspect is a common reaction. After a day or so I decided I had seen something Very Important.
• There are many films I want to see again simply because I want the experience of seeing them having seen this one. They include all of the David Lynch films; all three Stanley Kubrick films that came after this one, plus A.I.: Artificial Intelligence; Pi; Fight Club; and Donnie Darko.
• I’m amazed at how (objectively) different this film feels, looks, and sounds from Lynch’s later work, and yet it’s unmistakably his. I think most of it is composition.
• I’ve watched it once more since my initial viewing, and the experience was quite different. That tells me I must watch it several more times.
• I won’t offer any detailed interpretation of the film until then. Maybe not even then.

I must specifically mention the Lady in the Radiator, who has been singing in my head for a week. Obviously she embodies no typical definition of beauty, and yet somehow, she’s breathtaking. Her paradoxical allure will likely be central to whatever I finally decide this all means.

Thank you, Mr. Lynch, for all you did to see this film to completion. This worked out, so everything that followed did too. We are a better culture for it.

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