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The Grandmother

  • 19701970
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 34m
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
7.1K
YOUR RATING
The Grandmother (1970)
AnimationShortHorror
A young boy plants some strange seeds and they grow into a grandmother.A young boy plants some strange seeds and they grow into a grandmother.A young boy plants some strange seeds and they grow into a grandmother.
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
7.1K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • David Lynch
  • Writer
    • David Lynch
  • Stars
    • Dorothy McGinnis
    • Richard White
    • Virginia Maitland
  • Director
    • David Lynch
  • Writer
    • David Lynch
  • Stars
    • Dorothy McGinnis
    • Richard White
    • Virginia Maitland
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 36User reviews
    • 13Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win

    Photos29

    Dorothy McGinnis in The Grandmother (1970)
    Richard White in The Grandmother (1970)
    Robert Chadwick and Virginia Maitland in The Grandmother (1970)
    Dorothy McGinnis in The Grandmother (1970)
    The Grandmother (1970)
    Robert Chadwick, Virginia Maitland, and Richard White in The Grandmother (1970)
    Dorothy McGinnis in The Grandmother (1970)
    Robert Chadwick in The Grandmother (1970)
    The Grandmother (1970)
    Richard White in The Grandmother (1970)
    Richard White in The Grandmother (1970)
    Richard White in The Grandmother (1970)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Dorothy McGinnis
    • Grandmother
    Richard White
    • Boy
    Virginia Maitland
    • Mother
    Robert Chadwick
    • Father
    • Director
      • David Lynch
    • Writer
      • David Lynch
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      When hired by Mel Brooks and Stuart Cornfeld to direct The Elephant Man (1980), David Lynch showed this film to producer Jonathan Sanger, who initially had optioned the script, as he still wasn't convinced that Lynch was right for the job. This convinced him otherwise, as it showed that Lynch not only could make a surreal nightmare but also an emotionally affecting film.
    • Connections
      Edited into The Short Films of David Lynch (2002)

    User reviews36

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    Stands on its own as a great, surreal and dark, short.
    One of the most disturbing things i've ever seen. The actors in this film, David Lynch's third film technically, but his first narrative film, were never in any other movies - one of them, Father, died a few years ago - it is as if they exist only in the frightening nightmare world of this boy's life, which consists of two dog-like parents who only bark at him with unintelligible sounds, and beat him and rub his face in the urine when he wets the bed, like a puppy. The subject of the film (and if i don't tell you this, it'll make so little sense to you, because its never properly explained in the film) is the boy has no love from his parents, and no grandmother to give him respite from them and comfort him, so he grows one in the attic.

    It is a horrifying, brilliant film, which creates an imaginative world very successfully - albeit one you desparately want to escape from as soon as possible, but it does this well at least.

    The Lynchian oeuvre is almost fully formed here, right from the start. Little dialogue, atmospheric soundtrack of constant sound effects which you find in Eraserhead, Elephant Man, Lost Highway and Mulholland Dr; impressionistic approach to performance and makeup/costume and sets; the quality of estrangement in the direction, and most importantly there is the union of terrible, twisted darkness and optimistic naivety (developed to the full in Blue Velvet and Mulholland Dr).

    For Lynch fans, this is a thing to see. Unlike Six Men Getting Sick or The Amputee, this is not just an experiment or an early film of a Director that ruins your impression of them, it stands on its own, irrespective of Lynch's subsequent work (though it also sets the tone for his subsequent narrative work) as a great surrealist/impressionist narrative short.
    helpful•38
    5
    • Ben_Cheshire
    • Apr 22, 2004

    Details

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    • Release date
      • July 1970 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Бабушка
    • Filming locations
      • Pennsylvania, USA
    • Production company
      • American Film Institute (AFI)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $1,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      34 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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