David Lynch: The Art Life (2016)

Artist and filmmaker David Lynch discusses his early life and the events that shaped his outlook on art and the creative process.

Directors:

Rick Barnes, Olivia Neergaard-Holm

Stars:

David Lynch, Lula Lynch, Edwina Lynch

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
David Lynch	...	Himself
Lula Lynch	...	Herself, David Lynch's daughter (as Lula)
Edwina Lynch	...	David Lynch's mother (archive footage)
Donald Lynch	...	Himself, David Lynch's father (archive footage)
Peggy Reavey	...	Herself, David Lynch's first wife (archive footage)

Storyline

David Lynch takes us on an intimate journey through the formative years of his life. From his idyllic upbringing in small town America to the dark streets of Philadelphia, we follow Lynch as he traces the events that have helped to shape one of cinema's most enigmatic directors. David Lynch the Art Life infuses Lynch's own art, music and early films, shining a light into the dark corners of his unique world, giving audiences a better understanding of the man and the artist. As Lynch states "I think every time you do something, like a painting or whatever, you go with ideas and sometimes the past can conjure those ideas and color them, even if they're new ideas, the past colors them."

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Plot Keywords:

artist | family relationships | reference to bob dylan | cigarette smoking | artistic creation | 

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Taglines:

Uncompromising. Uncategorizable. Unmissable.

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA Denmark

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 April 2017 (Denmark)

Also Known As:

David Lynch: The Art Life

Filming Locations:

Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,823, 2 April 2017

Gross USA:

$171,419

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$311,470

Company Credits

Production Co:

Absurda, Duck Diver Films, Hideout Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Color:

Color Black and White (some scenes)

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1 / (high definition)

Did You Know?

Trivia

Funded by a Kickstarter campaign. It took several years for completion.

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Quotes

David Lynch: Philadelphia was kind of a poor man's New York City, so it was a weird town. It was kind of a mean town. One woman, who was my neighbour, *reeked* of urine and she was a complete racist. There was another woman, who was totally crazy. She was a neighbour. Lived down the street with her parents. And she would go around the backyard on her hands and knees and squawk like a chicken and say, "I'm a chicken! I'm a chicken!" And squawk and squawk and go around and around in this tall white grass in ...

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Soundtracks

Sparkle Lounge Blues
Written and performed by David Lynch and Dean Hurley
Published by Bobkind Music Inc (ASCAP) / Team Hurley (ASCAP)
Administered by Universal Music Corp / Downtown Music Publishing
Courtesy of Sunday Best Recordings

User Reviews

You'd better read "Lynch on Lynch"

If you don't know anything about the life of David Lynch, some things in this film might be interesting for you. But they still seem pretty random and only scratch the surface. It's just chronologically arranged stations of his life, retold by Lynch himself. If you really want to know something about David Lynch, you'd better read "Lynch on Lynch" by Chris Rodley. Basically the movie just uses passages from the book but without the context or the depth the book delivers. If you read that book, don't bother watching this movie. It will bore you.

Cinematography is mediocre. Archive footage is just tons of pictures from Lynch as a child, e.g. family pictures. At few points the camera captures interesting images of Lynch, just being in his studio. Watching at his painting or interacting with his child. Unfortunately these moments are instantly destroyed by the constant voice-overs. I would have loved to just watch sequences of David Lynch painting. At so many points in his life he emphasized that he just wanted to paint and nothing else. And now this movie shows once again, how he went from painting to film making. Why not portrait the moments when he went back to painting because he did not want to film ever again?

If I didn't know better, I now would think of Lynch as a mediocre artsy-fartsy guy who likes to talk about himself.