THE ABSURD MYSTERY OF THE STRANGE FORCES OF EXISTENCE: "LYNCHIAN" CINEMA
MARCH - MAY
Looking for movies actually made by David Lynch? Find all upcoming Seattle-area Lynch screenings HERE.
Over-used, abused, and functionally defused, the term “Lynchian” is nevertheless the best language available to us to convey that special way in which the profoundly singular style of the late David Lynch has been reflected and refracted through the shattered mirror of movie history.
Like the incomprehensibly malign forces permeating out of the Black Lodge and into the modern world - unleashed by the detonation of the atom bomb before crawling down the throat of a teenage Sarah Palmer in TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN - Lynch's aesthetic and thematic preoccupations reverberate forwards and backwards through time, radiating their way to the surface in places both blazingly clear and surprisingly subtle.
The Lynchian world is a liminal one, teetering on the edge of dreams and nightmares. Steeped in a fraught nostalgia for an idyllic America that never was, it exudes a tantalizing elusiveness, and the enigma of what signifies the Lynchian sensibility lies in producing unfamiliarity in that which was once familiar. The essence of the Lynchian is a collision of several discrete elements that all combine together to create that uneasy mélange of luxuriant melodrama, absurdist humor and impending horror. The Lynchian is oneiric and interior, attuned to the universe’s deepest frequencies. It’s a place where identity is never fixed and Good and Evil both exert their powerful sway over our fragile lives.
From explicitly acknowledged influences and favorites of Lynch, to films of speculative kinship that simply evoke "that certain feeling", with this program the Beacon invites you into a world of familiar faces and unfamiliar worlds. While each of these movies has their own unique alchemy, distinct and apart from the actual work of David Lynch, every last one is essential viewing for bereaved and hungry Lynch fans who want to keep dreaming this strange and wonderful dream.
Over-used, abused, and functionally defused, the term “Lynchian” is nevertheless the best language available to us to convey that special way in which the profoundly singular style of the late David Lynch has been reflected and refracted through the shattered mirror of movie history.
Like the incomprehensibly malign forces permeating out of the Black Lodge and into the modern world - unleashed by the detonation of the atom bomb before crawling down the throat of a teenage Sarah Palmer in TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN - Lynch's aesthetic and thematic preoccupations reverberate forwards and backwards through time, radiating their way to the surface in places both blazingly clear and surprisingly subtle.
The Lynchian world is a liminal one, teetering on the edge of dreams and nightmares. Steeped in a fraught nostalgia for an idyllic America that never was, it exudes a tantalizing elusiveness, and the enigma of what signifies the Lynchian sensibility lies in producing unfamiliarity in that which was once familiar. The essence of the Lynchian is a collision of several discrete elements that all combine together to create that uneasy mélange of luxuriant melodrama, absurdist humor and impending horror. The Lynchian is oneiric and interior, attuned to the universe’s deepest frequencies. It’s a place where identity is never fixed and Good and Evil both exert their powerful sway over our fragile lives.
From explicitly acknowledged influences and favorites of Lynch, to films of speculative kinship that simply evoke "that certain feeling", with this program the Beacon invites you into a world of familiar faces and unfamiliar worlds. While each of these movies has their own unique alchemy, distinct and apart from the actual work of David Lynch, every last one is essential viewing for bereaved and hungry Lynch fans who want to keep dreaming this strange and wonderful dream.
