In fact, the last time I did an In Memoriam post was back in 2021 when legendary composer Stephen Sondheim passed away. Within an hour or two of hearing about his passing, I had to write about my feelings as Sondheim's contributions to the world of musical theatre had a profound effect on me in my youth...and that evening, I actually cried while listening to various songs he had written.
Much like Sondheim, very few artists had as a strong a hold on me in my formative years quite like David Lynch.
I was a very young boy when Twin Peaks first aired on ABC so my only memories of it were small glimpses in the background...but I also recall very vividly that my local library had the entire first season of the series on VHS. Even at a young age, something about seeing those VHS tapes in a row creating a full picture of the show's iconic "Welcome to Twin Peaks" sign made me very intrigued.
I found a pic of the set for reference!
The images of idyllic suburbia ending with worms devouring the earth underneath the blades of grass was unlike anything I had seen before...and then I realized that the man who made it was behind that Twin Peaks series I kept hearing about.
I've gone into it before in other posts, but for the sake of brevity, let me just state very quickly that despite a childhood where I felt in fear about the world of religion I was placed in, my mother was very keen to have me embrace my love of the arts. While at times this would end up with me watching various films and TV shows that I probably shouldn't be watching (more on that later...), that act of hers led me to discovering myself in a lot of ways. I learned so much about life and culture and developed an interest in wanting to act and write and direct.
I can make the case that David Lynch in particular was the biggest inspiration for me in my youth. Perhaps I didn't always get what the point was in his work....do most adults even????.... but all I knew watching his films, and Twin Peaks, was that I had not seen anything like it before. That small taste of Blue Velvet really lived up to the hype.
One story I have told on this blog was how 12-year-old me watched Blue Velvet with my Nan, who passed away just last year. My mom didn't really know much about the film nor did my Nan...but we had rented it from our local video store (RIP Video Warehouse) and that summer afternoon, I sat down to watch it with Nan.
Now...if you've seen the film...I am sure you are already thinking how absolutely bonkers it is that I even began watching this with her. When we got to the scene that Isabella Rossellini finds Kyle MacLachlan in her closet and proceeds to tell him to get undressed, my dear sweet Nan exclaimed "What kind of movie is this?! It is so weird! I am not watching this anymore!" and she proceeded to leave the room. She didn't tell me to stop watching it, she just chose to leave the room.
And a family legend was born.
Not to mention my fascination with David Lynch.
To put timing into perspective, this was the summer of 2001 leading up to the release of one of Lynch's most iconic and beloved works: Mulholland Drive. This was also the summer that I watched Twin Peaks for the first time by way of those library VHS tapes and the convenient fact that the show was still airing in reruns on Bravo in the middle of the night...which I also recorded onto VHS.
I will admit that I went into Twin Peaks already knowing the answer of who killed Laura Palmer...thanks You Don't Know Jack...but that didn't affect my viewing of the show in the slightest. In fact, knowing it made me do something at that young age I hadn't done yet: observe the structure of the writing.
Granted, this also proves to be a bit fruitless in hindsight as Lynch and his co-creator of Twin Peaks, Mark Frost, had not intended to reveal anyone to be the killer until network and audience interference forced them to choose a path to reveal it during the second season...however, it was fascinating to watch that first season with the knowledge of who did it and seeing how expectations were subverted.
Lynch was always an artist who was very focused on mood. In nearly every interview in which one of his frequent collaborators would talk about his process (i.e Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Laura Dern, among others), they’d bring up how Lynch’s way of getting the feeling he wanted in a scene was often spiritual or right from nature: “Think of a wind”.
One could argue that his methods lacked substance, and maybe at times they might have. He also dipped too much into the concept of a “woman in trouble”. As transgressive as his work could be, it also still felt oddly trapped in the gee golly 1950s that he came of age in.
However, when he gives over to the power of emotional expression, it can be especially brutal, like in Fire Walk With Me.
I’ve been racking around in my brain about what all I wanted to say here and if I wanted to confine it all into one post or write about a few different things as a series.
I really want to discuss some of his films at length, so I am planning on devoting a few essays to his work.
I will tackle:
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Eventually, I will go into the Twin Peaks saga but I really need time to sit with that whole series and film as it’s perhaps the set of work of his that I find the closest to my heart but also have grown to have conflicting feelings with as I’ve gotten older.
So yes…if you are interested, please be on the lookout for my upcoming posts on the various works of David Lynch.
Forgive me for this being all over the place, but I was sitting at my office when I was heard the news and felt compelled to get some of my thoughts out right away.
I find myself in a bit of shock.
For better or worse, a lot of who I am today came from the work of David Lynch…as odd as that might be to read. I was already very interested in film before I truly knew of his work, but he was the first filmmaker who made me go “Wow. Can I do that too? What else is out there that is crazy like this?!”
I may have suffered from being a pretentious film bro as a teenager (one could argue I am still one now), but my love of film became my ultimate passion. That journey, in many ways, truly began with David Lynch.
Every interview and anecdote about him or by him just reveals a very quirky and genteel guy who surprisingly unleashes a darkness in his material often. Even reading his autobiography “Room to Dreem” from a few years ago was such a rewarding experience because you could tell this was a man with such a strong sense of compassion and spirit.
I can’t help but feel the sense of loss.
He was a something of a savior to a young confused boy who was looking for something to excite him and make him feel a little bit alive.
Thank you, Maestro. I will miss you.
1946-2025
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