David Lynch is a genius. I love his movies although I don’t fully understand half of them. Comprehension isn’t the point. Pushing the limits of filmmaking and the subsequent viewer reaction – that’s where it’s at. As big a fan as I am, I’ve never seen Twin Peaks. Well, now I’m diving in. I was fascinated to find out that there are several moments in the series that were actually mistakes. A misunderstood line by an actor, a faulty light, a grip in the background – and Lynch loved them so much that he kept them in. I’ve already experienced a couple of them and he was absolutely right. Life is full of mistakes, and they’re usually more interesting than the script.
In Sweet Damnation, Brody is all of a sudden holding a wine glass and a beer bottle after a cut. (Casey was just transporting the wine glass for Trista between shots). Mike and I thought it was funny so we kept it. That is still one of our favorite scenes.
So make some mistakes. And show some cubes….I mean cube.
Nostalgia literally means the pain from an old wound. It’s a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone. – Don Draper, Mad Men
I was 4 years old, going on 5. Life in the town of Forman, ND was big to a young kid but small to the rest of the world. On this very afternoon, my world was going to get much bigger. I was going to the movies for the first time.
Forman’s movie theatre only showed movies on Friday and Saturday. New movies didn’t swing around until months after the release. Except for this one – the biggest, baddest, rockin flick this side of the Mississippi! And mom found it in her heart to let me go with some neighborhood kids and their babysitter.
We walked into a dingy but familiar array of cushioned seats. Teenagers were flirting and throwing popcorn at each other. Just when we thought it was safe, the lights went down. The subsequent trailers were getting in the way. My excitement rose to a fever pitch. And then the screen went black…then the heartbeat thumps of a baseline……….and the blackness turned to this:
The wound still pains me but I ache to return to it. Life is strange my friends. So is Flash Gordon.
The road trip. It never goes as planned. When change occurs unexpectedly, the surreal experiences rise to the surface. Those moments that singe your brain. Check the pic. The site of our first breakdown. The sign happened to be laying near the spot.
These situations are primed for film. The sensory overload of the surreal will win every time. Even if you can’t make sense of it take the powerful elements and apply them to your story.
