Glengarry Glen Ross (1992; d. James Foley)
I saw this one in the theatre back in the day. There’s a revival coming up on Broadway and Bill Burr is going to be in it. It’s kind of perfect! He’ll be playing the Ed Harris part, I think, which is perfect, since the character seethes with a kind of helpless anger. Great cast here, obviously, but it’s pretty schticky. I am continuously amazed that Kevin Spacey was ever considered a good – or, my God, great – actor. No, he is NOT. I felt this way before his fall from grace. I remember talking about it with Sam Schacht 2 decades ago, for God’s sake. “He’s a very thin actor and he is being overpraised.” said Sam. “Thin” meaning emotionally thin, emotionally limited. Which, forgive me, disqualifies you from being considered a good actor. Being overpraised made him lazy and cocky. His default attitude (not emotion) was amused contempt. If you’re a character actor and that’s what you’re called upon to play – fine. But a leading man? Who won not one but TWO Oscars? The world went MAD for him. I couldn’t believe it. Here he is in Glengarry Glen Ross, my first exposure to him, and what he does here is what he did in every role. There. That’s it. That’s all he’s got to give. Amazing to me that he ever was a LEAD in anything.
Desire (1936; d. Frank Borzage)
Borzage is so romantic, so deeply interested in atmosphere – the atmosphere around love – its magic, its shadows. This is a heist movie, with Dietrich a cunning jewel thief, on the run across Europe. She basically runs into a corn-fed gee-willikers American, taking his first vacation ever. He’s supposedly a ladies man, although Gary Cooper plays it with more of a “shucks, golly, you’re pretty” kind of way which might not get him too far, except that he looks like Gary Cooper. Shenanigans naturally ensue. He has no idea she’s a thief. She keeps trying to shake him off her tail. But … of course … Desire is at work.
Blue Velvet (1986; d. Blue Velvet)
I’m working on a big piece on David Lynch. This loss hits different. Because he was singular. We won’t see his like again. It’s also interesting because I’m old. I witnessed his rise first-hand. If you were born in, say, the late 90s, Lynch was already a “thing” and you got on the train, knowing he was a master. It’s like me with, say, Godard or Howard Hawks. By the time I was born, they were legends and so discovering them was like joining a well-populated continuum. With Lynch, he was an unknown and then suddenly there was Twin Peaks. (Eraserhead didn’t really crack into the mainstream.) Turns out, though, I had seen The Elephant Man when I was in high school, because we read the script in drama class. The movie made a HUGE impression but I had no idea who the filmmaker was and wouldn’t have cared had I known. Years later, my boyfriend and I watched Twin Peaks together, it was appointment television and – in a lot of ways – the only thing bonding us together, lol. But before THAT I saw Blue Velvet at my local movie theatre. I went into it totally unprepared. (I also had to use my connection with the concession stand guy – he was in my acting class – in order to even get in, since it was rated R.) I had no idea what I was getting into. I didn’t read movie reviews. But we had one movie screen in our town so I went to see everything. I will never forget that first encounter. Ever. There was nothing like it in my experience, before or since.
Twin Peaks, Season 1 (1990; d. David Lynch. Plus: Duwayne Dunham, Tina Rathborne, Tim Hunter, Lesli Linka Glatter, Caleb Deschanel, Mark Frost)
I rewatch every couple of years. I’m so glad Twin Peaks exists. It’s a miracle. I mean, I still can’t even believe this thing was funded and green-lit. But it WAS.
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951; d. Elia Kazan)
Allison had never seen it! So we watched together. (I’ve been in New York a lot this month. I had a massive fall, by the way. Bumped my head on the tile floor. Had to go to urgent care to make sure I didn’t have a concussion. Was a pretty scary couple of days. Natasha Richardson fears. My shoulder is still messed up. It could have been so much worse. Anyway, that happened.) It was frigid cold in New York, in the teens, and Allison and I holed up in her apartment. She’s reading a biography of Brando and I was like, “You have to watch his work. The biography is interesting but the truth of him is in his work.” It was so fun to discover it with her. What is amazing – considering the character of Stanley – is the delicacy of his work. It’s still a revelation.
The Skeleton Twins (2014; d. Craig Johnson)
Allison and I went to the anniversary screening of this at the Metrograph, and producer/editor Jennifer Lee was in attendance. There was a discussion and QA afterward. It was so fun. We love this movie so much.
Mulholland Drive (2001; d. David Lynch)
I pretty much know this one by heart. It’s a masterpiece.
Twin Peaks, Season 2 (1991; d. David Lynch. Plus: Lesli Linka Glatter,
Todd Holland, Graeme Clifford, Caleb Deschanel, Tim Hunter, Tina Rathborne, Duwayne Dunham, Uli Edel, Diane Keaton – !!, James Foley, Jonathan Sanger, Stephen Gyllenhaal)
Season 2 is a wild ride, man. You find out “who killed Laura Palmer” and then there are 19 episodes after that. With interminable plot-lines like James and the Sunset Boulevard-ish lady, and Benjamin Horne losing himself in fantasies of the Civil War, and Nadine being in high school (ugh), and Audrey … what happened to the girl in Season 1? It’s like everyone lost their nerve when it came to Audrey. They had to soften her up, make her less strange. STILL, the larger through-line – which Laura Palmer’s murder merely represented, or was a portal to – of the darkness in the woods and in the world, and how the darkness manifests – is there. Those strange moments still come. The quality fell off so much it’s practically legendary, and the show hemorrhaged viewers. I remember that back then. And without the internet you REALLY had to pay attention to things. Somehow I figured out the show was in trouble, and my boyfriend and I looked back on Season 1 with nostalgia. Season 2 has its points though. The final scene is still shocking. I remember my boyfriend and I being so astonished by it and then the realization dawned “…. wait … what happens NEXT? Is that IT?” (The Sopranos‘ final scene has nothing on the final scene of Twin Peaks.) We’d have to wait 25 years to find out what happened next.
David Lynch: The Art Life (2016; Rick Barnes, Olivia Neergaard-Holm, Jon Nguyen)
Wonderful revelatory movie about Lynch’s life and art, with interviews and footage of him at work in his home studio. Which he had to be moved from during the fires. Which probably hastened his death.
Eraserhead (1977; d. David Lynch)
I had to catch up with this one later. I think I rented it at Blockbuster in Hoboken, when I lived there. It’s an industrial fever dream. You can see it in all this unconscious anxiety about being a parent. This is not news. It’s right there onscreen. Lynch could only make this because he won a scholarship from AFI. He said he had no idea what would have happened to him if he hadn’t gotten the money from AFI. He was an avant-garde un-commercial filmmaker.
Lynch/Oz (2022; d. Alexandre O. Philippe)
A little pretentious at points but I loved the connections made between Lynch and The Wizard of Oz. You’d have to be actively not paying attention to miss all the red shoes in Lynch’s work. I think in every movie a female character wears red shoes.
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992; d. David Lynch)
A misunderstood – still – masterpiece.
Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces (2013; d. David Lynch)
Fascinating deleted/extended scenes from Fire Walk With Me. They add up to over an hour of film. Highly recommended. I have THOUGHTS about the deletions, and what they reveal about Lynch – but I’ll save that for the piece I’m writing.
Inland Empire (2006; d. David Lynch)
To quote myself: A misunderstood – still – masterpiece. Honestly, it’s not that obscure to me. I’m not baffled by it at all, at least not the main “plot”. An actress tries to get into her character and it leads her down some pretty dark paths. Very Opening Night-ish. It’s a brutal watch, in many ways, and it’s fairly ugly to look at (it was Lynch’s first digital film, and much of it looks like old video transfers). It’s ugly by design. The more I’ve seen this one, the more sense – if that is the word – it makes.
More Things That Happened (2007; d. David Lynch)
Another compilation of deleted/extended scenes, this time from Inland Empire. I’ve seen all these things before but went back to watch them again. Not just because I was writing a piece on him but because I was trying to process this. As well as the LA fires and the new ghoul in the White House. I flashed back to 2017, when Twin Peaks: The Return basically helped me – and a lot of other people, I know – get through that terrible year. It came out episode by episode, it wasn’t dumped all at once, and so – briefly – during one of the most divisive years in this country’s history (we were just getting started) – we all came together to watch the same thing at the same time, and then go to Twitter to discuss. Lynch is important to me and it’s personal. And you can see in all the pieces that have been written – everybody feels that way. It’s personal for everybody.
Love Me (2025; d. Andrew Zuchero and Sam Zuchero)
Not crazy about it but the opening is intriguing and so are (some of) the ideas. I reviewed for Ebert.
Lost Highway (1997; d. David Lynch)
I still remember where I saw this. At the Lincoln Plaza Cinema (RIP). I was in grad school. I was looking forward to Lost Highway like my life depended on it. I hadn’t yet read David Foster Wallace’s great piece on Lynch and on this film. Libraries of text have been devoted to David Lynch, but I think DFW’s piece wins. By a mile. But again, I wasn’t really “connected” to film criticism at the time, I just wasn’t in that world at all. So I had no idea of the buzz, or how the pressure was on Lynch, and the whole backstory. I was just a fan and I couldn’t wait to see it. It’s one of those vivid movie-going memories. I am still not sure if there is critical consensus on this – I don’t think “critical consensus” exists with his body of work. All I can say is I was pinned to my seat watching this thing. I loved every frame. What it “means” has just never mattered to me, not with him. I don’t try to “figure it out”. It’s a different kind of viewing experience. And I find it soothing, as creepy as his films are. It is TRULY “escapist” fare.
The Alphabet (1969; d. David Lynch)
His early films really show his avant-garde bona fides. People wishing he would just make a POINT, or make things CLEAR, don’t know shit. Starring his wife (his first) Peggy.
The Grandmother (1970; d. David Lynch)
A haunting short film about a young boy with two pretty awful parents who abuse him. There’s a bit about a monstrously shaped tree coming out of his bed, with a black space on it, like a hole.
Six Men Getting Sick (1967; d. David Lynch)
Vomit is definitely a theme for Lynch and has been there from the start! Member Evil Cooper vomiting in the car? Disgusting!
The Amputee Version 2 (1974; d. David Lynch)
Catherine Coulson – the Log Lady – as the amputee writing a letter as a nurse dresses her wounds. Very disturbing, but funny too.
Premonitions Following an Evil Deed (1995; d. David Lynch)
Really more of a fragment than anything else but it reminds me a little bit of the Black Dahlia. And Laura Palmer.
Sorry to hear about your fall. I vaguely recall a “syncope” incident in your past, although this sounds like a different situation. I’m glad you’re OK.
A close friend of my wife’s has never forgiven me for taking the two of them to see Eraserhead right after we had just met. The friend still brings up “that weird movie you made me watch that one time.” All my talk of meticulous editing, funding by Sissy Spacek among others, incredible sound effects and soundtrack–the whole ground-breaking nature of the film fell on deaf years. As I always say, if everybody loved Miles Davis, he wouldn’t be Miles Davis. The same goes for David Lynch.
Oh yeah, I fainted on the train platform years ago – I think it was the F line. so I was outside. and some nice man helped me. your memory is INSANE.
This latest one involved my new combat boots – which I am not used to yet (although I love them) – and I was rushing down the stairs to get into the Uber, which was waiting – and the heel of the boot caught on the stair, and I was literally airborne – for like 5 stairs. The boots are big – with big chunky soles – so I just wasn’t used to the extra space, I guess. It was a bad fall, man. I shiver thinking of how much worse it could have been!!
// taking the two of them to see Eraserhead right after we had just met. //
hahahahaha!!!! Laughing as I type this. “Hey! Nice to meet you. This movie is kind of what I’m all about.”
// if everybody loved Miles Davis, he wouldn’t be Miles Davis. //
I really really love this thought and I will steal it. So right.
Someone who is that personal in his work – whose symbolism is the opposite of universal (and yet somehow – by NOT being universal – and specific to him – they BECOME universal, in a Jungian way, maybe?) – the fact that he ever went mainstream – that Twin Peaks was even allowed to happen – it’s all just quite amazing and I am very grateful for his art.
And his weather reports! they were so soothing in a very anxious time.
Hi Sheila, such a fall on the street is distressing, confusing. I’m so glad it had no serious consequences. Miranda Richardson fear, ha, ha, not funny.
David Lynch. Besides his more famous movies, after I discovered A Straight Story, he began to look different to me, he was showing the whole world in a small silent scene, I guess it was the Budist side of him taking place there.
But what I’m really addicted now is the Interview Project which I found by chance on YouTube. All the interviews are small poems, people with a life to tell in 3 or 4 minutes, working people, hard life, what wisdom you get by living the life you lived. And what’s not said, but guessed, that’s the jewel the interview gives you. Take Louis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r97oplLBFeE
The train, the bird, the way Louis tries to give sense to his narrative, his ahievements, his secret failures, where the grand scenary becomes intimate and you feel the hand of David Lynch behind.
Take care.
Clary – A Straight Story, yes!! I remember when that came out – it was wild, and so not what was expected – but it had that sense of truth he always had. I think a lot of directors imitate the creepy moods of Lynch but then fail to be able to convey tenderness – as well as Lynch always did. Like the relationship between Agent Cooper and Sheriff Harry – so tender. There are so many different examples.
I don’t know about the Interview Project – thank you so much!! I had no idea it existed!
Wishing you a speedy recovery from the fall. Glad your head is okay.
Twin Peaks is like nothing else out there. I love to revisit and get lost in it at least once a year. I wasn’t that keen on Lynch’s work at first, but that all changed when I saw this series. I was a fan from then on.
I love how you say “get lost in it”. That really is the experience, or at least my experience of his work. It’s a unique relationship between director/work of art and audience and it’s one I really love. And don’t even get me started on Twin Peaks; The Return. Thank GOD it happened. And a friend of mine is freakin’ IN it. so that was fun too. grilling him for Lynch anecdotes – and of course there were a couple of good ones!
I imagine it’s already read or already in your research stack, but I really loved Room To Dream – David Lynch’s bio/memoir.
I remember seeing Blue Velvet at the theatre, it was overwhelming. All the horror and perversion and then the mechanical blue bird unironically chirping.
So many things from him on your list, stuff I was completely unaware of. Gotta check some of the out.
Keep the noggin safe!
Room to Dream is great! and yeah, seeing Blue Velvet in the theatre is up there with my most memorable theatrical first-viewing – that and Do the Right Thing, a couple years later. A totally different kind of experience – at a theatre in Philadelphia – but so unique I remember exactly where I was and who I was with.
Dennis Hopper frightened me so much in Blue Velvet but now I think Dean Stockwell is way more terrifying. and all of those WOMEN sitting in that scary room. with the kidnapped child behind a closed door.
The spectre of sex trafficking and exploitation is in pretty much everything Lynch did. That house where Dean Stockwell lip synchs is a sex trafficking operation headquarters. But it’s all so unnerving because nothing is spoken out loud, everyone is so dissociated – and “naming” anything explicitly is just too scary.
I am so delighted to see your remarks about Kevin Spacey because I share them with you entirely. Not only do I think that he’s not a good actor, but there is something in his amusement that was pure cruelty. Long may he rot on the heap of forgotten actors! XOXO love you!
Stevie – I feel like the world lost its mind in over-embracing Kevin Spacey. Ugh. Then when his fall from grace came, people were like, “I don’t care that he’s a great actor, he should burn in hell for what he did” – and I was like, “First of all, he is NOT a great actor.” lol like that’s what mattered to me. In looking back, the furor over American Beauty seems pretty embarrassing – like, the plastic bag scene was talked about like it was the most revelatory moment of cinematic beauty ever put on celluloid. like, calm down people. It’s banal as fuck. I didn’t care for the film at the time, but it was one of those zeitgeist movies where everyone flipped OUT about how great it was and I whispered to myself, “I think it stinks.”
love you stevie! Hope you are doing well in our national hellscape. We have to stick together!
I’m a special ed. teacher, and I mostly teach English for kids with learning disabilities. The last five years or so, we’ve done Streetcar in my sophomore classes. These are kids who hate to read, and honestly most of them don’t even have the attention span for movies either. Every year when we watch Streetcar, without fail, at least a few of them comment on Brando’s acting. Kids who totally tune the class out 90% of the time are like, “That felt like watching a real person.” And it always breaks open a conversation after they’ve read the play, like: I LIKED watching him play Stanley, even though I knew what was going to happen. It’s really fascinating, and I throw some gratitude Brando’s way each time it happens.
Ian – thank you so much. This is incredibly moving to hear. It’s really amazing how impactful the performance still is – and how it spans generations – and doesn’t “date” at all.
Glengarry Glen Ross:
Considering how much pain and misery are in this movie, it’s remarkable just how much I enjoy watching it! I worked on Wall Street for many years and the Baldwin scene is probably the most quoted movie scene in history.
I think this may be the best ensemble acting I have ever seen in a movie. For real. These amazing actors in the prime of their careers, all in peak form, all brilliant (and okay an average Spacey in a by the numbers role, no harm no foul).
There are 3 scenes that I think are all timers.
1. Pacino’s seduction of the Jonathan Pryce character. Pacino has maybe acted as well in other films, but never better. The subtext. Oooooh, the subtext.
2. The Ed Harris/Alan Arkin “Are we talking about actually stealing the leads or just talking about stealing the leads” is hilarious, peak Mamet, peak Harris/Arkin, and is one of my favorite all-time movie conversations. So unique, so good.
3. And finally, in what I think may be the best acted film scene of all-time, the Jack Lemmon sales pitch to Bruce Altman. Holy shit. Altman is one of those character actors that automatically makes the whole thing better, and he stands toe to toe with Lemon here. They both know what’s happening, they both know where it’s going, neither really says it, and for a scene with “low stakes” (Shelly blowing another sale), this may be the most intense scene of all time. It’s riveting.
I mentioned Lemon in this film in my praise for Treat Williams in Prince of the City, as these are the two best performances I can think of that show a man being ripped apart at the seams from the inside. I think this might be Jack Lemmon’s finest acting.
What a film.