David Lynch is perhaps one of the most well-known and intentionally odd filmmakers around. Whether you’ve seen one or not, Lynch’s work is so ingrained in the mythos and has been parodied and played with across media so often as to be recognizable to all. His staunch refusal to explain the meaning behind his films, so often thought to be confounding, is a shining light of interpretive freedom. Lynch’s films are amorphous and complex even at their simplest, and he is unapologetic in the face of their confusion. Despite the mind games—or perhaps because of them—his work stands the test of time and delves deep into a layer of the emotional landscape others only try for. His influence is unmistakable, and with writer/director Alexandre O. Philippe new documentary, which recently played at this year’s Fantastic Fest, we get a peek behind the curtain into both his impact as an artist and one of his most foundational influences: Victor Fleming’s 1939 picture, THE WIZARD OF OZ.
Told in chapters and through a series of interviews with such modern day touchstone filmmakers as Karyn Kusama, John Waters, Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, Rodney Ascher, and Amy Nicholson, LYNCH/OZ is a love letter both to Lynch’s craft and mind and to the power of THE WIZARD OF OZ and it’s approach to making cinema a timelessly absorbing and magical experience. Lynch is notorious for many things, not least of which is allowing his work the space to speak for itself without the imposition of expressing his original intent. Even when he does state his beliefs about the meaning behind his work, as he has with ERASERHEAD in one of the most quoted floating snips on the Internet, he refuses to elaborate. I imagine for interviewers this must be a somewhat bewildering experience, but for viewers I feel more inclined to approach Lynch and his work as more of an interpretive game. He knows what he wants to say, and leaves clues smattered around the full span of his work for us to follow. Whether we pick up or register them while we watch is our own affair.
LYNCH/OZ is a kind of potential map of Lynch’s OZ-related clues. Hearing each interviewee explain a different tidbit of the OZ to Lynch connection they noticed among his oeuvre is a kind of peek into the mind of one of film’s most enigmatic yet approachable personalities working today. From the most obvious nods, like the appearance of Glinda the Good Witch in WILD AT HEART, to the more subtle, like the curtains of altered dream states and enigmatic Judy Garland and wizard-figure references sprinkled around his other works like TWIN PEAKS and BLUE VELVET, THE WIZARD OF OZ is everywhere, guiding viewers into a world of imagination and terror tinged with vibrant color palettes.
Just as much a journey through the influence and impact of THE WIZARD OF OZ as an in-depth look into the magical Lynchian breadcrumbs, LYNCH/OZ pays all manner of tribute and homage, while exploring some of the mythology and tragedy behind the scenes of OZ during its creation. From Judy Garland’s brilliant career and tragic life to the whispered darkness—real or imagined—on the set, LYNCH/OZ brings the core of one man’s career into focus through the lenses of the people he has impacted, while exploring the common ground between darkness and fantasy in filmmaking at large and THE WIZARD OF OZ specifically.
Equally vital for devoted Lynch and OZ fans and those curious about his work and the magic of storytelling through film, LYNCH/OZ is just the kind of documentary best suited to approaching him; cohesive and poetic but full of pieces and crumbs, some assembly required.
Tags: Aaron Moorhead, Amy Nicholson, Blue Velvet, David Lynch, Fantastic Fest, Fantastic Fest 2022, Film Festivals, john waters, Judy Garland, Justin Benson, Karyn Kusama, Lynch/Oz, Mulholland Drive, rodney ascher, Twin Peaks, Victor Fleming, Wild at Heart, Wizard of Oz
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