In Dreams: The Films of David Lynch

In Dreams: The Films of David Lynch
Film Series

David Lynch is an artist of uncompromising genius whose groundbreaking work in film and television redefined storytelling. His distinctive and dreamlike vision left an indelible mark on audiences and inspired generations of future filmmakers. Celebrate his life and legacy as the Museum screens three of his most surreal and influential films: Eraserhead, Blue Velvet and Mullholland Drive. The Museum will also present the feature length documentary Lynch/Oz. This film serves as a deconstruction of both The Wizard of Oz and Lynch’s work. Join film scholar, historian and director of Lynch/Oz, Alexandre O. Philippe for a post-screening discussion of his film and the films of David Lynch.

• Eraserhead
  • David Lynch’s 1977 debut feature, Eraserhead, is both a lasting cult sensation and a work of extraordinary craft and beauty. With its mesmerizing black-and-white photography by Frederick Elmes and Herbert Cardwell, evocative sound design, and unforgettably enigmatic performance by Jack Nance, this visionary nocturnal odyssey continues to haunt American cinema like no other film. 89 min. Rated NR.

• Blue Velvet
  
  • Home from college, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) makes an unsettling discovery: a severed human ear, lying in a field. In the mystery that follows, by turns terrifying and darkly funny, writer-director David Lynch burrows deep beneath the picturesque surfaces of small-town life. Driven to investigate, Jeffrey finds himself drawing closer to his fellow amateur sleuth, Sandy Williams (Laura Dern), as well as their person of interest, lounge singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini)—and facing the fury of Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper), a psychopath who will stop at nothing to keep Dorothy in his grasp. With intense performances and hauntingly powerful scenes and images, Blue Velvet is an unforgettable vision of innocence lost, and one of the most influential American films of the late twentieth century. 120 min. Rated R.
    

• Mulholland Drive
  • A love story in the city of dreams . . . Blonde Betty Elms (Naomi Watts) has only just arrived in Hollywood to become a movie star when she meets an enigmatic brunette with amnesia (Laura Harring). Meanwhile, as the two set off to solve the second woman’s identity, filmmaker Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) runs into ominous trouble while casting his latest project. David Lynch’s seductive and scary vision of Los Angeles’s dream factory is one of the true masterpieces of the new millennium, a tale of love, jealousy, and revenge like no other. 135 min. Rated R.

• Lynch/Oz
  • The themes, images, and cultural vernacular of Victor Fleming’s The Wizard of Oz continue to haunt David Lynch’s filmography—from his early short The Alphabet to his recent television series Twin Peaks: The Return. Arguably, no filmmaker has so consistently drawn inspiration—consciously or unconsciously—from a single work. Is Lynch trapped in the Land of Oz? If so, what can we learn about his body of work by taking a closer look at how it intersects and communicates with that legendary fantasy? In turn, what do Lynch’s films have to say about the enduring resonance of one of America’s most beloved classics? Through six distinct perspectives, Alexandre O. Philippe’s Lynch/Oz helps us reexperience and reinterpret The Wizard of Oz by way of David Lynch, delivering new appreciations of both. 108 min. Rated NR.

• • PLUS: After the film join filmmaker Alexandre O. Philippe for an in-person discussion of his documentary, Lynch/Oz, and the films and legacy of David Lynch.