The Short Films of David Lynch (2002)

SHORT FILMS OF DAVID LYNCH
David Lynch

Collection of highly sourght-after David Lynch shorts, including his first works.

A must-see for fans of the legendary filmmaker David Lynch, this collecton features six short films from the master of the macabre. Spanning the director's career, from early experiments to more fully realized visions, this disc contains the shorts "Six Men Getting Sick", "The Alphabet", "The Grandmother" "The Amputee", The Cowboy and the Frenchman" and "Lumiere". Each film is preceded by an introduction from the director.

Whoa!

This is some pretty cool stuff by David Lynch. While I haven't been able to see Blue Velvet (already a contender to be one of my favorite movies, but I have to see it) or Eraserhead, well no matter. I have no clue about weird film directors besides Lynch, but matter not. It's some cool watching.

The short films on here are pretty great, and the Grandmother, The Alphabet (that one rules) and the six men getting sick are worth the price alone. David Lynch gives some great tricks.. I love his live action shooting in this one. It's extremely dark and his lighting is totally weird. Just check out the Grandmother, with Matt (well, that's what the parents yell, one of the only lines in the whole movie) and his creepy room, a weird looking bed in a black backdrop. Pretty cool. The Alphabet has some sinister looking faces, and is supposed to be about the life cycle (and was inspired when someone he knew was saying the alphabet in a tormented way) David Lynch does some great introductions as well. Great acting, really, just some cool stuff.

It's a great DVD. This one is just worth seeing just to see it's many cool images. A must watch, maybe not a must own, but a must watch. August 9, 2008

That's how it began

David Lynch is my favorite director of all times. He stands on top, side by side with Stanley Kubrick, in my opinion. I've been watching his films over and over again since I was 16 and it's always a new experience. Every single time I discover new meanings, new interpretations, new compelling details, which is wonderful but also frustrating, in a way: when I think I'm pretty close to fully understand his art, I have to re-think it all.
But "The Short Films" came as a fundamental help to my efforts. There is where it all began and there I found the seeds (it's funny to see how the seeds are a constant in his early works, from "The Alphabet" to "Eraserhead") of his unique art.
The DVD includes the following works:

-- Six Men getting sick
-- The Alphabet
-- The Grandmother
-- The Amputee
-- The Cowboy and the Frenchman
-- Lumiere

I can see clearly a path connecting the first three films. In the odd "film painting" of the Six Men Lynch establishes one of his staple subjects: the birth/generation (the life!) as a sickness; then he depicts learning as a traumatic experience in "The Alphabet" and finally ends this unorthodox trilogy with that "nightmare of growing" called "The Grandmother".
"The Grandmother" is definitely a complete film and his first, disturbing masterpiece: I think this alone is worth the price of the DVD, an absolute must-see.
The remaining three works are less interesting. I see in them more mannerism and less significance, while "The cowboy and the Frenchman" is fun (thanks to Harry Dean Stanton!) and very reminiscent of the humour of "Twin Peaks".
I would have enjoyed some extras, but now my Lynch collection is complete and I'm very glad of my purchase.
January 2, 2008

Work in progress!

It doesn't seem to affirm David Lynch was the most legitimate and visceral minimalist filmmaker of that generation. This artistic conception emerged in 1965, defying the lyricism, the abstract expressionism and pop art' figuration searching renovated forms of abstraction, based on the simplicity of colors and geometrical shapes.

In this brief but curious release, we will appreciate the first steps and concerns of this young promise.

Six sick men and the alphabet are featured by elemental and animated drawings, which dates us back to a sort of blend of aesthetic primitivism, accusing influences of Fauvism and Constructivism.

The grandmother is perhaps his most ambitious project. A surrealistic nightmare works out as preamble to a lonely child, incapable to establish no communication with his parents, and so he decides to become an apprentice of alchemist, creating that grandmother. Permeated by a gothic atmosphere and audacious chromatic games and expressionistic shots, he achieves - to my view- a fascinating,, outrageous and macabre tale , a dark metaphor about the alienation and horrid loneliness.

The amputee is, although its briefness, a caustic tale where the shocking images describe by themselves, the serene bitterness of very alluring woman.

Finally, The cowboy and the Frenchman, is an enraptured, sardonic and iconic tale where Lynch intermingles some folkloric elements, typical of both cultures.

It is interesting to realize how this provocative feminine choir, would be employed by Lynch in "Mulholland drive."

November 23, 2007

WHAT!>?

I have no idea what these films were supposed to be! This movie no joke caused me to throw up. I don't recommend it. September 26, 2007

not up to par

I had much higher hopes for this dvd that weren't really fulfilled, I love all of David Lynch's work, and i had heard about these short films many times, but until this dvd had came out i had never seen them. I found that most of these were just boring. They also seemed like half formed ideas. The only ones i found interesting were The Grandmother and Lumiere, i really liked the latter. The other ones i found were just kind of boring. March 15, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...