David Lynch: The Art Life (2016) Online

David Lynch at around 70 years old talking, smoking, and doing his art. That's about it. But as he says about his childhood, when the whole world was only 2 blocks, but you can have everything you need in the world in 2 blocks, David Lynch - The Art Life - a film about 2 blocks long compared to a Hollywood blockbuster - still can give you everything you need for a really fascinating film experience.

If you are hoping for an exploration of the films of David Lynch, and of the filmmaker David Lynch, stay at home. Only David Lynch the neophyte filmmaker is explored because this is a natural development of the real star of the show - David Lynch the painter. One day he sees one of his paintings moving, and that's when the seed is planted for him to make movies - he wants to make moving paintings.

We see a lot of the finished artwork of David Lynch, and most of it is stunning and quite dark, the latter being somewhat of an incongruity considering that David Lynch seems to be a happy and contented person. In one scene, Mr. Lynch talks about showing his father some of his art as a young man, and his father's reaction is grave concern that Mr. Lynch is seriously mentally ill. "Don't have children," his father tells him. David Lynch once described his art as "violent comedy". Indeed, if you get the violence but not as much the comedy, you might think something is deranged about the man. During the whole 90 minutes I spent at the TIFF Lightbox Cinema in Toronto with David Lynch, I never got the sense that he was a nut job. His toddler of a daughter made several appearances in the film, and David Lynch was warm, playful, and attentive with her, and never acted bothered by her as she played while he was painting. He told story after story the way that regular guy that everybody likes in your life would. It finally occurred to me that Mr. Lynch had found the perfect catharsis in his art for anger and violence - which are within all of us - and the result was a cleansing of sorts, the mentally wholesome fellow I spent some time with yesterday at the cinema.

Every art student, budding artist, artist wannabe, art appreciator, and artist appreciator should see David Lynch - The Art Life. And every David Lynch fan, of which I am one...a BIG one. The rest of you might be bored.

Much like a David Lynch film, the documentary on said subject "The Art Life", mixes surreal tales, uncomfortable silences, and gorgeous photography.

Sure to befuddle many, this moody documentary concentrates on Lynch's visual art, barely touching on his filmmaking claim to fame. Revealed solely through his smoking words, "The Art Life" presents absorbing childhood recollections as Lynch creates his stark art pieces. It's beautifully shot, methodically paced, with a rather unsettling quality.

There is no external opinion to be had, as the film exists entirely in Lynch's world. We see him making art, talking art, pondering art, and then making more art. He is obsessed, focused, but friendly and charming, whether in the midst of molding a creepy canvas, groping his shock of white hair, planning his next canvas move in a cloud of smoke, or interacting with his tiny daughter. The mystery of Hollywood's extreme outsider remains deliciously intact.

Unforgettable.

As far as documentaries go, there have been more substantial and significant, affecting ones that have come out about artists' work. However, considering that David Lynch is one of the most enigmatic directors who fully represent and defy what art means, of course any film revolved around him would get the job done. This film takes a pretty simplistic approach in examining him and it's a collection of stories he gives about his childhood, but they're all worth it. This would be a fascinating documentary for any die-hard fan as well as any other film buff in general. Definitely recommended.

If you don't know anything about the life of David Lynch, some things in this film might be interesting for you. But they still seem pretty random and only scratch the surface. It's just chronologically arranged stations of his life, retold by Lynch himself. If you really want to know something about David Lynch, you'd better read "Lynch on Lynch" by Chris Rodley. Basically the movie just uses passages from the book but without the context or the depth the book delivers. If you read that book, don't bother watching this movie. It will bore you.

Cinematography is mediocre. Archive footage is just tons of pictures from Lynch as a child, e.g. family pictures. At few points the camera captures interesting images of Lynch, just being in his studio. Watching at his painting or interacting with his child. Unfortunately these moments are instantly destroyed by the constant voice-overs. I would have loved to just watch sequences of David Lynch painting. At so many points in his life he emphasized that he just wanted to paint and nothing else. And now this movie shows once again, how he went from painting to film making. Why not portrait the moments when he went back to painting because he did not want to film ever again?

If I didn't know better, I now would think of Lynch as a mediocre artsy-fartsy guy who likes to talk about himself.

The Art Life is not a movie about David Lynch. It is David Lynch, and it's terrific.

The filmmakers have done such an such outstanding job I can't imagine a better portrait of David Lynch ever being done.

I love the scope of the movie because it focuses on the man himself, his early life and work, and his painting. There is nothing about Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, The Elephant Man, or any David Lynch movie except Eraserhead.

I prefer to watch David Lynch movies without coloration from commentary or analysis, even if it were from he himself. He would likely not comment anyway, and what he says about Eraserhead is of a general nature.

The Art Life is largely David Lynch. There are no interviews with friends, family, or movie people. The voice of the movie literally and figuratively is David Lynch, and it is a pleasure. The man's very words are poetry. The movie is beautifully made and filled with his words and art. What more could you ask for?

Other images such as places where David Lynch lived or worked and family photos blend in well. The sound design, including some of David Lynch's own music, is never obtrusive and enhances the overall mood.

There is a nice feature interview with filmmaker (one of three) Jon Nguyen on the Criterion Collection DVD. He shows his deep respect for and curiosity about David Lynch, and that feeling comes across in the movie.

No more needs to be said. If you are a David Lynch fan who hasn't seen The Art Life, see it. You are in for a treat.

David LYNCH: THE ART LIFE: INSPIRING

I know David Lynch mainly from the Twin Peaks series I love. The fact that Lynch is not only a great film director but also an artist - and an inspiring one – comes as a pleasant surprise.

ARTISTIC

During the film Lynch is busy with extraordinary figures, shapes and materials. I did not understand what he was doing and at the same time it was very inspiring to watch. His artistic talent becomes clear from purely looking at him. I also saw many impressive paintings from him.

CINEMORE

The documentary about Lynch was shown during a monthly evening in Cinecenter, Amsterdam: Cinemore, an in-depth program for special films. Prior to the film a lecture was held, which was brought with humor. A nice introduction to this documentary.

TWIN PEAKS

One of the reasons I wanted to see David Lynch: The Art Life was to learn more about Twin Peaks and how he developed it. Unfortunately, this is not discussed in the film. Only a small part is about how he entered the film world.

PERSONAL LIFE

For the most part, and of course the name says it all, this documentary is about his artist's existence. In addition, his family ties and his personal life are discussed. Funnily enough, he himself is often the narrator of the story. That sometimes makes the film chaotic and difficult to follow.

CONCLUSION

The biggest conclusion I can draw after watching is that David Lynch is an intriguing man. David Lynch: The Art Life is an inspiring documentary, with the only two drawbacks that Twin Peaks gets no attention and that the voice-over by himself is not always the most informative choice. Nonetheless: recommended.

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This self documentary meanders along and focuses on Lynch's art life / history. That would be great if it it came with insights into some of his films which it generally doesn't. If you are interested in painting and art generally then this could be for you.

Lynch's films have been a great influence on me and I've always tried to enjoy them for what they are and not for what I'd like them to be, that is, considering, mostly, some technical "flaws" or maybe poor taste choices probably due to a low budget or just crazy stuff that seems meaningless at first. But I found such imperfection also beautiful and honest and completely essential to his work. Now, this documentary introduces us to Lynch's childhood, his passion for painting using different techniques and weird materials, and later how it transitioned into films. His childhood memories, which include names and addresses with precision, show us a rather happy world, not the disturbed or dark world one could probably imagine seeing his films, so I wondered where this darkness or inspiration came from and I thought this documentary would try to immerse into it, but it didn't. It's like a traditional objective biography, without covering any of his personal beliefs, inner conflicts, inspiration, motivations or obsessions. Nevertheless, it's a well constructed documentary, it covers his story clearly and shows many of his paintings which are very powerful.

I have to give this a 10 - big Lynch fan here and since season 3 of Twin Peaks has ended my admiration for his work his sky rocketed! This wonderful documentary which I believe was funded with a Kickstarter campaign gives you an essential look into David's childhood, creative process and glimpses of how he thinks. He really does invite you into his brain - personally I found the documentary to be raw, edgy and quite disturbing too. Lynch can unease you with his stories - just the way he talks and the stories - you are given a gift albeit a strange one with a touch of humour and a just a little light - Mr Lynch lives a fascinating life.

As he talks about his upbringing - people surrounding him who guided and helped him - he talks so fondly of his early childhood, family, his brush with the dark side and most importantly (for me) his move to Philadelphia which he initially found so dark, depressing - yet this brought out his most creative dark side which, being a Lynch fan absolutely fascinates me.

Without Lynch receiving a grant from the American Film Institute allowing him to create Eraserhead where would he be now? Lynch ponders this and is seriously moved - you will be too.

So much more I could say about this - but leaving it there - Oh no - one more thing (doing my Columbo) -- you get to see so much of his very personal art work, and archived art work as a younger man..... and the work is breath taking.

Watch ASAP - peace all!

Let's face it, David Lynch is fascinating for his movies, not his art. I came into this movie blind, not knowing what it was about. I suppose I should have been tipped off by the title. It's shots of Lynch working in his art studio, a few shots of his actual artwork (very few), and a voice over of some of his childhood. It bored me to death.