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LYNCH
Directed by blackANDwhite.
Produced by Jason S, Søren Larsen, Brynn McQuade & Jon Nguyen.
Director of Photography by Morten Søborg.
Music by Sune Martin & Boss Whitley.
Released by Absurda.
USA. 84 min. Not Rated.
With David Lynch, Laura Dern, Harry Dean Stanton, Krzysztof Majchrzak, Phillip Patela & Weronika Rosati.

Just the name of the director of this documentary, blackANDwhite, might indicate whether or not you’ll want to see it, even if you’re the most tried-and-true David Lynch fan (if you saw Inland Empire three times on the big screen or went to your share of Twin Peaks conventions). There isn’t a real name listed anywhere in the credits, and on IMDb.com, the film’s listed without a director at the moment. Despite unlimited access over the course of three years as Lynch went through the rigorous, truly independent process of making Inland Empire, blackANDwhite and his crew (specifically cinematographer Morten Søborg) don’t even get close to the kind of artistry that the director reaches for in nearly every film, even when it doesn’t work.

On the other hand, if you’re already a die-hard Lynch fan, you’ll want to see the film anyway. There are few auteurs who can be such a consistent personality unto themselves. (Seeing him in person at the New York Film Festival last year, I was amazed at how he carried an aura with him, like something out of a dreamy scene from Mulholland Drive or Lost Highway).

Lynch is great at…being Lynch. He’s a man who, for 32 years we learn, has never missed a day of transcendental meditation, for which he is so into that he has created a fund for meditation in America. Touchingly, the first contributor is a random female extra from the movie set. The way he tells his stories, no matter how the camera frames Lynch, he is hypnotic.

The Inland Empire DVD features footage called “Lynch 2,” which is basically a condensed form of outtakes from this film. With little difference from this DVD extra, blackANDwhite doesn’t impose much of a structure at all to Lynch and his work. If not for the director allowing such crucial access, like his actual directing style, which is in and of itself enigmatic, blackANDwhite would have an even weaker film on his hands.

Oh sure, he and Søborg try to compensate with a mix-and-match media style, going between 16mm with some surreal touches and digital video sometimes so grainy and choppy that you wonder if a 17-year-old punk with a camcorder got on to the sets. But it’s frustrating seeing the style not work, despite an attention to shot compositions that are compelling (one with Lynch sitting at his desk with a little baby doll in the corner). This isn’t to say that if you want to see the film you shouldn’t. But if you really want to know the man behind some of the most subversive cinema of the past 30 years, buy Lynch’s book Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity – or wait for the Eraserhead revival screenings in December, here in New York. Jack Gattanella
October 26, 2007