Eraserhead

continues to be one of the best cinematic worlds i’ve ever seen. the performances sell how accustomed everyone is to the bizarre. most of this film is comprised of really common, everyday interactions. awkward dinners with a partner’s family, frustrating sleepless nights taking care of a baby, a spouse taking up too much space on the bed. it’s just all surrounded by a very strange world and very strange circumstances. this film is also very heavy on touch as a sense. Henry picks at his pants and grips the end of his bed for seemingly no reason. theres an emphasis put on Mary’s father not being able to feel anything in his left arm after a surgery. i don’t know what the sense of touch would allude to in this film, or why theres so much emphasis on it, but it really cements the characters in this world. they don’t just interact with the world, they completely live inside it. this is how you properly sell dream logic, in my opinion. similar methods of immersion are used in Tarkovsky’s Mirror and Bi Gan’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night to really convince you on the dreamy aspects of everything. it’s all normal to them. i feel like i’ve probably seen Eraserhead way too many times. but i’m feeling sentimental over Lynch around this time, coming up on a year since his passing. this film was my first exposure to anything he’s done, and it remains one of my personal favorites.