A deep dive into the connection between the work of David Lynch and Victor Fleming’s The Wizard of Oz, explored through the eyes of film critic Amy Nicholson and fellow filmmakers Karyn Kusama (director of Jennifer’s Body), Benson and Moorhead (Directors of The Endless), David Lowery (Director of The Green Knight), Rodney Ascher (Director of the Shining doco Room 237 which this movie most closely resembles) and a real treat The Pope of Trash himself John Waters, whose own cult movie Pink Flamingoes shared a midnight movie double bill with Eraserhead for many years.
Wild at Heart is the most obvious allusion, with several over motifs and references to Oz, including a gorgeous Sheryl Lee as Glinda the Good Witch and now that I think about it Freddie Jones and his pigeon rant does kind of sound like a munchkin. Kusama also makes a great case for Mulholland Drive with the Oz like world of Betty opposed to Diane’s Kansas - or should that be the other way around? I mean who would want to return home to Diane’s grim reality?
It makes a really good case, and unlike Room 237 which goes off on some pretty wild tangent, Lynch has made no secret of his love for the film, so there are many a parallel to be made. Think of the many characters that appear in differing guises yet played by the same actor, in the way that the farm hands inhabit Dorothy’s travelling trio.
This is packed with clips of cinema, obviously from Lynch and Fleming, but many other works also. I was worried it would feel a bit too much like a long form YouTube video essay, but even without the usual talking head footage, this is still quite enthralling.
My only gripe is the use of Peaks content that isn’t Lynch directed, in particular a scene from that godawful Ben Horne Civil War storyline which Lynch had been reportedly absent for.
A deep dive into the connection between the work of David Lynch and Victor Fleming’s The Wizard of Oz, explored through the eyes of film critic Amy Nicholson and fellow filmmakers Karyn Kusama (director of Jennifer’s Body), Benson and Moorhead (Directors of The Endless), David Lowery (Director of The Green Knight), Rodney Ascher (Director of the Shining doco Room 237 which this movie most closely resembles) and a real treat The Pope of Trash himself John Waters, whose own cult movie Pink Flamingoes shared a midnight movie double bill with Eraserhead for many years.
Wild at Heart is the most obvious allusion, with several over motifs and references to Oz, including a gorgeous Sheryl Lee as Glinda the Good Witch and now that I think about it Freddie Jones and his pigeon rant does kind of sound like a munchkin. Kusama also makes a great case for Mulholland Drive with the Oz like world of Betty opposed to Diane’s Kansas - or should that be the other way around? I mean who would want to return home to Diane’s grim reality?
It makes a really good case, and unlike Room 237 which goes off on some pretty wild tangent, Lynch has made no secret of his love for the film, so there are many a parallel to be made. Think of the many characters that appear in differing guises yet played by the same actor, in the way that the farm hands inhabit Dorothy’s travelling trio.
This is packed with clips of cinema, obviously from Lynch and Fleming, but many other works also. I was worried it would feel a bit too much like a long form YouTube video essay, but even without the usual talking head footage, this is still quite enthralling.
My only gripe is the use of Peaks content that isn’t Lynch directed, in particular a scene from that godawful Ben Horne Civil War storyline which Lynch had been reportedly absent for.
