#groundbreaking films

[screamingeyepress]

Editorial: Rest in Peace David Lynch

Wild ideas, free expression, boundary pushing, artistic transgressivism, fearless creativity, risky humor. These are all things that we here at Screaming Eye Press champion and, perhaps, no one artist embodied that approach more than David Lynch. While I never had the pleasure of meeting the man, from all accounts he was as warm, friendly, hopeful and inspiring as his films were cold, dark, disturbing, and nightmarish. A man who thought consciousness, awareness, imagination, and creativity could change personal, and perhaps larger, worlds.

People describe his work as being “surreal,” a very accurate word but in ways that most people might not realize. Surrealism isn’t just the weird, bizarre, dreamlike, or “incomprehensible” (a label that many have applied to Lynch’s oeuvre). Surrealism began as a political as well as an artistic movement. The word literally means “Beyond realism” and when something is “surreal” it is “beyond the real.” The early surrealists thought that, through their art, they could affect what Jungians would call the collective unconscious. They felt they could change the world.

I have no idea if David Lynch had similar thoughts about his work but it definitely went beyond what we see as real to a reality deeper and more awesome than what we see every day. And by awesome I mean that word in its original form as well where “awe” meant an experience where terror mixes with reverence and repulsion with fascination.

While some of his films (e.g., Dune, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, the first two seasons of Twin Peaks) have fairly straightforward narratives much of his work has more mercurial narrative structures (e.g., Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire, the last season of Twin Peaks). Although I empathize with folks who are frustrated by Lynch’s work when they just want a cool story that “makes sense” I also feel a bit saddened because it is an “apples to oranges” situation and by wanting the apple so badly, they are not allowing themselves to enjoy what Lynch’s oranges have to offer (bite into one and you just might see reality warp in front of your eyes and that orange change to a donut or a cup of coffee).

Lynch’s films, like so much of surreal art (of whatever medium), is about the spaces between. Between images, between characters, between dialogue, and most importantly, between our thoughts and feelings as an audience. It’s as much about what we bring to it as it is what images and ideas he wrought.

His approach has inspired filmmakers, visual artists, poets, authors, audio drama producers, comic book writers, etc. etc. He was one of a kind and as I mourn his passing I am also elated that the people who knew him were blessed with his presence and that the rest of us were blessed with the works he created.

Rest in Peace David Lynch.

Lothar Tuppan Editor in Chief February 2025

[kattahj]

The Barbie movie isn't about girl power. It's not about how women can do everything they set their mind to. It's about how sometimes women are tired and average and that has to be okay too, because you don't have to do everything to be worth anything. (And that this is also true of men.)

[philhoffman]

COOPER HOFFMAN in OLD GUY (2024), dir. Simon West

[whenthegoldrays]

cozy movies to (re)watch this autumn:

sabrina (1995)

roman holiday (1953)

fantastic mr. fox (2009)

you’ve got mail (1998)

little women (2019)

the princess bride (1987)

the shop around the corner (1940)

101 dalmatians (1961)

the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society (2018)

notting hill (1999)

pride and prejudice (2005)

three little words (1950)

ever after (1998)

robin hood (1973)

anne of green gables (1985)

the many adventures of winnie the pooh (1977)

christopher robin (2018)

[columboscreens]

[rollercoasterwords]

“male gaze vs female gaze” top 10 most annoying pop feminism buzzwords that have entered the cultural zeitgeist in recent years. shut UPPPPPP

[mariocki]

The Naked Kiss (1964)

"You know what's different about the first night? Nothing. Nothing... except it lasts forever, that's all. You'll be sleeping on the skin of a nightmare for the rest of your life."

[yamina-chan]

yamina's One Piece thoughts

Minor Spoiler Warning for: One Piece Stampede & One Piece Film Red

Just a minor observation, really.

I was rewatching a bit of One Piece Red because I needed a screenshot from it and something occurred to me: Neither Luffy nor Law were surprised to see each other. Unlike in Stampede, where they were unaware that the other crew was on the island and their reactions indicated that it was unexpected, in Red there is none of that. Granted, you could argue that Law wasn't surprised because he saw Luffy and and moved him and Luffy recognised the ability and thus wasn't surprised, but Luffy always reacts when he meets someone he hasn't seen in a while. Yet neither Law nor Bepo got so much as a hi, just a quick thank you. So the Straw Hats and Hearts must have met up at some point beforehand and gotten all of that out of their system.

[radioregine]

now i actually wanna watch philadelphia 1993 again

[fireworkss-exe]

"the new mean girls remake was insane for this😂😂😂" and it's just a normal musical dance scene

[bauliya]

personally i think it’s v funny how the dc movies have been the flop superhero franchise for so long not even in comparison to mcu but to stuff like the boys EXCEPT their one character that bags dozens of oscar nominations and a coupleo’ wins every decade as a matter of routine. it’s SO funny. he’s completely immune to public and critical sentiment. the latest dc and mcu films will make ten dollars combined and then they’ll drop robert pattinson weeping through his mascara and get 12 noms and packed theatres. and the next dc film will get shat on for stealing imax screens from killer moon

[lawchan89]

I haven’t seen Wish yet, but man the critical reception is stupid ridiculous

When Princess and the Frog came out in 2009, “a return to the classics” was a feature

Now they’re saying a return to classics is a bug

[nonsensegnomes]

just wanna chime in with, god you GOTTA watch the dirties, it’s genuinely insane how good it is - a truly AIRTIGHT found footage film

do NOT even worry about it my friend i am sooooo far ahead of you on this front – i had the archive.org file up on my laptop when you sent this ask, and now 2 days later i've watched it twice... and STILL i cannot get that cliff scene fight out of my head! movie that makes you go what in all this is real we are!!!

[the-woman-upstairs]

I’m laughing so hard at this. They really had to throw in the towel on their whole plan with David Gordon Green and call in the big guns to clean up their mess.

[starrypawz]

Saw Barbie yesterday finally

It was good

[bombshellsandbluebells]

speaking as someone who really enjoyed Barbie, I just don't think Barbie is deep enough to warrant all the dramatic takes and arguments on it