David Lynch

by Michel Chion

Book Overview

Michel Chion's study of the film and television work of David Lynch has become, since its first English publication in 1995, the definitive book on one of America's finest contemporary directors. In... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0851704573
• Release Date: September 1995
• Publisher: British Film Institute
• Length: 210 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.5" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Easily the best monograph on Lynch

Chion, who is a critic for Cahiers du cinema as well as an experimental composer, is the author of several exemplary works of film theory (including Voice in Cinema and a wonderful monograph on Kubrick's 2001; the one notable exception is his short book on Eyes Wide Shut, which is a bit of a stinker). Academics may not find his work theoretical enough, and lay audiences may find them too theoretical, but, for me, they are a perfect mixture of concrete analysis and speculation: one leads to the other and back again. It is not surprising, considering Chion's interest in sound and sound/image relations (AudioVision is the title of one of his earliest books), that he would be drawn to the cinema of David Lynch. Lynch, of course, is known not only for collaborating on some of the music (writing lyrics for Angelo Badalamenti) but for designing his own sound mixes. The first four sections cover, in roughly chronological order, all the films from Eraserhead to Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. The final section, "Lynch-Kit: From Alphabet to Word," is arranged around a series of Lynchian subjects/motifs, listed in alphabetical order, and is the highlight of the book. Chion's observations here are inspired (see, for example, his comments on Lynch's idiosyncratic use of reaction shots in "Reaction"). Although his books ends with Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, it is not hard to see how the Lynch-Kit could be extended to include everything which follows, and not by way of "explaining" them (and thereby containing the Lynchian universe) but by allowing them to resonate and continue to grow, to proliferate. An excellent book, which, by the way,is neither a biography nor in Spanish!

This book is an interesting biography of David Lynch himself

as well as a very detailed analysis of his early art and ideas, only draw back, no "lost highway" chapter

A fine piece on a one-of -a-kind director

I've always been fascinated by Lynch, and clearly is the author of this book. Chion understands and realizes the power of film. The problems with this book (which should not prevent you from buying it) are the fact that the book is translated from French (character names are misspelled in the process) and that Chion is sometimes too tough a critic (he is hard on Wild at Heart). Overall, one of the best books on Lynch I've read.