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REVIEW: David Lynch: The Art Life [2017]

2017/05/212018/05/03 Jared Mobarak

“They got along like Ike and Mike” If you remember back to 2007, a documentary entitled Lynch came out portraying an all-access pass into the creative process of auteur David Lynch‘s final feature-length film, Inland Empire. There was a lot of smoke and mirrors surrounding its release from the use of a nom de plume where the director was concerned (some even speculated it was Lynch himself at the time) to the notion of a collective known as the Lynch Three Project. This film became “One” with a short named…

REVIEW: Blue Velvet [1986]

2016/05/252021/02/28 Jared Mobarak

Now it’s dark After finding critical and commercial success with The Elephant Man—earning his first Oscar nominations for directing and screenplay—David Lynch became bankable enough to mount what would end up a large-scale disaster in Dune. Whereas many would probably count the latter as a failure across the board, the truth is that the sci-fi epic is much more attuned to the auteur’s sensibilities. Anyone who had seen his debut feature Eraserhead in all its strange surrealistic glory would concur, but by that time there were surely not many (and…

REVIEW: The Unbelievable Truth [1990]

2016/02/182016/02/18 Jared Mobarak

“Are you a priest or something?” The satire in Hal Hartley‘s debut The Unbelievable Truth is so over-the-top that you almost have to read it as a straight comedy. He’s constantly repeating dialogue through straight-faced actors, breaking up scenes with unnecessary title cards delineating arbitrary time lapses, and makes his characters so over-wrought that we can’t help but find them endearing in their existential crises. It’s about love and capitalist ambition in the youth of America as the self-indulgence of the materialistic 80s transitions into the apathetic 90s with a…

REVIEW: The Naked Kiss [1964]

2009/01/062011/08/24 Jared Mobarak

“You want a medal?” Here it is, my first foray into Samuel Fuller’s world of pulp, The Naked Kiss. I still don’t quite know what my feelings are. When the ending credits rolled, I was a bit indifferent, but after a heady discussion with my viewing friends, that initial ho-hum—“it was entertaining at least”—thought process became, “yeah, I guess it does have a lot more going for it, if you take the time to look”. And I think this is the point to get across. The Naked Kiss is chock-full…

REVIEW: Inland Empire [2007]

2007/04/282011/08/24 Jared Mobarak

“Through the hole in the silk” David Lynch has made many “masterpieces” in his career. From the critically heralded Elephant Man, to the cult classic Blue Velvet, his debut surrealist nightmare Eraserhead, and the most recent headtrips, Lost Highway and Mulholland Dr., Lynch has always found a way to get into our psyches, grab a hold, and not let go until years after your viewing, if at all. With his latest film, Inland Empire, we are given his least accessible plot yet. As far as comprehending anything that is happening…