It's easy to make something surreal. You often see it in student films. Things are out of place, people behave weirdly, and there's lots of visual non-sequitors. But when using elements that's hard for the audience to understand, you have to be a master to make the audience follow along willingly. This is what Lynch somehow manages to do really well.
This movie has a plot, and it's not all that hard to follow. The plot is weird, and is set in a stylistic, kafka-esque nightmare reality. It's at times visually interesting, but the plot itself is quite simple (yet tragic). But the weirdness doesn't end there, because several times the movie leaves the plot behind to show (even) more abstract sequences. Somehow Lynch manages to go quite far into surreal, abstract elements, without pushing the audience away. As I watch this movie, I don't feel like I'm supposed to be able to follow all of it, but rather take in feelings and moods. While, at the same time, you can feel that there's more to it, that's there's plenty of potential for analysis.
I was also surprised by the sci-fi elements of this story. Watching it, it really makes sense that Lynch was offered "Elephant man" and "Dune" (and even "Star Wars ep 6").
This movie has a plot, and it's not all that hard to follow. The plot is weird, and is set in a stylistic, kafka-esque nightmare reality. It's at times visually interesting, but the plot itself is quite simple (yet tragic). But the weirdness doesn't end there, because several times the movie leaves the plot behind to show (even) more abstract sequences. Somehow Lynch manages to go quite far into surreal, abstract elements, without pushing the audience away. As I watch this movie, I don't feel like I'm supposed to be able to follow all of it, but rather take in feelings and moods. While, at the same time, you can feel that there's more to it, that's there's plenty of potential for analysis.
I was also surprised by the sci-fi elements of this story. Watching it, it really makes sense that Lynch was offered "Elephant man" and "Dune" (and even "Star Wars ep 6").