Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

David Lynch - The Art Life (The Criterion Collection) Blu-ray Review

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • David Lynch - The Art Life (The Criterion Collection) Blu-ray Review

    Click image for larger version  Name:	cover.jpg Views:	1 Size:	47.3 KB ID:	411821

    Released by: The Criterion Collection
    Released on: September 26th, 2017.
    Director: Jon Nguyen, Rick Barnes
    Cast: David Lynch
    Year: 2016
    Purchase From Amazon

    David Lynch - The Art Life – Movie Review:

    Co-directed by Jon Nguyen and Rick Barnes in 2016, David Lynch: The Art Life is not the traditional biographical piece you might expect it to, rather it is a series of conversations with the storied artist and filmmaker about how and why he creates what he creates. It's a fairly philosophical look at his creative process, but also an interesting examination of how he came to be what he is, his penchant for surrealism and his love of cigarettes.

    Don't expect to watch this movie and find out what the ending of Twin Peaks: The Return was all about or anything like that. In fact, this piece doesn't really go into any of his feature film work after Eraserhead. Instead, in Lynch's own words, we learn about his upbringing and his family life (which was, maybe surprisingly, the textbook definition or normal and wholesome) and how he came to become the creative force he's now regarded as. He recounts some incidents from his childhood that likely left some scars and shaped his views on things in strange ways, but recounting them here would be a disservice to those who haven't seen the film. For the most part those, his younger days seem to have been quite happy, almost idyllic. In this piece we see him relaxing at his home in the Hollywood hills and we see him paint. As this happens, we learn how his formative years as a kid and then a young man tend to, as he puts it, ‘color' pretty much everything he's worked on ever since.

    As Lynch offers up heady thoughts on the importance of art and creativity, we're treated to archival film clips showcasing not just some of his home life experiences but some of his earlier art projects as well. There are plenty of archival photograph used from this same period here as well. Everything that comes at us from this picture is presented straight from Lynch's mouth. There's no filter or twisting of words, just the man speaking very matter-of-factly about his thoughts on art. He's quite genial here, very friendly and occasionally humorous. Lynch has never been short on charm, as he runs his fingers through his shock white hair, cigarette permanently glued to his lip and smoke constantly emanating from his mouth and nostrils like one of the industrial machines that seems to fascinate him so much. We get inside his head a bit, maybe more so here than in any other piece that's made been made about him over the years (he famously doesn't do audio commentary tracks or like to explain his work at all), and it's quite fascinating. It's also interesting to see him work on some particularly dark pieces while chatting away to the camera in the most nonchalant manner you could imagine.

    The movie is nicely shot. There are some very striking compositions here. Lynch is framed in a reasonably straight forward way most of the time, but then the camera will pull back and use some great wide angle shots from time to time that add an interesting emphasis to what he says. We also get some nice looks at various pieces that he's worked on over the years, and the camerawork does a great job of letting us soak in a lot of the details inherent in that work. Technical merits are strong. The documentary is polished, but not to the point that it loses authenticity or sincerity, and the pacing is quirk, but not at the expense of content.

    David Lynch - The Art Life – Blu-ray Review:

    David Lynch: The Art Life is presented by The Criterion Collection on a 50GB Blu-ray framed at 1.78.1 widescreen and presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition. Shot digitally the image here is very clean, obviously there's no print damage to note nor is there any actual grain. Color reproduction looks spot on and black levels are nice and solid. There are no noticeable problems with any compression artifacts nor is there any obvious edge enhancement to complain about. Detail is typically really strong here too, you can occasionally make out some of the lines from the brush strokes in the paintings that are shown off. The archival clips and photos used have the expected amount of wear and tear visible, but that never once feels like a detriment to the feature.

    The only audio option on the disc is a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track in English. There are no alternate language options provided here, though optional English subtitles are provided. There isn't much in the way of surround activity here, just very occasional reach channel activity, as the vast majority of the movie is simply spoken or narrated. Regardless, everything is nicely balanced and there are no issues with hiss or distortion and all in all the audio here sounds just fine.

    The main extra on the disc is a new interview with co-director Jon Nguyen that clocks in at just over sixteen minutes in length. In this piece Nguyen talks about first collaborating with Lynch while the director was making Inland Empire on a short documentary simply called Lynch and how after making that piece they came to collaborate on this longer, feature length piece.

    Outside of that we also get a trailer for the feature, menus and chapter selection. Included alongside the Blu-ray disc is an insert booklet containing information on the feature as well as a new essay by film critic Dennis Lim.

    David Lynch - The Art Life - The Final Word:

    David Lynch: The Art Life is a fascinating glimpse into the mindset and creative process of one of modern day America's finest surrealist artists. The documentary is at times warm, friendly and occasionally quite funny but it's no fluff piece, rather, it's a careful examination of the man and his work. The Blu-ray release from The Criterion Collection is light on extras but it does look and sound really nice.


    Click on the images below, or right click and open in a new window, for full sized David Lynch - The Art Life Blu-ray screen caps!

    Click image for larger version  Name:	1.jpg Views:	1 Size:	440.9 KB ID:	411825

    Click image for larger version  Name:	2.jpg Views:	1 Size:	527.9 KB ID:	411826

    Click image for larger version  Name:	3.jpg Views:	1 Size:	319.6 KB ID:	411822

    Click image for larger version  Name:	4.jpg Views:	1 Size:	279.5 KB ID:	411828

    Click image for larger version  Name:	5.jpg Views:	1 Size:	413.3 KB ID:	411832

    Click image for larger version  Name:	6.jpg Views:	1 Size:	525.0 KB ID:	411834

    Click image for larger version  Name:	7.jpg Views:	1 Size:	379.8 KB ID:	411835

    Click image for larger version  Name:	8.jpg Views:	1 Size:	269.5 KB ID:	411829

    Click image for larger version  Name:	9.jpg Views:	1 Size:	482.0 KB ID:	411836

    Click image for larger version  Name:	10.jpg Views:	1 Size:	367.7 KB ID:	411830

    Click image for larger version  Name:	11.jpg Views:	1 Size:	360.0 KB ID:	411831

    Click image for larger version  Name:	12.jpg Views:	1 Size:	393.5 KB ID:	411824

    Click image for larger version  Name:	13.jpg Views:	1 Size:	384.6 KB ID:	411823

    Click image for larger version  Name:	14.jpg Views:	1 Size:	639.4 KB ID:	411827

    Click image for larger version  Name:	15.jpg Views:	1 Size:	404.2 KB ID:	411833
      Posting comments is disabled.

    Latest Articles

    Collapse

    • Hot Spur (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Severin Films
      Released on: April 30th, 2024.
      Director: Lee Frost
      Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
      Year: 1969
      Purchase From Amazon

      Hot Spur – Movie Review:

      Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:53 AM
    • Death Squad (Mondo Macabro) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Mondo Macabro
      Released on: April 9th, 2024.
      Director: Max Pecas
      Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
      Year: 1985
      Purchase From Amazon

      Death Squad – Movie Review:

      Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:46 AM
    • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Quality X
      Released on: February 28th, 2024.
      Director: Chuck Vincent
      Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
      Year: 1982
      Purchase From Amazon

      Roommates – Movie Review:

      Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
    • Night Of The Blood Monster (Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Blue Underground
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Jess Franco
      Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
      Year: 1970
      Purchase From Amazon

      Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:

      Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:07 PM
    • Phase IV (Vinegar Syndrome) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Saul Bass
      Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
      Year: 1974
      Purchase From Amazon

      Phase IV – Movie Review:

      Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:02 PM
    • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Radiance Films
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
      Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
      Year: 1969-1972
      Purchase From Amazon

      The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

      Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
      ...
      03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
    Working...
    X