IN MY MAILBOX YESTERDAY
I have basically stopped purchasing DVDs as our family is now signed up for Netflix, through which we can view most any movie we want to see. I will probably go through our vast collection of DVDs and trade a number of them at websites like Spun.Com for CDs. I already have copies of just about all my other favorite movies, which include the "Lord of the Rings" set, the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" films, the New Zealand film "The Navigator", the "Qatsi" films, "Memento", some Mel Brooks and Coen Brothers titles, "The Usual Suspects" and a number of comedies such as Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times" and the Marx Brothers movies... but there are still a few I'd like to have for my very own.
Two of those personal favorites arrived in my mailbox yesterday.
The first of these is"Eraserhead".
At long last, this one has been released on DVD. It is present in all its demented black and white Lynchian glory. Poor, poor Henry. Who can forget the squirmy dinner with Mary and her parents, complete with the writhing chicken, which Henry is asked to carve? Or the "baby" and its incessant "crying"? Or the Lady In The Radiator? Remember, "In heaven, everything is fine!" This DVD includes a feature-length interview with David Lynch, in which he talks about some of his philosophies of filmmaking and about the making of "Eraserhead". If you're a Lynch fan, as I am, it's a nice package.
Also, for good measure, I had to have "Un Chien Andalou", made in 1929 by Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali, is only 17 minutes long, but they are 17 wonderful minutes. I would defy anyone to make sense of this film... it is here in all its glory, including the infamous eyeball scene, the severed hand being poked with a stick, the man dragging the piano, and the people buried chest-high in sand at the beach.
Two of those personal favorites arrived in my mailbox yesterday.
The first of these is"Eraserhead".
At long last, this one has been released on DVD. It is present in all its demented black and white Lynchian glory. Poor, poor Henry. Who can forget the squirmy dinner with Mary and her parents, complete with the writhing chicken, which Henry is asked to carve? Or the "baby" and its incessant "crying"? Or the Lady In The Radiator? Remember, "In heaven, everything is fine!" This DVD includes a feature-length interview with David Lynch, in which he talks about some of his philosophies of filmmaking and about the making of "Eraserhead". If you're a Lynch fan, as I am, it's a nice package.
Also, for good measure, I had to have "Un Chien Andalou", made in 1929 by Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali, is only 17 minutes long, but they are 17 wonderful minutes. I would defy anyone to make sense of this film... it is here in all its glory, including the infamous eyeball scene, the severed hand being poked with a stick, the man dragging the piano, and the people buried chest-high in sand at the beach.
As Black Francis of the Pixies so finely sang in my favorite Pixies tune "Debaser":
Got me a movie, I want you to know
Slicing up eyeballs, I want you to know
Girlie so groovy, I want you to know
Don't know about you but I AM UN CHIEN ANDALUSIA
Wanna grow up to be, be a debaser, debaser
Got me a movie, ha ha ha ho
Slicing up eyeballs, ha ha ha ho
Girlie so groovy, ha ha ha ho
Don't know about you but I AM UN CHIEN ANDALUSIA
Debaser...
Anyway, I think the interviews with Bunuel's son are just as good as the film itself, as they contain all kinds of information about Bunuel's filmmaking and about Dali and his eccentricities. For those who love surrealism and absurdism, this little film is a must!
3 Comments:
Both are absolute classics. The Kids in the Hall did a great parody of Eraserhead concerning a guy who works in a sausage factory...
Now THAT I would love to see. I am a firm believer in having to make fun of the things you love, so that they don't drive you crazy. And as much as I love Eraserhead, I might actually love the parody even more. This is almost the case with the classic Harvard Lampoon "Lord Of The Rings" parody, called "Bored of the Rings", in which Bilbo is knows as Dildo, Frodo is called Frito, Sam is Spam, etc. If you can round up a copy of that book, it's a great read!
Ha ha ha ho...I myself am also a fan of Un Chien Andalou. There isn't anything like a bit of eye-slitting action to help you get up early in the morning.
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