Every so often, I give a shot to a David Lynch movie. I know the man’s work is considered important, but also it’s a bit on the weird side. And, quite frankly, that’s what I usually think of what I see from him: it’s really, really weird. However, I keep trying in an effort to see what people see in his work.
Case in point: HBO currently has his first feature, Eraserhead. It looks odd. That doesn’t make it bad, and I do like odd stuff once in a while. So, maybe it’s time to give his work another shot.
You know, HBO Max’s basic plot description, the one usually used to give a movie’s premise to entice a potential viewer, more or less listed the entire plot of the movie. This is a movie that only runs about 90 minutes or so, and it’s not really the sort of thing that can be spoiled. Not really. So, with that on mind, here’s more or less what happened:
Printer Harry Spencer (Jack Nance) has tall hair and is apparently on vacation. He gets word to come to the house of an ex-girlfriend, Mary, and after an awkward evening, Mary’s mother confront Spencer over whether or not Spencer and Mary had sex. Apparently, some kind of baby was born, and Mary’s mother believes Spencer to be the father. Mary isn’t so sure, but the two marry and move into Spencer’s apartment with the baby, a warped thing that seems to never stop crying. Mary eventually leaves, Spencer has visions of a man in a planet, a woman in the radiator with very chubby cheeks, and at some point it sounds like the baby is laughing at him. There’s some stuff involving an attractive woman living across the hall, and Spencer has a dream where his head pops off and a kid sells it to a pencil eraser factory. And then there’s some more weird stuff, the baby possibly dies, and Spencer ends in the arms of the radiator woman.
See, not exactly a plot full of surprises. It’s just a series of, for lack of a better word, experiences.
And that may be where the movie works. Lynch shot it in black-and-white, and that really helps give the movie a stark look. I couldn’t tell you what genre is it outside of “experimental,” and that may not be a bad thing. I mean, I liked The Lighthouse despite how weird that movie was. Except, that movie has characters you can theoretically if not care about then at least acknowledge as human. Eraserhead doesn’t have much of a narrative or human characters. It’s just a series of weird stuff going on, and that, I am confident in saying, is not for everyone. I’m grading this one based solely on imagery and impressions. That was rather dynamite all by itself. This may not be much of a review, but I honestly am not sure what to say about a movie that is less a narrative and more of an experience in weird.
Grade: A-
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