For nearly 40 years, David Lynch's works have enthralled, mystified, and
provoked viewers. Lynch's films delve into the subjective consciousness
of his characters to reveal both the depraved darkness and luminous
spirituality of human nature. From his experimental shorts of the 1960s
to feature films like Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet,
Mulholland Drive, and INLAND EMPIRE, Lynch has pushed the boundaries of
cinematic storytelling. In David Lynch: Beautiful Dark, author Greg
Olson explores the surreal intricacies of the director's unique visual
and visceral style not only in his full-length films but also his early
forays into painting and short films, as well as his television
landmark, Twin Peaks. This in-depth exploration is the first full-length
work to analyze the intimate symbiosis between Lynch's life experience
and artistic expressions: from the small-town child to the teenage
painter to the 60-year-old Internet and digital media experimenter. To
fully delineate the director's life and art, Olson received
unprecedented participation from Lynch, his parents, siblings, old
school friends, romantic partners, children, and decades of professional
colleagues, as well as on-set access to the director during the
production of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. Throughout this study,
Olson provides thorough analyses of the filmmaker's works as Lynch
conceived, crafted, and completed them. Consequently, David Lynch:
Beautiful Dark is the definitive study of one of the most influential
and idiosyncratic directors of the last four decades.
