One of the biggest challenges facing a documentary filmmaker is finding the right way to tell their story. One of the great strengths of
LYNCH, the new documentary about
David Lynch is that the film's innovative style perfectly meshes with Lynch's own aesthetic. (It is also fittingly mysterious that the film's director is unknown, as the director's credit goes to one
“blackANDwhite”, an anonymous figure who some people believe is in fact Lynch himself.)
LYNCH has a variety of different visual styles — crisp black-and-white, grainy black-and-white, muted color, strong color, and others in between — and the sound design is often more akin to that of an art installation, as voices fade in and out, than a conventional documentary film. The editing too is impressionistic rather than literal: there are just as many telling snippets of Lynch as there are actual scenes, and sometimes the images onscreen veer intriguingly away from what the audio would lead us to expect. While of all of this could have been arty in an elitist way, what it actually does is provide the perfect vehicle to convey the essence of Lynch.
LYNCH is ostensibly about the director as he is in the process of making
Inland Empire, yet it strays away from any conventional narrative format and instead jumps around from Lynch on set, to him making his art at home, then photographing old factories in Poland, and then telling anecdotes in his office. The order comes across as haphazard, and yet there is just enough formality to the editing for us to feel not only satisfied at the end, but also that we have gained a significant insight into the multifaceted life of David Lynch.
Two other American docs playing arguably do not quite share the elusive blackANDwhite's ability to frame his story in such an apt manner.
Marlo Poras'
Run, Granny, Run (about a lovable grandmother,
Doris “Granny D” Haddock, who runs for Senate) and
Rob VanAlkemade's
What Would Jesus Buy? (which focuses on ranting
Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping choir) are in the current vein of docs following in Michael Moore's footsteps by approaching serious, political subjects from a quirky, semi-comic angle. In
Run, Granny, Run, the issues are the state of the political system, its intrinsically flawed relationship with big business, and the false belief that anyone can succeed in the political system without personal wealth. With
What Would Jesus Buy?, it's the dual evils of rampant American consumerism and globalisation.
Both films are entertaining and enjoyable, but what leaves one feeling slightly short-changed is that the directors present the offbeat characters' stories without ever really addressing the issues the films' protagonists are so passionate about. In
What Would Jesus Buy?, there's the odd illuminating soundbite from experts, yet VanAlkamade never does anything more than briefly touch on anything outside of Reverend Billy's experience. In
Run, Granny, Run, there's not even those soundbites, and the story is told without it ever being put in a broader context.
As a result, both films feel a little bit like wasted opportunities. It's a shame that neither filmmaker was brave enough to use their oddball characters — as one suspects Moore or
What Would Jesus Buy?'s producer
Morgan Spurlock would have — as a launchpad to look at the genuine issues at hand, rather than simply leaving their films as narrow portraits of passionate, larger-than-life personalities.
# posted by Nick Dawson @ 8/18/2007 12:22:00 PM
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