Open Letter to David Lynch

I don’t know how to preface this without regret and sadness that I never got to meet an auteur who managed to make every film he wanted—Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Twin Peaks, Mullholland Drive, The Elephant Man, Eraserhead—even if the audience was baffled by the meanings of said films. David Lynch even guest starred on Seth MacFarlane’s “Cleveland Show” as Gust the Bartender, breaking his stint from making films. With Dune being the only film the filmmaker didn’t have final cut over. But they were films nonetheless. Watching an hour long Twin Peaks episode is like seeing a film in bit sized quality, with narrative that rivals and set the stage for modern shows like Breaking Bad or the Sopranos to attain that cinematic and narrative quality. Movies made for adults by adults.

As a fellow Virginian, I can appreciate David Lynch’s career, being that he lived in Alexandria Virginia, and then moved to Philadelphia to pursue his movie career. It gives me hope that one day my work can be valued and treasured as pieces of art the way they were intended to be seen.

While Dune was the only major failure of David Lynch’s career, it has gained cult movie status for all science fiction fans. And it wouldn’t be any different for David Lynch to want that. But David Lynch didn’t make films because it was for the audience, but it was because he had to make these films, and help audiences see things in ways they couldn’t possibly forget. It’s easy to forget what a master can do when they are alive, but when they die, the meaning of their art becomes the shining light of their example for all fellow artists to aspire or even outdo.

What makes David Lynch truly profound is that while most filmmakers stay in a high level studio mode, where art and commerce work together, David Lynch opted out for the independent movie life. And he faired really well. He’s survived by not only his immediate family, but a family of film/television appreciators that are like his second family.

Thank you David Lynch for making my world less boring and more meaningful to all of us.

Sincerely,

LtB