Directors like David Lynch?

Semiazas said:
I've heard of Wings of Desire. It's a German film about angels isn't it?
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That's the one! Featuring a live performance by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and Peter Falk appearing as Peter Falk! Sort of remade as City of Angels, which I enjoyed more than I expected I would. Great film, haunting and romantic, but again, not really in a Lynch sort of way.

While we're on german filmmakers, Herzog (another favorite of mine) also has a distinct and very personal style, but Heart of Glass does approach Lynch in terms of tone. He had the cast hypnotized before every take. Add in a soundtrack by Popol Vuh and you've got a very dreamlike movie.
 
Wings of Desire is a must see IMO. It's artful, grand, gorgeous cinema. And stars the belated beloved Peter Falk.

While Lynch uses the logic of a dream in his narrative, Tarsem paints dreams.
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Excellent distinction, JoshL! I never saw Until the End of the World. Another film to queue up. I'm digging this thread. :)
 
JoshL said:
That's the one! Featuring a live performance by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and Peter Falk appearing as Peter Falk! Sort of remade as City of Angels, which I enjoyed more than I expected I would. Great film, haunting and romantic, but again, not really in a Lynch sort of way.

While we're on german filmmakers, Herzog (another favorite of mine) also has a distinct and very personal style, but Heart of Glass does approach Lynch in terms of tone. He had the cast hypnotized before every take. Add in a soundtrack by Popol Vuh and you've got a very dreamlike movie.
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I've been meaning to watch Wings of Desire for a while, but I never have the money to buy it.

Herzog, I've only seen one of his movies, Nosferatu the Vampyre.
While I did like the atmosphere it created at some points, I was unfortunately largely disappointed with it in terms of the script, which, while effective in some places, was weak in other and some of the performances, which were largely uneven and struggled to find a balance between too understated and too melodramatic.
But hey, that's just me.
 
This is also very quickly becoming my favorite thread, unsurprisingly! I'm going to have to check out The Reflecting Skin...can't believe I've missed it, it sounds right up my alley! Also 964 Pinnochio sounds almost too weird not to miss. Fukui's next film, Rubber's Lover sounds interesting too. I actually really love Noriko's Dinner Table (and the related, but completely different Suicide Club), but I too have a hard time recommending it. It's subtle, disconcerting and slow. When it ended I wasn't sure for a long time if I enjoyed it or not.

Nosferatu probably isn't the best place to start with Herzog. I enjoy it (Kinski is always fun to watch, and again, wonderful soundtrack), but it doesn't hold a candle to Aguirre, or Strozeck. The thing to understand about Herzog is his fiction is largely fact and his documentaries are highly fictionalized. Bells of the Deep? He made it all up. Fitzcarraldo? He actually hauled the boat over the mountain. Blurring that line is what makes his films so interesting (one of the reasons, to me anyway). But, yeah, I can imagine seeing that and saying "what's the big deal here?"

And Flicker, let me know what you think of Until The End of the World after you see it!
 
JoshL said:
I actually really love Noriko's Dinner Table (and the related, but completely different Suicide Club), but I too have a hard time recommending it. It's subtle, disconcerting and slow. When it ended I wasn't sure for a long time if I enjoyed it or not.
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I agree with this completely. It stay's with you...but you can't really say why.
 
Flicker Pictures said:
The strobing lights and shadow shot is killer imagery.

Yeah, not very "Lynch" but worth a look just the same.
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Granted, I haven't seen this film yet but reading the strobing lights and shadow shots DEFINITELY reminds me of Lynch. There is a scene in the last episode (?) of season one of Twin Peaks that Lunch uses this exact same shot; he also uses a strobing light effect during a lot of the dream sequences when he talks to Laura and the Dancing Man.

Though, I guess to add something here of use: am I the only one that thinks that Brunel's surrealism and off-beat humor is something that influenced a lot of Lynch's work?
 
you're not the only one. :) there's a lot of bunuel in lynch in terms of the obvious surreal elements and other stuff like humour. Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie has a humour that strikes me as lynchian and appears in stuff like Twin Peaks
 
arrodiii said:
Granted, I haven't seen this film yet but reading the strobing lights and shadow shots DEFINITELY reminds me of Lynch. There is a scene in the last episode (?) of season one of Twin Peaks that Lunch uses this exact same shot; he also uses a strobing light effect during a lot of the dream sequences when he talks to Laura and the Dancing Man.

Though, I guess to add something here of use: am I the only one that thinks that Brunel's surrealism and off-beat humor is something that influenced a lot of Lynch's work?
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Oops. I meant Wings of Desire on the whole wasn't very Lynch-like, but yeah, that scene was.
 
Blah, Netflix has neither The Relecting Skin nor Until the End of the World. Neither has had a US dvd release. Annoying! According to wikipedia, there's an asian dvd of The Reflecting Skin with english dialogue, so I guess it's time to troll ebay for a while (there's a laserdisc online now, but I have no LD player). Until the End of the World I have on VHS (also LDs for sale), but there is a 3-dvd import of the 279 minute cut for $40. I haven't seen that version, so might be worth the purchase.

And I second the Repulsion recommendation. Polanski is awesome (though, again, doesn't have the Lynch-humor). Haven't seen Possession, so I'll have to fix that!
 
Yeah, that sucks that The Reflecting Skin is not readily accessible. I just looked on Amazon. It lists a German import Blu-ray version. It says that it includes English DD and DTS 5.1 soundtracks. But it ain't cheap running at around $35, and I'm seeing only 3 available. It's interesting though to read the Amazon users' positive reviews of the the film and their many comparisons of it to Lynch's films. Maybe there isn't enough demand for them to release this more widely.
 
There is no one like Lynch...however I would recommend Stalker and Solaris of Andrei Tarkovsky. Both great movies with mystery surrounding in imaginative way.
 
If I could suggest, David Cronenberg gets close. In seriousness though, I do feel as if Vince Gilligan (creator of Breaking Bad) really does as writer and director have a Lynchian feel to his episodes of the show he's directed, considering his sound design and camera movement, in a way I feel it could just be me. Aronofsky emulates it at times (Black Swan, Pi, Requiem). I just feel as if Lynch is so unique in a way that nobody can be like him because of how special he is in visual style as well transcendental approach to stories.
 
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