Pretty Cool, but Lynch can be too clever by half

Rating: Null/10 (24 May 2002)

I've seen a lot of people praise this film as being an amazing deconstruction of (insert pet pop phenomenon here). I've also seen a lot of people say it's the worst movie ever made. I've seen the first group cluck their tongues and say, "you people just don't get it."
It's too bad, really, that even in our wonderfully diverse society, people feel the need for superiority, to say to themselves, "I know more than the great, unwashed masses." I find this kind of ... presumptuous arrogance distasteful. If I talk to someone who says they hated it, I can say "I can certainly see why." And if I talk to someone who says they think it's THE landmark achievement in cinema history, I say, "I can certainly see why." And that is what I appreciate about it.
Lynch, I think, has made very clever, yet deeply personal film. His vision may or may not be what the consensus of the intellegentsia is, but is, I think, likely to be different than what anyone else thinks. I liken this movie to images seen in a prism; maybe what you're seeing is real; maybe it's fractured sunlight. And because this filter has been put into place, Lynch forces the viewer to draw his/her own conclusions. Want a logical conclusion? You might not get one, and you are going to see the movie as a failure, but, as Homer Simpson might say, a spectacular one. Want a film which blends noir and pathos? Here it is. Want a film with hot, lesbian sex? Step right up.
For me, I enjoyed it, but what I want from every film I see is a sense of meaning. As a result, I felt that some loose ends untied resist a contrived meaning being forced upon them, and I "felt" that Lynch had simply forgotten to tie them up, had tried to place too artificial a meaning on something, or (most likely) had not been given the chance to develop it further in the TV series.
However, this movie fairly resonated with a sense of a deeper ... something, and I therefore found it enjoyable, but not quite perfect. 8 out of 10.