Mesmerizingly beautiful!

Rating: 8/10 (24 November 2006)

Can't believe I waited 26 years to watch this, and realize how director Lynch's career took off at such a peak. What a mesmerizingly beautiful and hard-to-fathom tragic account of deformed man John Merrick's fate in 1800s London. It wrenches out as much emotional sadness as a viewer can bear, but is very simple (sometimes too simple) in its storytelling structure. Its surreal dream elements are a good, welcome break in that matter. John Hurt gives an immortal portrait, and the images burn in effective, almost pencil-sketchy black & white. The similarities to Fellini's "La Strada" just adds to its likability.
Man, that scene when John Merrick comes back to the London train station and is chased by a mob... as classic, haunting and heartbreaking as it gets!!
8 out of 10 from Ozjeppe.