VOD film review: Lynch/Oz
Review Overview
Insight
10Ideas
10Impeccable editing
10Matthew Turner | On 07, Dec 2022
Director: Alexandre O Philippe
Cast: Any Nicholson, Rodney Ascher, John Waters, Karyn Kusama, Justin Benson, Aaron Morehead, David Lowery, Sid Pink
Certificate: 15
Filmmaker Alexandre O Philippe, who was born in Switzerland and is based in Denver, has carved out a career with a run of obsessive documentaries about films and filmmaking, from his exquisite dissection of Psycho’s shower scene in 78/52 to his examination of Monument Valley in Western with The Taking and several others besides. His latest film continues down that same (yellow brick) road, with a multi-sided look at the connections between David Lynch and The Wizard of Oz.
This time round, the film is presented as a collection of six 20-minute video essays on Lynch and Oz, from film critic Amy Nicholson and writer-directors Rodney Ascher, John Waters, Karyn Kusama and David Lowery, as well as horror duo Justin Benson and Aaron Morehead.
Each section explores a different aspect of David Lynch’s self-confessed obsession with The Wizard of Oz – a film he evidently saw as a child on TV – and the way it resonates throughout his work, sometimes explicitly (as in Wild at Heart), sometimes thematically and sometimes in ways you’re really not expecting. The film is particularly illuminating when it comes to discussing the way Lynch’s films often operate between two worlds, the world of reality (Kansas) and a fantasy world of unreality or danger (Oz).
Inevitably there is some overlap between the six essays, but each of them will make you look at Lynch’s filmography (including Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks: The Return) in an entirely new light. Nicholson’s essay, entitled Wind, is utterly fascinating, as she explores the way that the sound of rushing wind occurs throughout Lynch’s work, noting that he’ll often tell his actors “more wind”, if he wants them to put more mystery and wonder in their performance.
Similarly, Rodney Ascher’s essay, Membranes, looks at the way characters move between different worlds in Lynch and Oz and ends with a chilling anecdote about Episode 8 of Twin Peaks: The Return, while in Kindred, John Waters, who is more or less a contemporary of Lynch, looks at the way Lynch’s films rebel against the conformity of the 1950s and describes The Wizard of Oz as “the perfect drug for kids to get them hooked on movies for the rest of their lives”.
In Multitudes, Karyn Kusama takes a deep dive into Mulholland Drive and comes up with a new interpretation of the film, as well as locating the beginning of Lynch’s fascination with lip-synching in Judy Garland’s rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. And in Judy and DIG, Benson & Moorhead and David Lowery both find fascinating takes on recurring imagery and motifs in Lynch’s work, such as the name Judy or the transition into adulthood and darkness.
Each of the essays is further heightened by fabulous editing, often placing Wizard of Oz clips side-by-side with other movies and finding some frankly jaw-dropping overlaps – not just with Lynch’s films, but also with other unexpected movies, such as O Brother Where Art Thou (which perfectly recreates an entire scene in a different context) or Back to the Future, which Ascher points out is essentially the same story, right down to the characters repeating.
In short, this is one of the best documentaries of the year, a thoroughly engaging and beautifully written feature that’s packed with so many ideas and insights that it will require multiple viewings to take them all in. It will also make you want to obsessively rewatch both The Wizard of Oz and every single Lynch film. On that note, be warned that the film contains multiple spoilers for Twin Peaks: The Return, although they are at least very helpful ones.