While countless writers have tried distilling David Lynch’s cinema into words, the man himself recently provided the ultimate case study of his structure-shattering, mind-warping brand of storytelling in less than an hour. “Gotta Light,” the incredible eighth episode of last year’s TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN, told a quasi-standalone anti-narrative about the Atomic Age, history’s imprints on the future, and cigarette-puffing hobo demons with apocalyptic intentions. Everything that is film’s greatest enigmatic auteur can be seen in “Gotta Light,” yet nothing is easily deciphered.
Comprised of four short films that either influenced or take cues from Lynch, THE EXTRA ORDINARY is an alternate attempt to execute what “Gotta Light” so brilliantly does: convey the disorientation, intellectual stimulation, and formative experimentation that exemplify the TWIN PEAKS mastermind in one short burst. Provided by Jonathan Marlow of Camera Obscura, with contributions from Canyon Cinema and Zeitgeist Films, these works will mesmerize and perplex in equal measure—just as Mr. Lynch would like it.
—Matt Barone
ALL MY LIFE (1966)
dir. Bruce Baillie
ALPSEE (1995)
dir. Matthias Müller
IN ABSENTIA (2000)
dir. Stephen & Timothy Quay