Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch (1997, NR)

Produced and Directed by Tony Shallon

As Reviewed by James Brundage

Although this is not the first documentary I have watched, it would have to be the first one I have reviewed. Sure, every once in a while I see some PBS special or HBO documentary that I find fascination. For instance, I recommend PBS’ “From Jesus to Christ”, a fascinating 13 part compilation of interviews with theological experts that will turn on the brain of any student of religious history. I would also sometimes check out and HBO’s occasionally good, occasionally thrill-of-the-week “America Undercover” series. However, for the most part I avoid seeing any film that will seriously educate me. I suppose its part of my personal belief that, 9 times out of 10, you go to a movie to turn your mind off.

However, I was at a college campus recently, was bored, and someone directed me to the library where they have a good collection of videos. I went looking for Lynch’s Eraserhead, his only feature-length American film that I have yet to see. Instead I saw the documentary Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch, which was advertised on the Lost Highway videocassette.

Documentaries are just like any other type of film: done well, they are compelling, intriguing works. Done terribly, they make you want to shut them off. Shallon’s documentary was an interesting piece, one that I didn’t sleep through, didn’t have any trouble watching, and found very interesting besides.

To think of it best, imagine looking at yourself in a funhouse mirror. That is what watching David Lynch is like. Now imagine looking at the same pictures through a lens that clears things up a little bit. That is what watching this documentary is like. For anyone who doesn’t understand Lynch films (most of the general population) and would like to, I recommend checking out this film. If you understand Lynch, then you probably are like me: a complete Lynch jag and the very idea of pulling back the curtain and revealing the Wizard turns you on so much that you have to watch this film.

The first thing you will notice as the curtain falls away is the Lynch is not at all the person whom you would expect. He isn’t a complete oddball, he doesn’t look like he’s ready to kill someone or blow up a building. The thing that will strike you about David Lynch is that, in contrast to his truly insane and ambiguous films, he is a very direct, grounded person.

Pretty As a Picture takes us through the making of his latest film Lost Highway, an extremely ambiguous film that I have watched about six times and still don’t have a damn clue as to what is going on. Using this as a base, it travels back to his experiences that led him to a career in art, provides us a window into his surprisingly normal family (although you get about the weirdest treatment for ants in the kitchen you’ll ever hear), and shows us his humanity in ways we never though possible.

It takes us onto the set of Lost Highway, shows us the fanatical devotion cast and crew have for the incredibly amicable and charismatic individual. Rarely do you have an entire cast that works with no one else, even rarer is the crew that does so. However, with David Lynch you have actors such as Kyle MacLachlan who never did anything without Lynch until 1987, and producers such as Mary Sweeny, who have been with David Lynch since 1986.

With such segments of the film as showing us scenes from Lynch’s first three shorts (Six Men Getting Sick, The Alphabet, The Grandmother) and a part devoted entirely to Lynch’s paintings and photography (which, I daresay, is even more impressive than the incredible visual aspects to his films), the skilled director displays for us a much more in depth version of Lynch than one will ever be able to glean from his films.

Much as, when someone watches the first good film, no one needs to tell them its good, no one needs to tell me that Pretty as a Picture is good. I simply know.