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David Lynch is dead. The great cinematographer, artist and musician was 78 years old. Of these, he spent almost 60 years making art and smoked for 70 years. He was diagnosed with emphysema a few years ago, and the disease left the director locked in his own home and hooked up to an oxygen mask. He admitted to having trouble moving around the room last fall. When fires raged in Los Angeles in January 2025, Lynch was forced to evacuate. This apparently was the last straw for his health.
Unscripted Night, a series the director had been working on a few years earlier, was eventually canceled by Netflix, so Lynch’s last cinematic work was a cameo in Steven Spielberg’s autobiography The Fabelmans. Accepting a small role in exchange for a pack of his favorite Cheetos, Lynch appears at the end of the film with the image of John Ford, the greatest director of Western films and the only person in history to win four director’s Oscars. Without hiding his anger and almost coming out of tobacco smoke, Ford-Lynch explains to young Sammy Fabelman (whom Spielberg transparently encodes himself) how to frame the shot: “It’s interesting when the horizon is down. It’s interesting when the horizon is above. It gets very boring when the horizon is in the middle. Well, good luck to you. And get out of my office!”


David Lynch, still from Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans (2022)
Amblin Entertainment
Death retroactively gives new meaning to everything. Now this friendly gesture seems like a fatherly message to a new generation of filmmakers – a symbolic passing of the torch (though in reality Lynch wasn’t planning on retiring and was considering the possibility of directing from afar).
The ending of The Fabelmans is incredibly funny, especially because of the manic charisma of Lynch, who says he didn’t develop an acting career so as not to deprive people like Harrison Ford and George Clooney of the opportunity to prove themselves. The effect is strengthened by the additional layer here, which has its own irony. John Ford’s films were extremely simple and ascetic, both visually and dramatically. And it’s hard not to smile at the fact that Lynch, whose films are infinitely far from simplicity and asceticism, plays him in the film.


David Lynch and actress Naomi Watts on the set of Mulholland Drive
Capital Pictures/Global Look Press
Bernardo Bertolucci believed that cinema was created from imaginary material, the stuff from which our dreams are made. Lynch cinema is often compared to dreams: everything there is subject to a vague, unclear, sleepwalking logic that miraculously unites the transportation hubs of Los Angeles, the forests of the American northwest and the sands of the planet Arrakis.
Therefore, it is quite difficult to talk about his works in familiar terms and concepts – it is like waking up inexorably through the morning filter, trying to understand a dream you have just had. Lynch’s films are not often watched by the audience, they happen to them and are experienced by them. It sounds banal and probably vulgar, but Lynch did not shy away from banality and vulgarity – moreover, from the vulgarity and vulgarity of a once detective TV series, he created Twin Peaks, arguably the main series in its history. television, which divides this story into “before” and “after”. Therefore, we will not hesitate to do so.


David Lynch and actor Kyle MacLachlan at the premiere of Twin Peaks season 3 in Los Angeles, 2017
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
Lynch was that rare writer who was sincerely loved, firstly, by everyone, and secondly, for everything – his creativity and as a person in general. Even 35 years ago, he displayed a level of humanity and progressiveness that few can achieve today (as a result, Twin Peaks has now been brutally torn apart on Russian streaming services). Maybe that’s why his departure was felt so painfully and sharply: he was not only with a wild heart, but also kind and gentle.
In the last years of his life, Lynch continued to be creative outside of cinema: he composed music, organized exhibitions, painted and made things. He also ran a YouTube channel where he posted short videos about the weather, among other things. The August 21, 2020 episode began like this: “There are some low clouds in Los Angeles and the fog is lifting a little bit right now. Very hot, about 70 degrees Fahrenheit – 21 degrees Celsius. “I wear dark glasses today because I can see the future and it looks very bright.”
That future faded considerably yesterday.
What are you thinking?
Source: Gazeta

Brandon Hall is an author at “Social Bites”. He is a cultural aficionado who writes about the latest news and developments in the world of art, literature, music, and more. With a passion for the arts and a deep understanding of cultural trends, Brandon provides engaging and thought-provoking articles that keep his readers informed and up-to-date on the latest happenings in the cultural world.