Eraserhead. David Lynch. 1977.

I’ve just seen this movie once: In the 80s, on a small TV, from a VHS copy. It still made a big impact at the time.

One thing I did not realise from that experience is how thrillingly awesome the soundtrack is. All gnashing machines, rumbles and ominous electrical twitching. OK; I’m now switching the lights off and putting the headphones on.

[time passes]

I usually write these bloggy things when there’s a lull in the movie, but I was absolutely riveted here, so I’m writing this after the fact.

I mean, you all know it’s a masterpiece. What can I say?

It’s fun to see just how fully formed Lynch’ aesthetic was from the start: A fair amount of these interiors could have been in season three of Twin Peaks.

So many of these scenes depend on Lynch’ most impressive trick: Presenting the viewer with a basically, well, goofy scene, and then insisting on it until it goes beyond everything and then becomes the most important scene ever.

I wonder what the actors (and the crew) were thinking while making these scenes: Did they trust that Lynch was going to make it all turn out fine, or were they just going along with it because it’s a fun day out? I imagine him telling them “no, be more stylised! less human!” or something, and it did work out fine.

Without the audio tying it all together, this may have been tough sledding, but it’s really a fabulous experience now.

But I’m not surprised that it’s seldom on the list of officially the best movies ever. I think that for many people, it’s too much, and they laugh it off.

But it’s not too much.

It’s perfect.

A Midsummers Night Sex Comedy. Woody Allen. 1982.

What period Woody is this? I mean, I’ve seen them all but it’s like half a dozen decades.

At least!

Hm…

Oh, it’s after his early, funnier period. Is this his attempt at making one of those summery Bergman movies? Like Wild Strawberries? Hm… no, perhaps not? It has a distinctly Russian look.

Oh:

The plot is loosely based on Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night.

Well OK then.

Well I never:

A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy received moderately positive reviews but was nominated for one Razzie Award: Worst Actress, for Mia Farrow – the only time a Woody Allen film has been nominated for a Razzie.

That’s bizarre and unfair.

Anyway, this is no Smiles of a Summer Night. I’m guessing how much you’d enjoy this depends on how much you like Woody playing his Woody role, which he does to excess here. But without the jokes.

I think the cinematography’s pretty good. The shots seem to want to go for an artificial painterly composition, but it’s like they didn’t take the time to place the characters are precisely as Sven Nykvist would have, so it looks a bit sloppy. I found myself going “why aren’t they half an inch to the left! Then it’d be perfect!”

I mean, two centimetres.

The sloppiness also perhaps explains why it looks more Russian than Swedish.

It gets better after it settles into its groove.

Tucker and Dale vs Evil. Eli Craig. 2010.

This is hilarious. It’s one of those hyper-aware horror comedies: It’s excruciatingly aware of all the clichés of the genre, and is also aware that we’re aware of them. This sort of thing can go very wrong, but it’s impossible not to be charmed by Alan Tyduk and Tyler Labine as the hapless guys who stumble around here.

Squeamish as I am, the inevitable hyper-violence is less than funny to me, and some of the schtick is a bit on the Benny Hill side.

Still, when it’s funny it’s very very funny.