The two best David Lynch movies, according to Rotten Tomatoes






This week, the world of cinema lost one of its biggest, most unconventional names Death of David Lynch aged 78. Lynch was one of the most idiosyncratic filmmakers to ever live, and his filmography in which the descriptor “singular” truly lives up to. Lynch was a unique director whose work was so unique, so head-scratching, yet so compelling that he was able to create indelible image after indelible image in stories set in the world of science fiction, the suburbs, and everywhere in between. But it also means that David Lynch was one of the most divisive directors. Some people have noted that Lynch's last notable work was as the legendary John Ford in the final scene of Steven Spielberg's 2022 film The Fables; his one-scene cameo is absolutely delightful, hilarious, and as inexplicable as the rest of Lynch's career. Both make perfect sense — from of course he'd star in a Steven Spielberg movie as one of the most acclaimed American filmmakers who ever lived—and it makes no sense. Such is the beauty and wonder of David Lynch.

But it also means that people couldn't always agree on Lynch's films, let alone which one was the best. Go to a place like Rotten Tomatoes and you might be shocked and a little horrified to learn that, say, his 2001 masterpiece Mulholland Drive which featured a stellar, star-making performance from Naomi Watts and was one of the most haunting films of the decade, isn't even 90 percent among critics. This is a film that has rightly taken its place as one of the greatest psychological thrillers of all time, yet it just can't break the 90 percent barrier. So it should come as no surprise that only two of Lynch's films have an even higher rating of 95 percent. If you look at Lynch's entire career and the conventional understanding of who he was as a director, one of those two films makes sense: It's the 1986 thriller Blue Velvet. But the second title, the 1999 drama The Straight Story, might surprise you.

Blue Velvet's masterpiece

In many ways, “Blue Velvet” seems like a prototype for a David Lynch film, despite the fact that the 1986 film is far from his first feature. Lynch burst onto the scene with his late 1970s avant-garde film Eraserhead before the black-and-white drama The Elephant Man and the first adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune. But “Blue Velvet,” which opens with a visual metaphor for the crushing horrors just beneath the surface of a pleasant suburban Midwestern town, is full of the same mix of images that could be both endearing and unsettling. The film has a 95 on Rotten Tomatoes, which is surprising considering the fact that one of the most famous critics of all time, Roger Ebert, hated “Blue Velvet” and was not shy about using the TV show he shared. with the late Gene Siskel to serve as a bully pulpit in speaking out against the film. “It made me feel sorry for the actors who worked on it and angry at the director for taking liberties with him,” Ebert wrote. in your one star review.

But even the best critics can get it wrong from time to time, and this was the notable one-time moonshot for Ebert (who has been more laudatory of Lynch's other projects). Blue Velvet follows a young man who investigates a severed ear found in a field, leading him down a rabbit hole of deviant behavior, Irish singers in a lounge, and a happy-go-lucky man named Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper). one of his most iconic roles). Blue Velvet may not seem as perverse now as it might have in 1986, but Lynch's stunning mix of styles made the film so distinctive and unmistakable to so many critics and audiences. The film's unique qualities earned Lynch his second Best Director Oscar nomination (although he lost to Oliver Stone for “Platoon”) and praise from many critics… except Ebert himself. What made “Blue Velvet” stand out so much is the feel of the film; Lynch is a director whose work is often steeped in atmosphere, and he was able to effectively use an unexplained, dreamlike horror vibe in the film, perfectly balancing the confusing and banal.

The understated charm of The Straight Story

Even now, more than 25 years later, David Lynch directing The Straight Story seems to defy logic. Here was a filmmaker who proudly defied all expectations, including whether critics liked him or not. (Actually: His previous film, the 1997 thriller Lost Highway, got really bad reviews, and to play off of it, Lynch launched a new marketing campaign, promoting the bad reviews the way most studios promote the positive reviews.) And what was his latest movie? A literal G-rated movie from Walt Disney Pictures about an old man driving a tractor through the American Midwest. And of course, it all happens in “The Straight Story,” which also is 95 on Rotten Tomatoes. It's not the kind of film you'd expect from most filmmakers, let alone Lynch. But now, in the year of our Lord 2025, it's easier than you think to match Lynch with the material. This is the same man who proudly delivered hilarious and corny weather reports from Los Angeles for years, so why not make a movie about Alvin Strait?

Based on a true story, The Straight Story depicts Alvin Straight's journey as he drives his John Deere some 240 miles from Iowa to Wisconsin so he can see his ailing brother (Harry Dean Stanton), from whom he has been estranged for some time. for a long time. Richard Farnsworth stars as Straight in a film that is as uncompromising yet unmistakably simple as anything Lynch has ever made. For anyone who saw it originally, it was easy to watch and wonder when the other shoe would drop and when the movie would get weird, off-kilter, and stupidly weird. But that moment never comes; “The Straight Story” is a powerful, if quiet, film that never deviates from its course, just as Taisnis himself went on a journey in 1994. The film now has a much sadder context than when it was released in 1999. During filming, Farnsworth was suffering from terminal prostate cancer and ended his life the following year.

David Lynch's filmography is full of inexplicable and mysterious; it's part of what made him such a special, vital and beloved filmmaker. And the good news if you have either The Criterion Channel and Disney+ is that you can stream both “Blue Velvet” and “The Straight Story” if you're only looking for the best of his work. But Lynch also had many other good works. The fact that he didn't have too many great results on aggregator sites shouldn't deter you. Delve into Lynch's work; he deserved attention before and still does.




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