Event

About Paradoxical Thinking: The Films of David Lynch

“He really has the two things: the weirdest mind and the most wholesome mind…paradoxical creation is essential to art.” — Guillermo del Toro on David Lynch

The reach of David Lynch into the popular and cinematic imagination is impossible to overstate. We honor his work, his legacy, his influence, and his paradoxical creation with a free, multi-film marathon. Come and go as you please, discover a Lynch film you’ve not seen before, or revisit a treasured favorite. No tickets required, just an open mind and blue skies and sunshine all along the way.

*Note: film start times are estimates

10am: The Short Films of David Lynch [65 min; NR] — 2K digital restorations of six short films by Lynch: Six Men Getting Sick (1967), The Alphabet (1968), The Grandmother (1970), The Amputee, Version 1 and Version 2 (1974), and Premonitions Following an Evil Deed (1995).

11:15am: Blue Velvet [1986, 121 min, R] — There's something going on behind the white picket fences of Lumberton, USA. And after finding a severed human ear in a field, mystery-loving college student Jeffrey (Kyle MacLachlan) is determined to find out what. Teaming up with the daughter of a local police detective (Laura Dern), Jeffrey's investigation leads him into a strange world of sensuality, violence, and the relationship between a troubled nightclub singer (Isabella Rossellini) and a sociopathic sadomasochist (Dennis Hopper, playing a sadist as only Dennis Hopper could).

1:15pm: The Straight Story [1999, 112 min, G] — Alvin's (Richard Farnsworth, who was nominated for an Oscar for this performance) eyesight is poor, his cash is low, and he can't stand the thought of being driven anywhere. When he discovers his estranged brother has suffered a stroke, he makes the journey to see him by the only means of transport available to him: a John Deere lawnmower. Also starring Sissy Spacek.

3:15pm: Eraserhead [1977, 89 min, NR] — Lynch’s 1977 debut is a dream of dark and disturbing things, a lasting cult sensation, and a work of extraordinary craft and beauty. Its mesmerizing black-and-white photography, evocative sound design, and unforgettably enigmatic performance by Jack Nance combine in a visionary nocturnal odyssey.

4:45pm: Mulholland Drive [2001, 147 min, R] — After a car wreck on the winding Mulholland Drive renders a woman (Laura Elena Harring) amnesiac, she and a perky Hollywood-hopeful (Naomi Watts) search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality. Also starring Justin Theroux, Robert Forster, and Michael J. Anderson.

7:15pm: Wild at Heart [1990, 125 min, R] — Sailor (Nicolas Cage) and Lula (Laura Dern) are two lovers struggling to remain together even when fate seems intent on keeping them apart. But here, fate is Lula's mother, Marietta (Diane Ladd), a desperate woman who hates Sailor and will do anything to keep him away from her daughter. Sailor and Lula escape on a sex-filled, rocking road trip, aware all the time that they are being hunted by Marietta's cronies, including Bobby Peru (an unhinged Willem Dafoe).

9:30pm: Lost Highway [1997, 134 min, R] — A mesmerizing meditation on the mysterious nature of identity: anonymous videotapes presage a musician's (Bill Pullman) conviction for murdering his wife (Patricia Arquette), a gangster's girlfriend (also played by Arquette) leads a mechanic (Balthazar Getty) astray, and the mysterious man with the white face is somehow connected to it all. Featuring some of Lynch’s most painterly and enigmatic cinematographic compositions.

“By any measure the most influential filmmaker of our time, the Missoula, Montana-born artist left such a mark that his very name became an adjective. There’s Hitchcockian, and then there’s Lynchian.” Christian Blauvelt, IndieWire

“I loved David’s films. Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, and Elephant Man defined him as a singular, visionary dreamer who directed films that felt handmade.” — Steven Spielberg

“What I saw in him was an enigmatic and intuitive man with a creative ocean bursting forth inside of him. He was in touch with something the rest of us wish we could get to.” — Kyle MacLachlan

Any film screened at IU Cinema may contain content that viewers find sensitive or upsetting. Visit our Audience Advisories page to learn more.