So i was watching lost highway recently and it occurred to me just how little dialogue there is. Beyond just the typical Lynchian atmospherics there is an abundance of expressive and moody silences, that communicate so much to the audience that is yet unsaid. And i was curious to read the script to find out how much of that subtlety is communicated in the script. I read it. Fucking nada. So little of that intent is communicated in the script, the dialogue is so boring and bare bones that i am absolutely certain if any other person were to produce and direct this script, they could make a piece of terribly executed, utter garbage, but it is only Lynch himself that knows just which words to hang on, what the subtext is, and how to capture a mindstate visually, that even though his scriptwriting skills are pretty mediocre, he can elevate such a mundane script to a work of art.
The other thing i noticed is his pacing. A single page of a Lynch script can last incredibly long on the screen, because he is a master of using negative space, long pauses, and just staying in that silence. The first 20 minutes are dripping with it, while this part of the script itself only lasts a few pages.
Watch the movie and read for yourself:
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I couldn’t finish Twin Peaks (the new one).
I think he was of a moment.
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Lynch is the definition of "Execution Dependent" A term used to describe screenplays that can't be read and evaluated on the strength of the words on the page. The entire experience of the movie depends on how it's directed. In the case of Lynch, I'll bet that on paper, most of his scripts are totally incoherent.
David Lynch is indeed not a good screenwriter, he is more of a visionary who has great film directing skills. I believe he belongs to a group of filmmakers of a certain era, that is slowly passing away now, when it was more important to be an artist and a visionary who holds everything in his head and directs people instead of including them in the process. It is a very self-centred and egoistic attitude. A great screenwriter is the one who, while writing his/her screenplay, not only tells the story but also makes it clear to everyone participating what it is that they should create and work on and develop. Film making is a team work and a screenwriter is the one who relays the story and presents it in such a way that filmmaking crew can make sense of it and be inspired to do their job and not simply wait for a film director to direct them in terms of what they should do. For example, I love Woody Allen films but when I read his scripts they were just rough drafts of what he wanted to say, the rest was in his head – indeed why to bother to write everything down if you are the one who is going to direct the film and tell people what to do. But the thing is without Woody Allen on the set it is absolutely not possible to make his movie. I mean no one can replace him and it should not be like this.
Hi Todd, I believe Ben started a very specific conversation - whether or not David L. is a good screenwriter. He is indeed a good filmmaker but not a good screenwriter. Screenplays can be as much of masterpieces as pure film directing without any screenplay or structure.
M L. that is a good way to put it. it occurs to me that Lynch would never be winning any screenplay contests were he just starting out today, but trusted with a full production behind him he is an absolute legend. it makes me wonder what would happen if he were paired with an equally prodigious screenwriter.
Seraphima Bogomolova yes that is the point i was trying to make, i don't think he's a good writer, but he is definitely a very talented showrunner. people call him a genius but i don't think thats necessarily the case, he is just very talented at a few aspects, juxtaposition, timing, color and subtext. a lot of his "random" surrealist set dressing that he gets flack for is indeed a gimmick, but its a gimmick that he does well, and it informs the characters mindstate. Something that i realized while watching Lost highway is how well he can paint a mindframe for each of the characters, while descriptively, telling us virtually nothing about them. Like, for instance, we understand that the guy is a musician, and the other character is his wife--thats it. Thats all you learn about them. But through the power of framing we understand their whole psycho-sexual power dynamic, the darkness between them, all the things left unsaid. I think it is this profound intimacy we have with characters that are essentially strangers that helps to create that dreamlike "lynchian" disconnect.