Totally weird and expensive and incomprehensible but dammit it was the 1980s so whip out your nostalgia and flog that sumbitch like nobody’s watching you!
Showing posts with label Dune. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dune. Show all posts
Thursday, March 7, 2024
Monday, January 29, 2018
The Lynch Meditations 7: Dune (1984)
An aristocratic young man goes on an interplanetary adventure, tames giant sandworms, and becomes Space Jesus McRainmaker all in a little over two hours.
Re-watching Dune, a film that I enjoy, I couldn't help but laugh out loud at what a nakedly obvious power fantasy it is, totally drained of all the psychological nuance and outright horror of Herbert's novel. I guess you could say something similar about Star Wars, but not really. Sure, Luke Skywalker saves the day. But he does it by standing in solidarity with his friends against the genocidal Empire. Paul Muad'Dib crushes his enemies, tramples them underfoot, and even hears the lamentations of their Bene Gesserit high priestess. He's totally ruthless about it, too. Is this a David Lynch or a John Milius script?
NEXT: 2/19/18: Blue Velvet (1986)
Nope. That's not a fair description of David Lynch's adaptation of Frank Herbert's novel Dune. Technically, this movie is set far into the future wherein all the familiar religions of humankind have blended with and penetrated and mutated each other until they have taken on strange new forms while retaining familiar aspects of messianic prophecy, patriarchal structures of authority, and warlike fanaticism all too depressingly familiar to the people of Earth in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Frank Herbert's novel handles all this with obsessively detailed worldbuilding, and intricately plotted dynastic power struggles that imbues everything with profound moral ambiguity about the ethics of mind control, propaganda, religious indoctrination, and the use of militarized life-ending aggression on planetary scales. Herbert's novel is meant to get you to question the very idea of a charismatic, all-powerful hero figure. David Lynch tells a straightforward story of an aristocratic young man taming sandworms, becoming Space Jesus McRainmaker, etc.
Okay, maybe that isn't such an unfair description.
Re-watching Dune, a film that I enjoy, I couldn't help but laugh out loud at what a nakedly obvious power fantasy it is, totally drained of all the psychological nuance and outright horror of Herbert's novel. I guess you could say something similar about Star Wars, but not really. Sure, Luke Skywalker saves the day. But he does it by standing in solidarity with his friends against the genocidal Empire. Paul Muad'Dib crushes his enemies, tramples them underfoot, and even hears the lamentations of their Bene Gesserit high priestess. He's totally ruthless about it, too. Is this a David Lynch or a John Milius script?
My shit is totally re-scrambled on this one. How did the filmmaker who crafted such a glorious surrealistic nightmare as Eraserhead and the deeply compassionate The Elephant Man make a New Age version of a Rambo guerilla warfare stroke-off fantasy?
Do I still like this movie?
Does it matter whether or not I like it?
David Lynch has more or less disowned it. He had his name taken off the television re-edit version, and he doesn't even list it in the Selected Filmography in his memoir/intro to Transcendental Meditation guidebook Catching the Big Fish. Over the years, he has expressed deep dissatisfaction with the experience of making this movie, and some have laid the blame at the feet of interfering producers wanting a much simplified heroic space opera popcorn movie . . .
. . . but it really isn't much of a popcorn movie, either. Too weird. Too much freaky imagery. The action sequences don't really play like the typical macho power fantasy theatrics of 1980s action flicks, either. The music is heroic, the good guys win, but it emphasizes the big picture of clashing armies as opposed to the blood'n'guts of a proper shoot'em up.
Even the Space Jesus McRainmaker transformation isn't as appealing as it could have been. Paul Atreides' ascension to Qwisatz Haderach comes off as a spiritual transition that robs him of what little personality he had to begin with-it's too Zen to be any fun. This is maybe one area wherein the movie evokes a little bit of the messianic angst that made Herbert's novel so compelling. In the book, Paul Atreides is both participant in and spectator to his transformation into a messiah-a man and god in one-and he's ultimately haunted by what he has become, even as he puts on the stoical mask of a Great Leader. Lynch's version, despite it's occasional and surprisingly striking use of voice over, doesn't really let us in on Paul's inner life. Another missed opportunity.
In a way, Lynch's Dune could be to Herbert's original novel what Paul Verhoeven's film of Starship Troopers is to Robert Heinlein's book. Except it's all backwards. Herbert writes a novel that is meant to evoke deep skepticism about the ethics of power and those who wield it in the minds of readers. Lynch takes this narrative and decides to print the Legend of the Fearless Leader. Paul Verhoeven directed his film as a parody of the fascist militarism endorsed as a noble way of life in Heinlein's book. Verhoeven's film is clearly a satire. Lynch's film . . . does not come across that way. It's very serious, is totally lacking in humor, and could only be looked on as a satire if we were to consider it a propaganda film from within the universe of Dune. Which is another similarity with Verhoeven's Starship Troopers.
Maybe.
Diving into Dune '84 again, I am left more critical of it than I had hoped I would be-I wanted to cling to my nostalgia on this one. I really did!
Some of it holds up. The sets and costumes are all cleverly executed. The cast includes Kyle MachLachlan, Max von Sydow, Linda Hunt, Virginia Madsen, Jurgen Prochnow, Everett McGill, Patrick Stewart, Jack Nance, Dean Stockwell, Freddie Jones, Francesca Annis, Brad Dourif-a cast of dozens! My personal favorite is the formidable Sian Phillips who commands the screen with her fearsome incarnation of a Bene Gesserit high priestess. Unfortunately, there are too many characters, and not nearly enough screenplay. Too bad. It's a helluva gathering of master thespians.
The sandworms are quite a lot of fun to behold as they are executed via a mixture of puppets and miniatures. The grotesque Fourth Stage Guild Navigators are magnificently grotesque monster fetuses who use their psionic powers to fold space/time and achieve faster than light travel across the vastnesses of outer space. These hideous beings are the cyberpunk cousins of the subconscious monstrosities previously seen in Eraserhead.
The dialogue isn't terrible, just too clotted with jargon and denuded of context to really sing. Herbert's novel was all about the world-around context. Lynch's film is the Cliff's Notes version.
I like it a little less now. Maybe I understand why Lynch would distance himself from it. It was a big budget production for its time that bombed with audiences and critics. It could've been a career ending flop. It wasn't. Lynch went on to more critical successes with later works, if not overwhelming financial performance. Dune was the first and last time Lynch would attempt to direct a fantasy blockbuster flick. Ultimately, that has been for the best.
In a way, Lynch's Dune could be to Herbert's original novel what Paul Verhoeven's film of Starship Troopers is to Robert Heinlein's book. Except it's all backwards. Herbert writes a novel that is meant to evoke deep skepticism about the ethics of power and those who wield it in the minds of readers. Lynch takes this narrative and decides to print the Legend of the Fearless Leader. Paul Verhoeven directed his film as a parody of the fascist militarism endorsed as a noble way of life in Heinlein's book. Verhoeven's film is clearly a satire. Lynch's film . . . does not come across that way. It's very serious, is totally lacking in humor, and could only be looked on as a satire if we were to consider it a propaganda film from within the universe of Dune. Which is another similarity with Verhoeven's Starship Troopers.
Maybe.
Diving into Dune '84 again, I am left more critical of it than I had hoped I would be-I wanted to cling to my nostalgia on this one. I really did!
Some of it holds up. The sets and costumes are all cleverly executed. The cast includes Kyle MachLachlan, Max von Sydow, Linda Hunt, Virginia Madsen, Jurgen Prochnow, Everett McGill, Patrick Stewart, Jack Nance, Dean Stockwell, Freddie Jones, Francesca Annis, Brad Dourif-a cast of dozens! My personal favorite is the formidable Sian Phillips who commands the screen with her fearsome incarnation of a Bene Gesserit high priestess. Unfortunately, there are too many characters, and not nearly enough screenplay. Too bad. It's a helluva gathering of master thespians.
The sandworms are quite a lot of fun to behold as they are executed via a mixture of puppets and miniatures. The grotesque Fourth Stage Guild Navigators are magnificently grotesque monster fetuses who use their psionic powers to fold space/time and achieve faster than light travel across the vastnesses of outer space. These hideous beings are the cyberpunk cousins of the subconscious monstrosities previously seen in Eraserhead.
The dialogue isn't terrible, just too clotted with jargon and denuded of context to really sing. Herbert's novel was all about the world-around context. Lynch's film is the Cliff's Notes version.
I like it a little less now. Maybe I understand why Lynch would distance himself from it. It was a big budget production for its time that bombed with audiences and critics. It could've been a career ending flop. It wasn't. Lynch went on to more critical successes with later works, if not overwhelming financial performance. Dune was the first and last time Lynch would attempt to direct a fantasy blockbuster flick. Ultimately, that has been for the best.
NEXT: 2/19/18: Blue Velvet (1986)
Saturday, January 27, 2018
The Lynch Meditations -7
Dune might be my personal favorite David Lynch film. I've watched it many times over the years. It is a fascinating, flawed, crazy ambitious mess that suggests new and intriguing ways of doing science fiction and fantasy cinema. It uses voice overs in a subtle fashion somewhat reminiscent of how they are used in a couple of those Lone Wolf and Cub movies. It goes to some wild places in its depictions of mutated far future human societies. The music, sound design, set design, visual effects, and costumes all make a cohesive whole even if the script falls a bit short.
My main criticism would be that it waters down the moral ambiguity of Frank Herbert's novel. The book is a conspiracy thriller told from the perspectives of warring conspiracies. It has a mood and tone which reminds me of The Godfather and The Godfather part II, or that episode of The X-Files depicting the Cigarette Smoking Man's backstory. I get a similar vibe playing the original Syndicate PC game or the Illuminati New World Order trading card game, which are both games that simulate what it's like to mastermind global organized criminal and terrorist operations using mind control, propaganda, and brute force. Lynch's film comes nowhere near this darkness opting instead to have the House Atreides be the super good guys and the House Harkonnen be the super bad guys with no real shades of gray between them. It's a missed opportunity.
But as a work of visual invention Dune is spectacular. And it has a vastly overqualified cast who don't get nearly enough to do, but a few moments stand out here and there. The script includes many memorable scenes, but one cannot help but feel that much has been neglected, leaving out key logical steps in the story, and gutting vital character development. In some respects, Lynch's Dune is a great unfinished symphony similar to Alejandro Jodorowsky's meticulously designed and plotted adaptation of the same source material. When I first got into this film I was playing immersive role playing video games like Final Fantasy VII, Suikoden, Phantasy Star IV, Chrono Trigger, EarthBound, and Final Fantasy VI, which were full of long stretches of gameplay punctuated by non-interactive cut scenes of high literary quality giving these games a cinematic feel. Lynch's Dune sort of reminds me of a highlights reel of evocative cut scenes without the gameplay. The throughline of the story is there, but the substance is severely diminished. Even the extended three hour version assembled for broadcast television doesn't quite overcome these shortcomings, but is a fascinating alternate cut all the same.
Dune is my personal favorite, but I can understand why many people don't care for it. Objectively, I would say that Mulholland Dr. is Lynch's singular cinematic masterpiece, the Official No. 1. But Dune is my favorite misbegotten freak baby. I love it for both its flaws and its flashes of brilliance.
My main criticism would be that it waters down the moral ambiguity of Frank Herbert's novel. The book is a conspiracy thriller told from the perspectives of warring conspiracies. It has a mood and tone which reminds me of The Godfather and The Godfather part II, or that episode of The X-Files depicting the Cigarette Smoking Man's backstory. I get a similar vibe playing the original Syndicate PC game or the Illuminati New World Order trading card game, which are both games that simulate what it's like to mastermind global organized criminal and terrorist operations using mind control, propaganda, and brute force. Lynch's film comes nowhere near this darkness opting instead to have the House Atreides be the super good guys and the House Harkonnen be the super bad guys with no real shades of gray between them. It's a missed opportunity.
But as a work of visual invention Dune is spectacular. And it has a vastly overqualified cast who don't get nearly enough to do, but a few moments stand out here and there. The script includes many memorable scenes, but one cannot help but feel that much has been neglected, leaving out key logical steps in the story, and gutting vital character development. In some respects, Lynch's Dune is a great unfinished symphony similar to Alejandro Jodorowsky's meticulously designed and plotted adaptation of the same source material. When I first got into this film I was playing immersive role playing video games like Final Fantasy VII, Suikoden, Phantasy Star IV, Chrono Trigger, EarthBound, and Final Fantasy VI, which were full of long stretches of gameplay punctuated by non-interactive cut scenes of high literary quality giving these games a cinematic feel. Lynch's Dune sort of reminds me of a highlights reel of evocative cut scenes without the gameplay. The throughline of the story is there, but the substance is severely diminished. Even the extended three hour version assembled for broadcast television doesn't quite overcome these shortcomings, but is a fascinating alternate cut all the same.
Dune is my personal favorite, but I can understand why many people don't care for it. Objectively, I would say that Mulholland Dr. is Lynch's singular cinematic masterpiece, the Official No. 1. But Dune is my favorite misbegotten freak baby. I love it for both its flaws and its flashes of brilliance.
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