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Is David Lynch getting Hollywood's attention?

© Rachel Lindley

David Lynch is one of the most talented and visually assertive directors around. His visuals are like dreams and his stories are like puzzles. When you think you know the characters in and out, by the end of the movie you'd feel as if you'd done a full turnaround and gotten to know more about them than from the beginning.

Just this year it appears that Lynch is starting to get the recognition he deserves. With buzz alive from his latest film Mulholland Drive, David Lynch has been interviewed and studied recently in Entertainment Weekly, garnered very positive movie reviews from critics and fans alike and has had his film spotlighted and analyzed by such online sites as FilmStew.com and Salon.com.

So, does this mean Lynch has reached a new level of popularity?

Still doubtful. Lynch does have a cult following that keeps up with his up and coming projects and try to support the director who recognizes art as film. It’s possible that the recent publicity surrounding Lynch could be just that publicity and Hollywood has jumped on the Lynch bandwagon. The good news is that from all the past fluff the summer movies of 2001 have churned out movies like Lynch’s noir film Mulholland Drive and the Coen’s The Man Who Wasn’t There could serve as temporary fresh air.

Despite Lynch's 1981 Oscar nomination for The Elephant Man and 1987 Oscar for Best Director, Hollywood has yet to award the great director. This could be seen as a good thing.

Lynch has been awarded for his films more in the European market than the US. In 1982 Lynch was given France's César Award (The US’s Oscar equivalent) in the Best Foreign Film category for The Elephant Man; the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics award for Best Foreign Film also for The Elephant Man; 1986 Spain's Catalonian International Film Festival Best Film category for Blue Velvet; LA Film Critics Association best director award for Blue Velvet; National Society of Film Critics best director for Blue Velvet; European Film Five Continents award for the Straight Story; San Diego Film Critics Society best director award for The Straight Story; the Robert Festival's Robert award for best american film for The Straight Story; Cannes Film Festival's Golden Palm award For Wild at Heart; and most recently the Cannes Film Festival's best director award for Mulholland Drive he tied with Joel Coen.

Lynch seems to fit perfectly into the independent and overseas market due to his open creativity. The camera is his utensil and the screen is his canvas. If Lynch goes Hollywood, he may risk losing his inner child and the creative drive that made him so visually breathtaking.

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