Twin Peaks, the X-Files & Heroes Returning to TV

TV Make something great again, David Lynch

'Twin Peaks' might have been the start of a much-needed renaissance

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Posted: Thursday, April 16, 2015 10:30 pm

by Eric Bricker

David Lynch taught me what movies could be.

His work showed me that film could be visceral, psychological, surreal and disturbing. He showed me that film could be black and white and devoid of logical plots. He gave me the awareness that films could leave images in my mind for weeks, months, years at a time (here’s to you, screeching mutant baby from Eraserhead!).

And then, not long after he helped me discover the limits of what cinema could be, Lynch stopped making movies. His last feature film was 2006’s Inland Empire. I haven’t seen Inland Empire; in 2006, I was still a few years away from discovering Blue Velvet and going on a tear that would define me as a movie-viewer to this day.

All of this is a long, winding way of explaining just why it was so utterly disappointing — and yet entirely predictable — to hear that Lynch was pulling out of Showtime’s rumored Twin Peaks relaunch due to a contract dispute.

The taste of fresh Lynch — his perverse ear for dialogue, his singular way of constructing an iconic shot out of nothing — was so close, but it wouldn’t be modern Lynch if it wasn’t pulled away.

There’s been a sense in recent years that Lynch is tired of filmmaking, which made the Twin Peaks news both exciting and utterly baffling. As much as I — and so many others — miss Lynch, he hasn’t shown any interest in making cinema (or television, or anything that would make auteur-philes salivate) for more than a few years. Why start now?