Great Movies
Selections from Roger Ebert's Cannes coverage...
Flashback #2: David Lynch Gives Filmgoers All They Can Handle
Roger Ebert remained perplexed and frustrated by the work of David Lynch until he awarded four stars to the director's later efforts, 1999's "The Straight Story" and 2001's "Mulholland Dr." In this selection from the 1990 Cannes Film Festival, Roger shares in the smattering of boos that accompanied the jury's controversial decision to award the Palme d'Or to Lynch's "Wild at Heart," a film that most certainly lives up to its title. The critic seems especially perturbed by how Lynch's apparent "originality" is derivative of Roger's own work, claiming that the film was "inspired by such Russ Meyer films as 'Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!,' 'Super Vixens,' 'Cherry, Harry and Raquel,' and, yes, 'Beyond the Valley of the Dolls,' for which I wrote the screenplay." Regardless of one's opinion regarding Lynch's work, there's no denying this is a great piece of exasperated commentary.
