2025-01-17 Dick Laurent Is Dead

We knew that it was coming after his emphysema diagnosis. But it still really hurts. It just sucks. David Lynch died yesterday and I don't think the world will ever be the same without him. I've never particularly gotten bent out of shape over celebrity deaths. I didn't know them personally so they're always very far away. But I feel that with Lynch's work, he showed us himself and his thoughts in a way most artists work to their whole lives.

There's little I can say about him that hasn't been said before, or has been said more eloquently. But what I will say is that even though I only came to his filmography in recent years, he rocketed to the top of my list of favorite directors. He saw the world in a different way and it was always a pleasure parsing what it was he was seeing. Much has been said about his films being surreal and inexplicable. But I feel that often misses the point of the thing. Lynch always worked in emotions. How does the scene make you feel? And that has never ever been unclear to me. I felt he was often screaming out his thoughts, if you're just willing to meet him where he is and feel what he feels. His films aren't always puzzles you need to unlock.

His influence will never fade or leave us. It only became more obvious over time, as I saw more of Twin Peaks, his short films, listened to his music...He was and is a titan of creative vision. And the unique blend of the surreal with the everyday that he explored can be seen everywhere now in TV, movies, games.

I am thankful for The Return. I think it truly was a miracle that it was able to be made and gifted to us. Had it been even a year later, I don't think it would have come together as envisioned. So many of the original cast had already gone to the White Lodge. That long drive down the dark road from Odessa to Twin Peaks. Find Laura. The Trinity Test. Judy (whom we won't be talking about). Unbelievable. My favorite Lynch film? Mulholland Drive in the streets, Inland Empire in the sheets.