For all its flaws Eraserhead still remains in my top 25 favorite films of all time. You can love it or hate it, but I think it would be very hard not to be touched by the very suggestive imagery. Lynch meddled with surrealism, the aesthetics of Edward Hopper and the dark side of the soul in most of his films but it was never more gripping or convincing than in his first full length film. In Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive he made just too many concessions to the mass market, while this is a perfect symbiosis between experimental and narrative cinema. Watching it you get the feeling he was making exactly the kind of movie he wanted to, or needed to and there are just a very few films that fall into that category methinks. Frankly, you have to take into consideration that it is obviously low budget, but how Lynch employs his humble means to maximum effect is simply breathtaking and provided a blueprint for fledging filmmakers all around the world. There isn't much of a plot, the whole thing is basically a never ending nightmare about getting to grips with fatherhood, and yet that seems more than enough to keep our anti hero occupied for 90 minutes. Taking his inspiration from silent movies and German Expressinist cinematography (i.e. Film Noir), Lynch takes the audience on a tour de force through the bleakest and most depressing scenarios you can imagine. A seriously disorientated Jack Nance stumbles through an industrial wasteland, feels decidedly out of place at the home of his fiancée and finally cracks up in the kafkaesque claustrophobia of his hotel room. It always holds the perfect balance between sinister fantasy and drab reality so that although there isn't much acting or action to speak of you remain on the edge of your seat the whole time through. Lynch went on to make some memorable films, but he never managed to capture the emotional depth of Erasurehead again. All this said, I would like to discourage you from watching this film should you, or your girlfriend/wife be pregnant. Also, as this is most definitely an underground/independent classic, it might not appeal to your common multiplex visitor, but if you have any interest in what went on off the beaten track in the 70s, this is a pretty good place to start.
Review of Eraserhead
