Film According to Mr Cinema review: Eraserhead 1977

Eraserhead is the debut (this is my third debut film in a row, have I just got a thing for debuts?) of the masterful director: Mr David Lynch. The first 30 minutes of the film follow Henry Spencer (portrayed by Jack Nance) as he wanders through a nightmarish, desolated, dirty world and visits his girlfriend, Mary X and her family, Mr and Mrs X and is informed that he is the father of a premature, deformed baby; from this point the film gets more and more surreal and intense, almost as if it were being processed through the mind of a person going insane. This is an almost unbearably intense movie, the gradually crescendo-ing, omnipresent ambient noise in the background, the shadowy, nightmarish atmosphere and the strange characters and situations all add up to an utterly penetrating movie.

This film, for me, is about as close to perfection as a film can get. It completely absorbed me into the world of the movie, which is arguably, the most important aspect of films. I loved the eerie atmospheric feel that was present throughout the entire movie. The shots were composed absolutely beautifully, the lighting, the angles, generally this film was astounding in all the mise en scene aspects. The movie managed to keep me amazed throughout even on second viewing.

Generally, this film is one of the most visually amazing and stimulating I have ever seen, however is not for everyone, seeing as it pretty much completely turns its back on traditional cinematic practice, with the absence of a followable plot after the first 20-30 minutes and the utter intensity that seems to radiate from the movie, however if you are open to watching an experimental, almost expressionistic cult masterpiece, you can’t go much better than David Lynch’s “Eraserhead”.

Rating 10/10