The Grandmother

One of the most disturbing things i've ever seen. The actors in this film, David Lynch's third film technically, but his first narrative film, were never in any other movies - one of them, Father, died a few years ago - it is as if they exist only in the frightening nightmare world of this boy's life, which consists of two dog-like parents who only bark at him with unintelligible sounds, and beat him and rub his face in the urine when he wets the bed, like a puppy. The subject of the film (and if i don't tell you this, it'll make so little sense to you, because its never properly explained in the film) is the boy has no love from his parents, and no grandmother to give him respite from them and comfort him, so he grows one in the attic.

It is a horrifying, brilliant film, which creates an imaginative world very successfully - albeit one you desparately want to escape from as soon as possible, but it does this well at least.

The Lynchian oeuvre is almost fully formed here, right from the start. Little dialogue, atmospheric soundtrack of constant sound effects which you find in Eraserhead, Elephant Man, Lost Highway and Mulholland Dr; impressionistic approach to performance and makeup/costume and sets; the quality of estrangement in the direction, and most importantly there is the union of terrible, twisted darkness and optimistic naivety (developed to the full in Blue Velvet and Mulholland Dr).

For Lynch fans, this is a thing to see. Unlike Six Men Getting Sick or The Amputee, this is not just an experiment or an early film of a Director that ruins your impression of them, it stands on its own, irrespective of Lynch's subsequent work (though it also sets the tone for his subsequent narrative work) as a great surrealist/impressionist narrative short.

This film is a lesson. A lesson on how you can, with minor means,

create a work which explores all ways of cinematography. And this

without any dialogue. In my idea films are not there to tell a story

(they can be used as such tough) and this movie goes straight

back to the time where films were shown at carnivals and gave you

a glimpse of new worlds to be explored. Don't worry too much about the (lack of) narritive story. Just sit back

and enjoy the huge amount of emotions that will come to you.

Fear, hatred, love and desire for a better world.

"The Grandmother" has got to be one of the strangest works of David Lynch next to "Eraserhead". In order to get the film made, Lynch got a grant from the American Film Institute. Too bad AFI doesn't fund amazing films like this anymore. In some aspects the film looks like it had a huge influence on "Begotten" (1991), except "The Grandmother" is only about 34 minutes and never wears out it's welcome. The story concerns a boy, who has very mean and abusive parents. They act like animals and only talk in barks. The little boy is very pale and Gothic looking, and almost all the film's sets are painted pitch black in darkness. This causes images to pop right out. The boy plants seeds in his bed, a huge abstract stump like object grows and gives birth to an old lady. The old lady seems to give the boy peace of mind, like a grandmother would. It's really hard to tell the exact story, since the film feels like a surreal nightmare that leaves the viewer disoriented. The music and experimental sound mix sounded way ahead of 1970. This only added more impact to it's disturbing imagery. Not to mention, it had some weird animated scenes too. From all the movies I've seen, I'd have to say the best examples of surrealism in film have to be Bunuel and Dali's "Un Chien Andalou", Jodorowsky's "The Holy Mountain" (1973) and David Lynch's "The Grandmother". All three of these films have images that will probably haunt you for the rest of your life.

This film is a must-see for anyone interested in the world of surreal cinema. Combines fascinating visual metaphor with rich, vivid animation to create a disturbing ambience that draws the viewer in, like a fish caught on a hook. The music (provided by a collective of music engineers known as "Tractor") is like a grey canopy that wraps itself over your mind as you find that time and space and your life outside of a cold, flickering living room seem to fade into this backdrop of radioactive multimedia. Make no mistake about it, Lynch is an artist of the highest calibur, and in this gripping work he uses everything in the film as a medium to transmit his imagination to the outside world.

P.S. - If you like Lynch's style, I suggest looking into the films of Alejandro Jodorowsky, Luis Bunuel & Jean Cocteau. All of them brilliant artists in their medium.

After the promise shown in The Alphabet, David Lynch directed this half-hour feature which expanded upon the tones and aesthetics found in that short film. In many ways The Grandmother is a precursor to Eraserhead. Like the latter it's a surrealistic nightmare about dysfunctional people. A young boy is terrorised by his parents. They abuse him for his chronic bed-wetting. So he plants a seed in a pile of dirt in a room upstairs in his house. This in turn grows into a huge plant that gives birth to an older woman; the grandmother. She forms a loving bond with the boy, giving him the companionship he craves.

The film combines live action with animation as did The Alphabet. Except now the live action is more predominant. The content of the film is unashamedly and consistently surreal and is an early showcase for Lynch's bizarre ideas. Both visually and aurally the film is very off-kilter. All the characters have white-painted faces, which stand out in a disconcerting way due to the high-contrast photography and black backgrounds. The strange imagery is complimented by an odd soundtrack where the characters talk in animal-like noises. The parents are so alien to the boy that they literally bark at him.

Like Lynch's other work this is a film that combines the disturbing with the beautiful. Often at the same time. The story isn't really the point here. This is all about mood and atmosphere. It's an essential see for David Lynch fans and an excellent short film.