Editing David Lynch (section)

==Artistry==
===Style===
{{quote box
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| quote = "An academic definition of Lynchian might be that the term 'refers to a particular kind of irony where the very macabre and the very mundane combine in such a way as to reveal the former's perpetual containment within the latter'".
| source = —Writer [[David Foster Wallace]] in a 1997 article on David Lynch for ''[[Premiere (magazine)|Premiere]]''<ref name="DFW">{{cite news |last=Wallace |first=David Foster |author-link=David Foster Wallace |date=September 1997 |title=David Lynch Keeps His Head |url=http://www.lynchnet.com/lh/lhpremiere.html |work=[[Premiere (magazine)|Premiere]]}}</ref>
}}
Lynch's distinctive style blends [[surrealism]] with classic [[Hollywood film|Hollywood]] storytelling and "pulpy" romanticism,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sims |first1=David |title=David Lynch Was America's Cinematic Poet |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2025/01/david-lynch-death-career/681347/ |website=The Atlantic |date=January 17, 2025 |access-date=11 March 2025}}</ref> often employing [[experimental film]]making techniques alongside elements from commercial genres such as [[film noir]], [[Supernatural horror film|supernatural horror]], [[soap opera]], [[Camp (style)#Film|camp comedy]], and [[erotic thriller]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bradshaw |first1=Peter |title=David Lynch: the great American surrealist who made experimentalism mainstream |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/16/david-lynch-the-great-american-surrealist-who-made-experimentalism-mainstream |website=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=January 17, 2025|date=16 January 2025}}</ref> His films have been said to evoke a "dreamlike quality of mystery or menace" through striking visual imagery, and frequently combine "surreal or sinister elements with mundane, everyday environments".<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/lynchian_adj?tl=true#:~:text=Characteristic%2C%20reminiscent%2C%20or%20imitative%20of%20the%20films%20or%20television%20work,quality%20of%20mystery%20or%20menace. |title=Oxford English Dictionary}}</ref> Critic [[Peter Bradshaw]] of ''[[The Guardian]]'' called Lynch "the great American surrealist" and described his subversive narratives as "splitting and swirling in [[Non sequitur (literary device)|non sequitur]]s and [[M. C. Escher|Escher]] loops".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bradshaw |first1=Peter |title=David Lynch: the great American surrealist who made experimentalism mainstream |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/16/david-lynch-the-great-american-surrealist-who-made-experimentalism-mainstream |website=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=January 17, 2025|date=16 January 2025}}</ref> Film analyst Jennifer Hudson wrote, "Like most surrealists, Lynch's language of the unexplained is the fluid language of dreams".<ref name="hudson">{{cite journal |last=Hudson |first=Jennifer |date=Spring 2004 |title='No Hay Banda, and yet We Hear a Band': David Lynch's Reversal of Coherence in ''Mulholland Drive'' |journal=[[Journal of Film and Video]] |issue=56 |volume=1 |pages=17–24}}</ref> Ryan Gilbey called Lynch "the greatest cinematic surrealist since [[Luis Buñuel|[Luis] Buñuel]]" and "the most original film-maker to emerge in postwar America".<ref name=gilbey>{{cite web |last1=Gilbey |first1=Ryan |title=David Lynch obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/17/david-lynch-obituary |website=The Guardian |date=January 17, 2025 |access-date=11 March 2025}}</ref>

[[J. Hoberman]] wrote that Lynch's work is characterized by "troubling juxtapositions, outlandish non sequiturs and eroticized derangement of the commonplace".<ref name="Hoberman" /> Hoberman called his approach "more intuitive" than that of his surrealist precursors, and suggested that his art synthesized the disparate styles of Hollywood filmmaker [[Frank Capra]] and modernist author [[Franz Kafka]].<ref name="Hoberman" /> Dennis Lim suggested that Lynch's films "push clichés to their breaking point and find emotion in artifice."<ref>Lim, Dennis (2015). ''David Lynch: The Man From Another Place.''</ref> B. Kite of the [[British Film Institute|BFI]] called Lynch's approach "stylised but not mocking", arguing that Lynch was "singularly brave and direct in his approach to heightened emotion" in an era where most filmmakers would opt for ironic distance.<ref name="kite"/> Nick De Semlyen of ''[[Empire Magazine|Empire]]'' described his films as moving "back and forth between violent chaos and otherworldly beauty", and suggested that "while other filmmakers tried to wrestle order out of chaos, compacting their stories into neat three-act structures, Lynch revelled in the tumult—that feeling that life is a beautiful, terrifying mystery."<ref>{{cite web |last1=De Semiyen |first1=Nick |title=David Lynch Conjured Cinematic Dreams – And We All Got To Live In Them |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/david-lynch-tribute-cinematic-dreams-we-got-to-live-in/ |website=Empire |date=January 17, 2025 |access-date=11 March 2025}}</ref>

Lynch's work inspired the use of the adjective "Lynchian" to describe art or situations reminiscent of his style.<ref name="Hoberman" /> Phil Hoad of ''[[The Guardian]]'' called the term Lynchian a "go-to adjective to describe any sniff of the [[uncanny]] and esoteric on screen", adding that his "destabilising vision has become a common lens for discerning the truth about the 'normal world'".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hoad |first1=Phil |title=Deviant obsessions: how David Lynch predicted our fragmented times |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jan/09/david-lynch-twin-peaks-director-predicted-our-times |website=The Guardian |date=January 9, 2023 |access-date=23 March 2025}}</ref>

===Themes and motifs===
Lynch refused to publicly explain or assign any specific meaning to his works, preferring that viewers interpret them in their own ways.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=David Lynch's Unsolvable Puzzles |url=https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/critics-at-large/david-lynchs-unsolvable-puzzles |magazine=The New Yorker |date=February 6, 2025 |access-date=7 March 2025}}</ref> Asked how audiences should approach his films, he said: "You should not be afraid of using your intuition and feel your way through. Have the experience and trust your inner knowing of what it is."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kemp |first1=Sam |title=David Lynch tells you how to experience his movies |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/david-lynch-how-to-experience-his-movies/ |website=Far Out |date=September 23, 2021 |access-date=11 March 2025}}</ref>
{{quote box
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| quote = I look at the world and I see absurdity all around me. People do strange things constantly, to the point that, for the most part, we manage not to see it. That's why I love coffee shops and public places—I mean, they're all out there.
| source = —David Lynch<ref name=lynch05/>{{rp|199}}
}}

Many elements recur in Lynch's work; Le Blanc and Odell write, "his films are so packed with motifs, recurrent characters, images, compositions and techniques that you could view his entire output as one large jigsaw puzzle of ideas".<ref name="leblancodell" />{{rp|8}} Works like ''Blue Velvet'' and ''Twin Peaks'' depict stories in which "the folksiness of small town America collided with utter depravity, beset by evils from both sides of the white picket fence", while his later "Hollywood trilogy"—''Lost Highway'', ''Mulholland Drive'', and ''Inland Empire''—explores "the celluloid dreams of Los Angeles [against the] bitter realities and almost cosmic horrors lurking in the hills".<ref name=angelus/> Elements like red theater curtains, diners, dreams, nightclub singers, and [[occultism|occult-like ritual]]s recur frequently in Lynch's work.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bradshaw |first1=Peter |title=David Lynch: the great American surrealist who made experimentalism mainstream |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/16/david-lynch-the-great-american-surrealist-who-made-experimentalism-mainstream |website=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=January 17, 2025|date=16 January 2025}}</ref> Another prominent motif is [[factory|industry]], with repeated imagery of "the clunk of machinery, the power of pistons, shadows of oil drills pumping, screaming woodmills and smoke billowing factories".<ref name="leblancodell" />{{rp|9–11}} Other imagery common in Lynch's work includes flickering electricity or lights, fire, and stages.<ref name="leblancodell" />{{rp|9–11}} Physical deformity is also found in several of Lynch's films, as is death by head wound. His work frequently depicts a dark, violent criminal underbelly of society, and often contains characters with supernatural or omnipotent qualities.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Guan |first=Frank |date=September 12, 2017 |title=What Does David Lynch Have to Say About Race? |url=https://www.vulture.com/2017/09/david-lynch-racial-politics.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115152428/http://www.vulture.com/2017/09/david-lynch-racial-politics.html |archive-date=November 15, 2017 |access-date=November 15, 2017 |work=[[Vulture.com|Vulture]] |language=en}}</ref>

In ''[[The New Yorker]]'', Dennis Lim concluded that "the primal terror of Lynch’s films is an existential one" and that "the volatility of the self and of reality" is central to his work.<ref name=Lim-2018>{{cite magazine |last1=Lim |first1=Dennis |title=Donald Trump's America and the Visions of David Lynch |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/donald-trumps-america-and-the-visions-of-david-lynch |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=11 March 2025 |date=June 29, 2018}}</ref> Lim wrote that "for Lynch, disruption is generative: [[psychological trauma |trauma]], the recurring subject of his films, can rupture the fabric of reality".<ref name=Lim-2018/> Critic [[Mark Fisher]] noted that Lynch's works destabilize the hierarchy between distinct levels of reality and fiction: "figments from dreams cross over into waking life; [[screen test]]s appear at least as convincing as the exchanges in the supposedly real-world scenes that surround them", resulting in a ambiguous [[ontology|ontological]] situation in which "any apparent reality subsides into a dream".<ref name="fisher">{{cite web |last1=Fisher |first1=Mark |title=Curtains and Holes: David Lynch |url=https://onscenes.weebly.com/film-433002/curtains-and-holes-david-lynch |website=Onscenes |access-date=9 April 2025}}</ref> Kite wrote that "the central mystery" of Lynch's work is rooted in overlapping "worlds" of consciousness and the resultant "perpetual folding between outside and inside".<ref name="kite"/> Gilbey wrote that Lynch's work "exposed the horrors lurking beneath apparently placid exteriors, and found beauty in the quotidian, the industrial" while reflecting a "mix of folksy naivety and elusive strangeness".<ref name=gilbey/> Critic Greg Olson wrote that Lynch's work is preoccupied with the "deepest realities" behind surfaces and facades.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Olson |first1=Greg |title=David Lynch: Beautiful Dark |date=2008 |publisher=Scarecrow Press}}</ref> Author [[David Foster Wallace]] characterized Lynch's films as deconstructing "the weird irony of the banal".<ref name="DFW"/> Lynch's work reflects a preoccupation with the instability of identity, particularly in female characters.<ref name=farout/> He tended to feature his female leads in "split" roles: many of his female characters have multiple, fractured identities.<ref>{{Cite web |title=David Lynch watching Vertigo |url=http://cinearchive.org/post/116927300550/david-lynch-watching-vertigo-the-most-studied |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014035038/http://cinearchive.org/post/116927300550/david-lynch-watching-vertigo-the-most-studied |archive-date=October 14, 2017 |access-date=October 13, 2017 |website=cinearchive.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Cwik |first=Greg |date=April 16, 2015 |title=9 Great Films Influenced By Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo' |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2015/04/9-great-films-influenced-by-alfred-hitchcocks-vertigo-62999/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215231041/https://www.indiewire.com/2015/04/9-great-films-influenced-by-alfred-hitchcocks-vertigo-62999/ |archive-date=December 15, 2019 |access-date=March 12, 2020 |website=IndieWire}}</ref> Hoberman identified a duality between "exaggerated, even saccharine innocence" and "depraved evil" in his work,<ref name="Hoberman" /> while Lim emphasized that the good and evil in Lynch's art exist in an ambiguous relationship to each other.<ref name=Lim-2018/>

Lynch's affinity for [[Eastern spirituality]] is evident in his films, though it typically manifests in American trappings.<ref>{{cite book |last1=King |first1=Rob E. |title=David Lynch and the American West Essays on Regionalism and Indigeneity in Twin Peaks and the Films |date=2023 |publisher=MacFarland |page=2}}</ref> Joseph Joyce of ''Angelus'' wrote, "his work could perhaps properly be understood as the marriage between Western kitsch and Eastern spirituality".<ref name=angelus/> According to Kite, much of Lynch's work is underpinned by his [[Advaita Vedanta]]-inspired philosophy, in which the soul is defined by "light and unity" but forgets its original essence, becoming lost in illusions of isolation, violence, and separateness for some time before awaking to remember its true nature.<ref name="kite">{{cite web |last1=Kite |first1=B. |title=Remain in light: Mulholland Dr. and the cosmogony of David Lynch |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/remain-light-mulholland-dr-cosmogony-david-lynch |website=[[British Film Institute|BFI]] |date=November 13, 2019 |access-date=12 March 2025}}</ref> Kite suggested that Lynch could be understood as "a religious or spiritual artist in a loosely categoric sense", and called his worldview "essentially [[monism|monist]]" but punctuated by superficial [[cosmological dualism|duality]] and [[Gnostic]] conflict.<ref name="kite"/> Lynch directly invoked the [[Vedic scripture]]s known as [[the Upanishads]] in several of his films and books; in ''Twin Peaks: The Return'' and in his live introductions to ''Inland Empire'', he quotes a passage from an adapted version of the [[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]]:<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cult |first1=Matt |title=Eternal Stories from the Upanishads In The Return |url=https://filmobsessive.com/film/film-analysis/filmmakers/david-lynch/eternal-stories-from-the-upanishads-in-the-return/ |website=25YL |date=August 15, 2017 |accessdate=19 March 2025}}</ref>
<blockquote>We are like the spider. We weave our life and then move along in it. We are like the dreamer who dreams and then lives in the dream. This is true for the entire universe.<ref>{{cite news |last=Guillen |first=Michael |date=24 January 2007 |title=Inland Empire—The San Rafael Film Center Q&A With David Lynch |work=Twitch Film |url=http://twitchfilm.net/archives/008819.html |url-status=dead |access-date=21 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907005745/http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/008819.html |archive-date=7 September 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Egenes |first1=Thomas |last2=Reddy |first2=Kumuda |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BcDlPTSbEoEC&pg=PA71 |title=Eternal Stories from the Upanishads |location=New Delhi |publisher=Smrti Books |year=2002 |page=71 |isbn=978-8-18-796707-1}}</ref></blockquote> 

All but two of Lynch's films are set in the United States, and he frequently referenced 1950s and early 1960s U.S. culture despite his works being set in later decades. Bradshaw wrote, "[n]o director ever interpreted the [[American dream|American Dream]] with more artless innocence than David Lynch", citing his work's juxtaposition of the safety of "the suburban drive and the picket fence" with "escape, danger, adventure, sex and death".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bradshaw |first1=Peter |title=David Lynch: the great American surrealist who made experimentalism mainstream |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/16/david-lynch-the-great-american-surrealist-who-made-experimentalism-mainstream |website=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=January 17, 2025|date=16 January 2025}}</ref> Joyce wrote, "it's easy to presume that Lynch was cynic. But [...] he really did love [[Americana (culture)|Americana]]; blue jeans and slicked hair, [[soda fountain]]s, [[Roy Orbison]] and, yes, milkshakes".<ref name=angelus>{{cite web |last1=Joyce |first1=Joseph |title=What made late filmmaker David Lynch a true believer |url=https://angelusnews.com/arts-culture/david-lynch-surrealist/ |website=Angelus |date=January 27, 2025 |access-date=1 April 2025}}</ref> Lynch said: "I like certain things about America and it gives me ideas. When I go around and I see things, it sparks little stories".<ref name="lynch05" />{{rp|18}} Of the 1950s, he said, "It was a fantastic decade in a lot of ways&nbsp;... there was something in the air that is not there any more at all. It was such a great feeling, and not just because I was a kid. It was a really hopeful time, and things were going up instead of going down. You got the feeling you could do anything. The future was bright. Little did we know we were laying the groundwork for a disastrous future."<ref name="lynch05" />{{rp|3–5}}

===Influences===
[[File:Newyork-movie-edward-hopper-1939.jpg|thumb|right|''[[New York Movie]]'' (1939) by [[Edward Hopper]], one of Lynch's favorite painters.]]
Lynch felt his work was more similar to that of European filmmakers than American ones, and said that most films that "get down and thrill your soul" are by European directors.<ref name="lynch05" />{{rp|62}} He expressed admiration for [[Federico Fellini]],<ref name="lynch05" />{{rp|62}} [[Ingmar Bergman]], [[Werner Herzog]], [[Alfred Hitchcock]],<ref>{{cite interview |last=Lynch |first=David |interviewer=Diego Schonhals |title=David Lynch Favorites Movies and FilmMakers |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1s7EwOeowU |access-date=September 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018130352/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1s7EwOeowU |archive-date=October 18, 2017 |url-status=live |publication-date=October 13, 2007}}</ref> [[Roman Polanski]], [[Jacques Tati]],<ref name="lynch05" />{{rp|62}} [[Stanley Kubrick]], and [[Billy Wilder]]. His favorite film, and one he regularly returned to, was [[Victor Fleming]]'s ''[[The Wizard of Oz]]''.<ref>{{cite news| last=Richardson| first=Amy| title=Long live the wizard, David Lynch| date=January 17, 2025| work=[[Los Angeles Times]]| url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2025-01-17/appreciation-david-lynch-long-live-the-wizard}}</ref> He said that Wilder's ''[[Sunset Boulevard (film)|Sunset Boulevard]]'' (1950) was one of his favorite pictures,<ref name="lynch05" />{{rp|71}} as were "probably all of Bergman’s movies",<ref>{{cite web |last1=Russell |first1=Callum |title=The movies that David Lynch "oriented" himself on |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/movies-david-lynch-oriented-himself-on/ |website=Artforum |date=July 15, 2022 |access-date=11 March 2025}}</ref> Kubrick's ''[[Lolita (1962 film)|Lolita]]'' (1962), Fellini's ''[[8½]]'' (1963), Tati's ''[[Monsieur Hulot's Holiday]]'' (1953), Hitchcock's ''[[Rear Window]]'' (1954), and Herzog's ''[[Stroszek]]'' (1977).<ref name="lynch05" />{{rp|21}} He also cited [[Herk Harvey]]'s ''[[Carnival of Souls]]'' (1962) and [[Jerzy Skolimowski]]'s ''[[Deep End (film)|Deep End]]'' (1970) as influences on his work.<ref>{{cite web |date=October 12, 2007 |title=Retro Cinema: Carnival of Souls |url=https://www.moviefone.com/2007/10/12/retro-cinema-carnival-of-souls/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170218064656/https://www.moviefone.com/2007/10/12/retro-cinema-carnival-of-souls/ |archive-date=February 18, 2017 |access-date=February 17, 2017 |website=Moviefone}}</ref> [[Maya Deren]]'s 1943 experimental film ''[[Meshes of the Afternoon]]'' has also been recognized as a possible influence on Lynch.<ref name=farout>{{cite web |last1=Ferrier |first1=Aimee |title=Did avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren inspire David Lynch's movies? |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/maya-deren-inspired-david-lynch/ |website=Far Out |date=January 20, 2023 |access-date=7 March 2025}}</ref> Some have suggested that Lynch's love of Hitchcock's ''[[Vertigo (film)|Vertigo]]'' influenced his use of dual-identity female roles.<ref>{{Cite web |title=David Lynch watching Vertigo |url=http://cinearchive.org/post/116927300550/david-lynch-watching-vertigo-the-most-studied |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014035038/http://cinearchive.org/post/116927300550/david-lynch-watching-vertigo-the-most-studied |archive-date=October 14, 2017 |access-date=October 13, 2017 |website=cinearchive.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Cwik |first=Greg |date=April 16, 2015 |title=9 Great Films Influenced By Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo' |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2015/04/9-great-films-influenced-by-alfred-hitchcocks-vertigo-62999/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215231041/https://www.indiewire.com/2015/04/9-great-films-influenced-by-alfred-hitchcocks-vertigo-62999/ |archive-date=December 15, 2019 |access-date=March 12, 2020 |website=IndieWire}}</ref>

[[Edward Hopper]] and [[Francis Bacon (artist)|Francis Bacon]] were two of Lynch's favorite painters.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Abrams |first1=Bryan |title=Mr. Sunshine: David Lynch, Auteur of the Uncanny, Talks Inspiration |url=https://www.motionpictures.org/2014/05/mr-sunshine-david-lynch-auteur-of-the-uncanny-talks-inspiration/ |website=The Credits |date=May 8, 2014 |access-date=11 March 2025}}</ref> Lynch also praised installation artist [[Edward Kienholz]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wise |first=Damon |date=2018-08-20 |title=Encore: David Lynch Refuses To Explain 'Twin Peaks: The Return' — "Ideas Came, And This Is What They Presented" |url=https://deadline.com/2018/08/twin-peaks-the-return-david-lynch-interview-showtime-emmys-news-1202407985/ |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=Deadline |language=en-US}}</ref> Lynch said his favorite books were [[Frank Capra]]'s ''The Name Above the Title'', [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]]'s ''[[Crime and Punishment]]'', [[Robert Henri]]'s ''The Art Spirit'', [[Robert Flynn Johnson]]'s ''Anonymous Photographs'', and [[Franz Kafka]]'s ''[[The Metamorphosis]]''.<ref>{{cite news| title=David Lynch named his five favorite books of all time| last=Thomas| first=Lee| work=Far Out| date=October 12, 2022| url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/david-lynch-favourite-books-ever/}}</ref>

===Recurring collaborators===
{{Main|List of frequent David Lynch collaborators}}

Lynch was noted for his collaborations with various production artists and composers on his films and other productions.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 17, 2016 |title=My Beautiful Broken Brain: The woman who 'video-selfied' her stroke |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/my-beautiful-broken-brain-the-amazing-collaboration-of-david-lynch-and-a-woman-who-video-selfied-her-a6937571.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180327151704/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/my-beautiful-broken-brain-the-amazing-collaboration-of-david-lynch-and-a-woman-who-video-selfied-her-a6937571.html |archive-date=March 27, 2018 |access-date=March 26, 2018 |work=The Independent |language=en-GB}}</ref> He frequently worked with composer Angelo Badalamenti, film editor [[Mary Sweeney]], casting director [[Johanna Ray]], and actors [[Harry Dean Stanton]], Jack Nance, Kyle MacLachlan, Catherine Coulson, Laura Dern, Naomi Watts, Isabella Rossellini, and [[Grace Zabriskie]].

===Legacy===
{{Main|Cultural impact of David Lynch}}
Lynch was often called a "visionary".<ref name="Hoberman" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=January 16, 2025 |title=David Lynch, visionary filmmaker behind 'Twin Peaks' and 'Mulholland Drive,' dies at 78 |url=https://apnews.com/article/david-lynch-dies-9107f3ce0b4dd49dbe3dc2ae3c09ed59 |access-date=January 16, 2025 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Galloway |first=Stephen |date=January 16, 2025 |title=David Lynch, Auteur Drawn to the Dark and the Dreamlike, Dies at 78 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/david-lynch-blue-velvet-mulholland-drive-1236110711/ |access-date=January 17, 2025 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2007, a panel of critics convened by ''[[The Guardian]]'' announced that "after all the discussion, no one could fault the conclusion that David Lynch is the most important film-maker of the current era",<ref name="40 best directors">{{cite news |year=2007 |title=40 best directors |url=http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/page/0,11456,1082823,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070704012453/http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/page/0,11456,1082823,00.html |archive-date=July 4, 2007 |access-date=November 29, 2010 |work=The Guardian |location=London}}</ref> and [[AllMovie]] called him "the Renaissance man of modern American filmmaking".<ref>{{cite web |last=Ankeny |first=Jason |title=David Lynch: Biography |url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/david-lynch-100454 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201228024833/https://www.allmovie.com/artist/david-lynch-p100454 |archive-date=December 28, 2020 |access-date=November 29, 2010 |publisher=AllMovie}}</ref> Film critic [[Pauline Kael]] called Lynch "the first populist surrealist".<ref name="lynch05" />{{rp|xi}}