Review of Eraserhead (1977) by Al M — 07 Jul 2011

David Lynch's first full-length film, Eraserhead, remains proof that surrealism is an artistic movement/genre that doesn't die. Eraserhead hearkens back to early surrealistic cinema like early Bunuel and Cocteau while also drawing upon absurdist literature like Kafka and Beckett.

An bizarre masterpiece, Eraserhead represents a young filmmaker laying his entire soul upon the---Lynch would not make cinema this experimental and raw for twenty years. While I don't want to give way much of Eraserhead's plot, I will say that it represents a fantasy or science fiction story (take your pick of genre) about a man who lives in a urban wasteland and inadvertently fathers a deformed, barely human child with his girlfriend.

Featuring Jack Nance, who would become a staple in almost every David Lynch film until his death, in a commanding lead performance, Eraserhead is a beautiful, haunting, and genuinely disturbing tale about the seemingly absurd nature of existence and the individual struggle to find meaning in the face of chaos, absurdity, and cruelty.

In other words, it is a profoundly existential film. Featuring some of the most beautiful and devastating images that Lynch has ever put on film, Eraserhead remains one of his great masterpieces--it is an absolutely original film that blends horror, comedy, and drama together with an arthouse aesthetic to create a work that is simply beyond words to describe.