Lynch/Oz

... A thoughtful and probing look at the nature of inspiration and expression, both in Lynch's world and outside his boundaries.

[Lynch/Oz] gets lost in its variations and fusions, a lot of eagerly analytical heel-clicking never quite transporting us home.

With Philippe making such a not-radical case so passionately, and so often, he can’t help but unmake it. Still, Lynch/Oz possesses undeniable value, if only to remind viewers that cinema is worth dissecting, thinking about, arguing over, mulling around.

You cannot begin to make valid comparisons between David Lynch’s work and “The Wizard of Oz” without realizing what both are saying.

It’s a Cubist documentary. The stream-of-conscious, connect-the-dots vibe is nearly overwhelming. Yet somehow it all works and fits each disparate piece together to form a complete picture.

Among the many things this picture illuminates is how the fanciful worlds of “Oz” and Lynch illuminate the pain and splendor of the world.

The result is fascinating, enlightening and certainly not for those who watched Oz for the flying monkeys or Wild at Heart for Nic Cage crooning Elvis.

If The Wizard of Oz is the ideal cinematic text, then David Lynch is its ideal reader.

Your appreciation may hinge on your tolerance for listening to people gab about movies, but I found it comforting, hypnotic, and deceptively layered.

Addressing David Lynch’s surrealist cinematic adventures, the touchstone is The Wizard of Oz, which, based on research, director Alexandre O. Philippe asserts is the “most influential movie ever made.”