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David Lynch Retrospective Part 2 – April 4th – 10th, 2025
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Friday, April 4th – Thursday, April 10th! With his passing this year, the Naro presents the second of two retrospectives of David Lynch’s work, beginning January 31st. Much like his body of work, David Lynch often defied tidy description. As a filmmaker it was possibly more instructive to refer to him as a surrealist artist working in the medium of film, rather than a traditional movie director and writer. From his debut feature Eraserhead (1978), it was clear that Lynch held a deep fascination with the utterly grotesque residing just below the surface of the everyday. He would use that fascination to his advantage with his second film, the hugely successful The Elephant Man (1980), only to be dealt a bitter blow by the disastrous, costly experience of “Dune” (1984). However, with the quasi-autobiographical thriller Blue Velvet (1986), Lynch would establish a thematic aesthetic – dubbed “Lynchian” – that he would continue to evolve throughout his career. Join us for a retrospective of five of his best films. **NEW ADDITION** We have just added the 2025 documentary I Know Catherine, the Log Lady to the retrospective, which features Lynch’s last screen appearance. |
I Know Catherine, the Log Lady
Saturday, April 5th at 2pm
Sunday, April 6th at 4pm
Telling the true story of the wonderfully full life of Catherine Coulson, known to audiences around the world as The Log Lady from Twin Peaks. It also reflects on her death, which epitomized her extraordinary life-characterized by deep friendship, a passion for art and artists, motherhood, spirituality, and a commitment to both the joy and pain of being present in the here and now-right up until her last breath. Catherine Coulson went from the dutiful daughter of a conservative Catholic family to acting in the nude in San Francisco in the 60s to meeting and working with David Lynch over 5 decades from Eraserhead (where her part was cut but she worked the camera) to Twin Peaks. She was a highly acclaimed stage actress, a pioneer woman camera person of independent and Hollywood films, mother, wife, and force of nature. I Know Catherine, the Log Lady is sadly David Lynch’s final on screen appearance but it is fitting tribute to him and lengths he went to for his friend. Mark Frost, Kyle MacLachlan, Kimmy Robertson, Fred Elmes and longtime Lynch producer Sabrina Sutherland are featured in the film. (2025, 1h 57m)
Inland Empire
David Lynch Series Finale!
Thursday, April 10th at 7:15pm
Nikki (Laura Dern), an actress, takes on a role in a new film, and because her husband (Peter J. Lucas) is very jealous, her co-star Devon (Justin Theroux) gets a warning not to make any romantic overtures — especially since the characters they play are having an affair. Both actors learn that the project is a remake of an unfinished film in which the stars were murdered. Also starring Jeremy Irons, Harry Dean Stanton, Terryn Westbrook and Julia Ormond. This was director David Lynch’s last film. (2006, R, 2h 59m)
“A free-fall plunge through David Lynch’s imagination, a curious and often astonishing place. The film is dazzling and bewildering in equal measure.” – Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle
“A can’t-miss experience and likely one of the year’s very best films.” – Tom Long, Detroit News
The Elephant Man
Friday, April 4th at 7:30pm
Sunday, April 6th at 1:30pm
Monday, April 7th at 7:15pm
Dr. Frederic Treves (Anthony Hopkins) discovers Joseph (John) Merrick (John Hurt) in a sideshow. Born with a congenital disorder, Merrick uses his disfigurement to earn a living as the “Elephant Man.” Treves brings Merrick into his home, discovering that his rough exterior hides a refined soul, and that Merrick can teach the stodgy British upper class of the time a lesson about dignity. Merrick becomes the toast of London and charms a caring actress (Anne Bancroft) before his death at 27. (1980, PG, 2h 5m)
“The Elephant Man is a very pleasurable surprise. Though I had seen Eraserhead, which is the only other feature directed by David Lynch, and had thought him a true original, I wasn’t prepared for the strength he would bring out of understatement.” – Pauline Kael, The New Yorker
“What we eventually see underneath this shell is not ‘the study in dignity’ that Ashley Montagu wrote about, but something far more poignant, a study in genteelness that somehow suppressed all rage.” – Vincent Canby, New York Times
Lost Highway
Saturday, April 5th at 4:15pm
Tuesday, April 8th at 7:15pm
From this inventory of imagery, Lynch fashions two separate but intersecting stories, one about a jazz musician (Bill Pullman), tortured by the notion that his wife is having an affair, who suddenly finds himself accused of her murder. The other is a young mechanic (Balthazar Getty) drawn into a web of deceit by a temptress who is cheating on her gangster boyfriend. These two tales are linked by the fact that the women in both are played by the same actress (Patricia Arquette). (1997, R, 2h 15m)
Eraserhead
Friday, April 4th & Saturday, April 5th at 10pm
Henry (John Nance) resides alone in a bleak apartment surrounded by industrial gloom. When he discovers that an earlier fling with Mary X (Charlotte Stewart) left her pregnant, he marries the expectant mother and has her move in with him. Things take a decidedly strange turn when the couple’s baby turns out to be a bizarre lizard-like creature that won’t stop wailing. Other characters, including a disfigured lady who lives inside a radiator, inhabit the building and add to Henry’s troubles. (1977, 1h 30m)
“David Lynch’s remarkable first film, made in 1977, still looks like a minor masterpiece, mixing Gothic horror, surrealism and darkly expressionist mise-en-scène.” – Derek Malcolm, London Evening Standard
Mulholland Drive
Saturday, April 5th at 7pm
A dark-haired woman (Laura Elena Harring) is left amnesiac after a car crash. She wanders the streets of Los Angeles in a daze before taking refuge in an apartment. There she is discovered by Betty (Naomi Watts), a wholesome Midwestern blonde who has come to the City of Angels seeking fame as an actress. Together, the two attempt to solve the mystery of Rita’s true identity. The story is set in a dream-like Los Angeles, spoilt neither by traffic jams nor smog. David Lynch‘s dreamlike and mysterious Mulholland Drive is a twisty neo-noir with an unconventional structure that features a mesmerizing performance from Naomi Watts as a woman on the dark fringes of Hollywood. (2001, R, 2h 26m)