Daily Movie Rec 4/20/2023

Dune (1984)

"Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death that bring total obliteration."

Directed by: David Lynch

Cinematography by: Freddie Francis

Country: United States/Mexico

Genre: Sci-Fi/Action/Adventure

Plot:

Spice!

Reasons to watch:

Visuals, sumptuous visuals everywhere, with some of the best production design and costuming of the 80s. It’s from the mad surrealist genius of Eraserhead though, and it’s hard to believe this made it all the way through production to release because it is really out there - full of Lynch’s trademark psychosexual imagery, campy melodrama, and unsettling, hallucinatory montages. I don’t think it’s good, I don’t think it’s bad (frankly I didn’t like it any more or less than Villeneuve’s version), but I am grateful that at one point Lynch put his grandest ideas and singular artistry into a sci-fi epic, space opera blockbuster; the world is better for it. Whoever thought the screenplay would be commercially viable is truly terrible at their job though.

Where to watch:

The Criterion Channel