The Grand Illusion

A rare glimpse into the mind of one of cinema’s most enigmatic visionaries, DAVID LYNCH: THE ART LIFE offers an absorbing portrait of the artist, as well as an intimate encounter with the man himself. From his secluded home and painting studio in the Hollywood Hills, a candid Lynch conjures people and places from his past, from his boyhood to his experiences at art school to the beginnings of his filmmaking career—in stories that unfold like scenes from his movies. This remarkable documentary by Jon Nguyen, Rick Barnes, and Olivia Neergaard-Holm travels back to Lynch’s early years as a painter and director drawn to the phantasmagoric, while also illuminating his enduring commitment to what he calls “the art life”: “You drink coffee, you smoke cigarettes, and you paint, and that’s it.”

Part of To Live Is To Dream: A Northwest Tribute to David Lynch.

“This cockeyed, oblique attempt to get closer to the worldview of David Lynch—one of American cinema’s finest oddities—is a compelling slice of cinephile inquiry.” Christina Newland, RogerEbert.com

“Extravagantly surreal as the products of [Lynch’s] imagination may be, they are deeply rooted in personal history and philosophy — and it’s this connection that Jon Nguyen’s disarmingly off-kilter documentary probes to rewarding effect.” Guy Lodge, Variety