What I think is that Dune is too much baroque and is really a "point out of the curve" of David Lynch movies.

David Lynch is known by doing extremely annoying movies (Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, etc). I think his works are for a very restrict audience (have you seen Blue Velvet? it is a 12 gauge ballot shot straight on your guts) who likes the strangeness of lost and dysfunctional characters.

Of that, Dune inherited the strangeness of a baroque world. But the book has about 500 pages and deals with the feelings of predestination, guilt, edipian thoughts, revenge and (American author) the need of the good to defeat the evil in a lost universe.

As a literary work, Dune is well dated into the 60ies and fits well under the circumstances of the Cold War. After Dune, F. Herbert and his son started a "franchise" of several other "Dunes", none as good as the original.

In the movie we have to deal with the overacting of Sting, Kyle MacLachlan and Virginia Madsen. MacLachlan also featured Blue Velvet (with Laura Dern) and it seems that he specialized in telecine (like "Twin Peaks").

I first saw Dune (OV) while I was in Paris (Dec. 1984). Then, years later, I watched an Spanish dubbed copy.

quote:

Originally posted by cbarreto:
David Lynch is known by doing extremely annoying movies (Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, etc). I think his works are for a very restrict audience (have you seen Blue Velvet? it is a 12 gauge ballot shot straight on your guts)

Ok, you may not like David Lynch, that's perfectly fine. His film style is far from mainstream and I fully understand that it is not for everyone. But please refrain from attatching your opinion of his work, which is your own, to descriptions of what he does. He is not known for making "annoying" movies as you say, he is known for making bizzare, original, imaginitive films that (for some people)are very fascinating (myself included). I admit, watching a David Lynch movie even for myself as a David Lynch fan, is difficult. It takes a lot of abstract thinking fully grasp what is happening. I usually have to watch the film a few times to really follow it. But once I understand what's going on, the experience is very rewarding. Sometimes it has to be explained to me as in Mullholland Drive. I could not figure that movie out, but then a friend explained to me that it was a dream, and then it all fell into place, the foreshadowing was painfully obvious and I was suprised I didn't see it before. Wether you like his work or not, you have to admit David Lynch is a brilliant, uncompromising film maker.

quote:

who likes the strangeness of lost and dysfunctional characters.

I do!

You got it wrong...

But, wen you mix bizarre with lost and dysfunctional characters the result can be described as annoying, in the sense that most of people wont feel comfortable. When you have a policeman shot in the head standing in the kitchen, I wouldn't say it is something "nice to see". When you have a cut ear (human) in the garden, being eaten by ants... well it is not something nice to see. When you have Isabella Rosselini running nude, spanked, out of the house... it is also not an easy scene. When you have Dennis Hoper smelling something that may be coke, getting crazy, raping Isabela and torturing the boy... etc... etc... etc...

I never said I don't like David Lynch movies. I told he has a complex personality. If I didn't like his work, I would not have watched most of his works. I told that for the average audience, it may be difficult to follow his work.

I also pointed out that imo Dune is not one of his "masterpieces". Nothing like Twin Peaks, for instance. I pointed out that from the aesthetic point of view, Dune inherited the baroque environment, the baroque character construction that is common in mr. Lynch works. I pointed out that, imo, most of the actors overacted and the result became artificial.

That is also obvious that everything that was written solely reflects my opinion that, surely enough, may differ from the point of view of the rest of the Universe...

I think you don't mean "annoying" cbarreto, you mean "difficult."

Yes, I think "difficult" would be a better word.

quote:

Originally posted by cbarreto:
Yes, I think "difficult" would be a better word.

Yes, difficult is much more fitting. Annoying is still a very subjective adjective reflecting one's opinion. I might find Chris Tucker very annoying, while someone else might find him hillarious but neither of us can disagree that he is loud. I wonder, however, if your associations with Lynch and Dune are not preconceived prejudices. When I first watched dune, I was familiar with David Linch, but not quite yet a fan. I had seen Lost Highway, Wild at Heart and Eraserhead. I honestly didn't know Dune was directed by David Lynch when I first watched it and was suprised later to find that out, altho it did shed some light on a few things, the inner dialogue for example (which I realize is heavily used in the books, but any other film maker would probably not have used that).

Basicly it's kind of like how a lot of people are disapointed by horror movies. They go into the theater with a standoffish attitude saying, "allright movie, I dare you to make me feel scared". With that sort of preconception they are setting the movie up for failure because they've already got all their guards up. But if you go into the thing without any preconceptions and allow yourself to be immersed, then the experience tends to be much more rewarding.

But we are also dealing with totally different perspectives here. I saw the movie first without having read the book, so I had no pre-existing images in my head for the movie to contradict. As far as I'm concerned the baroque images were a very fitting style to the story showing just how audacious the rich families had become in comparison to the rest of the population. I didn't have a problem with the acting, but I'd have to watch the movie again now that I've gained a more critical eye for that sort of thing.

As far as watching movies that don't make you feel good; I'm not a sadist or anything, but I do enjoy any movie that makes me feel strongly in any emotion, even disgust. Granted, I don't watch those movies repeatedly, but when a movie can make me truely feel sick I find that to be exhilarating. Movies like, A Simple Plan, Kids, David Lynch's movies of course, or the ones made by Tekashi Mike; Visitor Q, Ichi the Killer, and Audition to name a few.



Edit: I just looked at Lynch's filmography and realized Dune was his first "mainstream" movie and it's probable you had no preconceived idea of his work as I suggested above. I guess we're just dealing with differences in tastes here.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Clark Nova,

quote:

Originally posted by NeverBelieve:
... but according to amazon it seems to be the SE, although I'm shocked that the Brmovie site hasn't be updated...

At last.
http://www.brmovie.com/BR_Special_Edition.htm
http://www.brmovie.com/BR_Final_Cut_Changes.htm (spoilers)