"What I saw in him was an intuitive and enigmatic man with a creative ocean bursting forth inside of him. He was in touch with something the rest of us wish we could get in touch with," Kyle MacLachlan
Or not! But still an awed appreciation for his disjunctive dream and/or nightmare-like imagination, and, yes, sly humor. "Legendary auteur" is right too, in both a positive and negative sense: His cinematic vision is unmistakable but also sometimes indulgent and inscrutable and often disturbing. As an aging Boomer myself the familiar obits are coming faster than I can keep track of but Lynch was especially important to me or so as much as filmmakers go, so worth noting. I saw Kyle MacLachlan throw out a first pitch at an M's game this past summer. He was all grey. There was a goofy pacific northwest vibe, that MacLachlan personifies, that ran through much of Lynch's film work. And Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, The Straight Story, and Mulholland Drive were all moving, if not shattering, movie experiences for me. I saw Mulholland Drive alone three times when it first game out just trying to make sense of what I saw. I can't say I ever did figure it all out (other than it is a horror story about how Hollywood ruins innocent lives of aspiring actors) but each viewing increased my respect for Lynch's creativity and craft. Now I need to take another shot at his 2017 Twin Peaks reboot. David Lynch was a true artist and cinematic visionary. R.I.P.
Also, nice writeup in The Stranger by Megan Burbank:
"But Lynch depicts harm with the emotional intensity it requires. In the universe of Twin Peaks, the impact of Laura Palmer’s suffering is framed on a mythological scale. One teenage girl’s ongoing abuse is so incomprehensible and unacceptable that it requires a supernatural explanation. I have always considered this beautiful: Lesser directors would see Laura’s rape as a plot point, an edgy choice. For Lynch, it’s the end of all the good in the world."