Eraserhead * * * 1/2 R, 1976 Written and directed by David Lynch. Starring Jack Nance.
David Lynch's debut film "Eraserhead" is without a doubt one of the most bizarre films I have ever seen. There isn't really much of a plot, other than the fact that the main character, Henry Spencer (Jack Nance), is having a difficult time caring for his deformed illegitimate child and generally has an unpleasant life. "Eraserhead" could probably be best described as an abstract character study: the character of Henry Spencer is revealed through a series of loosely connected images and scenes.
To describe "Eraserhead" as "surreal" would be an understatement: most of what happens in this film does not seem to be bound by any semblance of realism. The film's best-known scene is a dream sequence (I guess) in which Henry's disembodied head suddenly falls out of a window, is discovered by a young boy, and taken to a nearby factory where it is made into pencil erasers (hence the film's title). And the metaphysical distortions don't stop there. The enigmatic "Man in the Planet" character appears occasionally and seems to be controlling Henry's bizarre experiences somehow. Henry has recurring visions of the "Lady in the Radiator" who performs a song for him, promising that "In Heaven, Everything Is Fine" until she is interrupted by worms falling from the sky. In a scene that is at once hilarious and unsettling, two chicken legs somehow come alive on Henry's dinner plate and do a little dance as static electricity buzzes ominously in the background. In fact, the entire film is scored by a "white noise" that is a kind of mix of wind gusts and electric humming.
Surprisingly enough, "Eraserhead" actually works as a surreal psychodrama that takes place in a world shaped around Henry's fears and obsessions. This material probably would have collapsed into an Ed Wood-style "so-bad-it's-funny" mess in the hands of most directors, but somehow Lynch actually gets the audience to take all this cinematic lunacy seriously. "Eraserhead" is visceral and disturbing where, with only a tiny misstep, it could easily have become ludicrously incoherent. Lynch has admitted that the atmosphere of tension and fear that dominates "Eraserhead" grew largely out of his own experience living in a dangerous area of downtown Philadelphia and trying to care for his daughter Jennifer, who herself was born with clubbed feet and had a very difficult childhood. This personal attachment of the director to his material is probably what makes "Eraserhead" work: Lynch clearly cares about Henry, and by the end of the film, so do we.
I am awarding "Eraserhead" three and a half stars, but I will stop short of recommending it firmly because most people I know would probably hate it. I'll put it this way: If you enjoy unconventional films, or if you want to see the on-screen exorcism of David Lynch's personal demons, then by all means make "Eraserhead" your next rental from the video store. If not, you should probably stay away.
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