Touches You

Sadly Over-hyped

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Lynch's more modern shorts are often hit or miss with most people, while I at least LIKE almost all of them (and, occasionally, I may even fall in total LOVE with another), and "Absurda" definitely fits this category of "modern Lynch shorts that I LIKE" (which is a very small and specific area in my mental cinematic treasury). The acting is pretty poor, but Lynch sometimes does use bad performances to his advantage in order to add to the overall surrealism of the piece, and sometimes this works totally in his favor (some of the acting in "Twin Peaks: The Return: The Third Season: A Limited Event Series" is noticeably "off" and it totally adds to the atmosphere in the show), but, here, it doesn't really do that. Otherwise, the visuals are extremely unique and oddly appealing, if disturbing and unsettling. It's very Lynchian and works as another one of his attempts to capture the look and feel of an actual dream or nightmare on screen. I must say, "Absurda" does oddly resemble a dream in the closest of ways. It has the same logic, flow, look, and sound of many dreams I can remember having, even if it is not exactly a perfect replica of these dreams just yet.

"Absurda" is an American short film from 2007, so this one has its 10th anniversary this year. It runs for slightly over two minutes only and shows us what happens when the movie action at a local theater becomes a little bit too real for the only people watching it. Talk about the characters making a connection with what they see on screen. Generally, the plot idea isn't too bad for a 150 second film, but that's pretty much it. The dancing reference at the very end is a bit on the pretentious side. This is a film that is an example of being famous because it was made by David Lynch, but I doubt this is a film that actually could have made him famous or at least increased his popularity. It's probably worth checking out for the very biggest fans of the super famous filmmaker, who focused on short film a lot in the last 15-20 years, but everybody else can skip it. I personally give this little horror mystery movie a thumbs-down.

Absurda (2007) *** (out of 4)This two minute film was directed by the one and only David Lynch and was originally shown at the Cannes Film Festival. A group of people are sitting in a theater watching a movie when one realizes that the woman on the screen is her. She talks about how what she's watching is a nightmare she's been having and it appears to be coming real. ABSURDA isn't a masterpiece or anything close to that but it's a fairly interesting film that might actually work well as a feature. I thought this short at least managed to have that certain atmosphere that only Lynch can create and I think the nightmare vision is nicely put onto the screen. The movie also manages to tell its story is a rather neat way and I liked how we never actually see the people in the theater and can just go by what they're saying. Lynch fans should enjoy this one.