Auteur Corner: David Lynch and Darren Aronofsky

A name that kept popping up throughout my conversations was David Lynch, the enigmatic, reclusive auteur whose films have been known to confuse and captivate. Because of that, it was no surprise his 2001 film Mulholland Drive was highly sought after as a “favorite film” worthy of dissection. We’ll finally talk about it later in this episode, but the reason two of his films are topics of discussion here are that he’s such a singular storyteller; for better or worse, a David Lynch film is a DAVID LYNCH film. The rich color palette, the Angelo Badalamenti score, the surrealism, his unique sense of humor — it all makes for great conversation after the fact. The same could be said for Darren Aronofsky, another writer/director with a sparse film resume, yet one that’s made noise at both the Academy Awards and in cult fandoms alike. His intense films delve into some rather dark and/or serious subject matter — artistic struggle, biblical allegories, climate change — but again, still very much thought provoking, if not somewhat controversial. 2:30 - 33:47: Blue Velvet (Taylor Weber) 33:48 - 1:05:53: Mulholland Drive (Nat Hoopes) 1:06:15 - 1:35:07: Black Swan (Margarita Madu) 1:35:08 - 2:08:02: mother! (Faith Maddox)