David Lynch's ten weirdest scenes, by film

Lost Highway
"Call Me"
Even if you have no idea what's going on -- which you basically never do in Lost Highway -- this scene is disturbing as hell. But it gets even more disturbing when it turns out, elsewhere in the film, that Bill Pullman is having sex with this guy.

The Straight Story
"Grabber"
Apparently overwhelmed by his own weirdness, Lynch once again reined it in some following Lost Highway in order to make this adorable film about the sort-of-true story of a guy who drives a lawnmower across Wisconsin. He can't quite get the weird out, though, and even though this scene is pretty cute, it's also kind of ominous.

Mulholland Drive
"Sometimes There's a Buggy"
Considering that Mulholland Drive also features a scene in which Naomi Watts simultaneously cries and masturbates, it's a measure of Lynch's yen for the grotesque that the film's most unsettling scene features neither of those activities. Instead, it has this unbelievably creepy cowboy talking to Justin Theroux under the world's most ominous neon light. Sounds benign, but somehow you can never unsee it.

Inland Empire
"I Seen a Man Come at Me With a Crowbar One Time"
Not Lynch's weirdest (although it starts getting mighty weird about halfway through), but maybe his underappreciated best. This scene is really just a monologue -- Laura Dern relating a story -- but the way it's related, the mood, the word choice, is so vivid you can see it in as much vivid detail as anything Lynch ever put to film. Subtlety was never Lynch's strong suit, but he nails it here. Elsewhere, not so much.

The Mayan will screen three more David Lynch films this month:
Wednesday, April 11: Wild at Heart
Wednesday, April 18: Dune
Wednesday, April 25: Mulholland Drive

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