Just me hanging out in the back of my car before the Mahoning Drive-In’s screening of “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me” last Saturday, wearing my limited edition David Lynch t-shirt.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
Five years after being diagnosed with emphysema, filmmaker David Lynch passed away in Janunary 2025 at the age of 78.
Possessing a singular artistic voice, Lynch was the brains and heart behind surrealist films like “Eraserhead,” “Mulholand Drive,” “Blue Velvet,” “The Elephant Man,” and “Lost Highway,” as well as the cult TV show, “Twin Peaks,” which he developed alongside Mark Frost.
There is a dreamlike quality to Lynch’s storytelling and he often juxtaposes the mundane with the macabre. He was greatly influenced by his midwestern upbringing and the time he spent in Philadelphia, studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
He believed rock ‘n roll really did change the world, that the nuclear bomb was the most evil thing humans ever created and that suffering was the ultimate enemy of creativity.
He had a love of the absurd, the ugly and the abstract, but was equally thrilled by diners and good coffee, and I think his work perfectly reflects that duality.
I’ll never forget watching “Blue Velvet” for the first time more than a decade ago at the IFC Center in New York City with my sister, Katie, who has since turned into the biggest David Lynch fan I’ve ever met.
It was perhaps the most surreal film experience I’d had up until that moment. I’ll never forget it.
Fellow filmmaker Martin Scorsese said it best, “[David Lynch] put images on the screen unlike anything that I or anybody else had ever seen—he made everything strange, uncanny, revelatory and new.”
A lot has been said about Lynch’s movies over the years. That they’re too confusing, too weird, too uncomfortable. Lynch himself has famously refused to explain the meaning of his films because, as he once said, “it’s a very personal thing, and the meaning for me is different than the meaning for somebody else.”
Art, in general, is personal and I got to see just how much Lynch has affected people when I attended a celebration of his work at the Mahoning Drive-In last weekend.
The event, dubbed “The Wonderful World of David Lynch,” featured showings of “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me,” “Blue Velvet,” “I Know Catherine, The Log Lady,” and “Mulholand Drive.”
There were tons of vendors, limited edition merchandise, themed drink specials and treats and Ray Wise, who plays Laura Palmer’s dad, was there signing autographs and taking photos with people.
There was even a performance by F You Tammy, a band that sings music from “Twin Peaks” and other Lynch films.
It was absolutely packed. There was not a single parking spot open on that lot. And everyone came dressed up as different characters from his movies.
It was a wonderful way to pay tribute to an artist that has clearly touched so many people’s lives.
In Frame is a weekly arts and entertainment column focusing on everything from pop culture and new movie releases to the local arts and culture found right here in NEPA. News reporters Sam Zavada and Margaret Roarty contribute to this column.
In Frame is a weekly arts and entertainment column focusing on everything from pop culture and new movie releases to the local arts and culture found right here in NEPA. News reporters Sam Zavada and Margaret Roarty contribute to this column.
