Dumbland (2005)

Writer-director David Lynch has earned a well-deserved reputation for portraying a very dark and even surreal world with films like Blue Velvet (1986) and Mulholland Drive (2001). He moved on to television with the series Twin Peaks. His latest foray finds him experimenting with animated "film" on the internet. The first few seconds of Dumbland advises viewers that "Dumbland is a crude, stupid, violent and absurd series. If it is funny it is funny because we see the absurdity of it all. For mature audiences only." If anything, that is an understated warning about the vulgarity and violence that follows in the eight three to four minute "episodes." The darkness is not new for viewers familiar with Lynch, nor is the creativity or quality that great; a talented high-schooler could have made these shorts. Dumbland is important because it shows the experimental direction of a major film maker. Lynch sat down at his iMac by himself, and with a software program called Flash used his mouse to draw the simple black line drawings on a white background. He then added animation, voices and music. Go to www.davidlynch.com and, for a price, you can purchase his "film" made for the internet. It will be interesting to see how efforts like this will impact major film production and distribution, television, and even DVD rentals.