Eraserhead

In the American cinema, there is no filmmaker like David Lynch. Through ten films, and one extremely notable television show ("Twin Peaks,") he has established himself as the country's foremost surrealist artist. (In retrospect, it seems almost incomprehensible that a vision as skewed and idiosyncratic as Lynch's remained popular for as many decades as it did.) The images from Lynch's first film "Eraserhead" are thus burned into the heads of movie fans everywhere. Lead actor Jack Nance's head, illuminated from behind, as glowing matter flows in all directions from behind him. The living chicken dinner, squirms on its plate. The head of the title is ground into erasers. It's a film that, once you've seen it, never leaves you.

Criterion's new remastered digital transfer of the film is a glory. I recently saw a 35mm print struck from the same restoration, and the dense clarity of the images was overwhelming. This disc renders those images almost as well as the print did. The images, like the vision that produced them, have a deep texture and density to them. Given Lynch's strict oversight of home video releases of his films, the top-shelf video transfer is no surprise. There's a large smattering of additional content to go alongside it, too.

Lynch has taken a strong stance against allowing any extra features that delve into analysis on the home video releases of his films. However, in lieu of that, the disc does come with much technical and contextual information from Lynch himself. (For instance, the booklet that comes with the disc has no critical essay - extremely rare among releases from the Criterion Collection - but does feature a print interview with Lynch instead.) There are the requisite theatrical trailers; alongside interviews with crewmembers from 2014 (about a half-hour's worth,) footage with David Lynch and his actors from 1997 (20 minutes,) an interview with Lynch and Nance from French television, and an interview with Lynch shot for a UCLA project in 1979 (!) Also included on the disc is an exceptional feature-length documentary, "Eraserhead Stories," put together by Lynch himself. (It collects remembrances and memories from the very-very-extended shoot of the film.)

However, the most substantial extra feature is the inclusion of five short films directed by Lynch. Four of them were completed as standalone art projects prior to "Eraserhead," and one was done for an omnibus film in the 90s. All are remastered in high-definition. The 70s-era shorts are rife with animated sequences, and some of them are entirely experimental, with no narrative to speak of. This is hardly surprising, but it reinforces something that Lynch's aforementioned no-intellectual-extras policy already suggests: Looking at Lynch films as puzzles to be solved is to approach them from the wrong angle. These movies - perhaps "Eraserhead," above all of the others - are defined by their visceral effect, not their mental afterglow. They're experiences.

"Eraserhead"
Blu-ray
$39.95
Criterion.com