As The Line In "Blue Velvet" Goes, "It Is A Strange World!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                            This 2022 documentary, which I unfortunately missed in the theater, is dear to my heart, and makes me think David Lynch and I would have gotten on fine.  Because we both share one thing in common--our all-time favorite movie is "The Wizard Of Oz."

                             It did not make me a filmmaker, but it made me the person I am today.  The takeaway from the film is that anyone can say anything about anything.  There are strange interpretations throughout this film, from the symbolism of curtains, which I get, to the connection between "The Wizard Of Oz," Stanley Kubrick's 1957 "Paths Of Glory," "The Shining," and Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now."  I have seen both "The Shining" and "Apocalypse Now," and never in my viewing, for a second, did I give any thought to their association with "The Wizard Of Oz."  It just was not there.

                               The film is divided into six parts--"Wind," narrated by Amy Nicholson, "Membranes," narrated by Rodney Ascher, "Kindred," narrated by John Waters, "Multitudes," narrated by Karyn Kusama, "Judy," narrated by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, and "Dig" is narrated by David Lowery.

                                  This is a must for 'Oz' fans, and I know there are lots out there.  I learned that the choral vocals heard in the opening credits, and when Dorothy steps out of the house In Munchkinland, the tones are different--the first whirling and intense, like the cyclone that will transport Dorothy and Toto, while the Munchkinland vocals are more comforting and soothing These sounds are meant to represent wind.  Th urban myth of someone being murdered on the Yellow Brick Road is explored, but it is just a bird flapping its wings.

                                      And don't forget--the first name of Isabella Rossellini's character in "Blue Velvet" is Dorothy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                   Of course, the most fascinating insights come from David Lynch himself., a born and bred mid-Westerner.  He talks about dreams, alternate realities, and how do we know which world we are in.  I had a dream once of being in the Village in the Sixties and going to a nightclub to see Shelley Plimpton perform--a dream I did not want to end-- and then later on, I found myself in some nameless place, or even in front of the Waverly, when it really was the Waverly--and near Waverly Place--singing "Frank Mills."  When I awakened, I wanted so much to return to that dream world, but there is much to occupy me in this. I will say that when I first saw "The Wizard Of Oz," in 1959, I thought Dorothy should have stayed in Oz!  I would have, then!

                                    Lynch makes us question our identities--do we live in the real world of Dorothy, or the brilliantly technicolored world of Oz?  Maybe both, because identities split and merge, as Lynch proves in his 2001 "Mulholland Drive," which I hope to explore on here.  Hons, I was fused between reality and fantasy from the moment I first saw "The Wizard Of Oz. " Which may account for my being something of an eternal child!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                    This documentary makes you think and there is much to learn.  Sadly, it reminds us that Lynch is gone, having passed last year.  Someone needs to carry on his legacy.

                                      Could that person be me?????????????