Eraserhead - David Lynch.
In my opinion, It’s Lynchs’ greatest film. I critically analysed it for an essay this year, and watched it a few times. The one thing that jumped out at me, other than the purely insane characters, was the Soundtrack.
It’s set in an industrial landscape, with machinery and pumping stations littering every corner Henry walks past. Lynch even stated that the sounds of industry were brought inside, to the interior scenes, to bring a constant stream of industrial claustrophobia and anxiety.
It works. There is a constant hiss, a constant hum in the background. The sound his radiator makes in his dwellings resembles this, again pulling the sounds of industry inside.
This scene i’ve placed here is one of the best for sounds. It begins with the exterior scenes, industry, hissing and machinery. It moves inside, still hearing these sounds but muffled. There’s a section that completely threw me. It goes silent for a brief period, until you pick up the sound of suckling in the background of the living room. It cuts to the image of a Dog suckling it’s young.
It feels completely random. Almost unnecessary in nature. But you realise it’s Lynchs need to relentlessly barrage you with uneasy sounds. ‘The Uncanny’ springs to mind, a sound here and there, that reminds you of something, but yet feels like you have never seem it.
