David Lynch has been constantly smacked around my ears in the last weeks. Just before we took off for a week of New York City, I noticed that INLAND EMPIRE was to be released on DVD in that very week and up for preordering. Of course I did. Then in NYC we went to see the film “Klimt” and the previews before that not only announced Eraserhead back in the cinemas, but also a cinema documentary about the master of film. Two days later we are in some tiny bookshop and my girlfriend came to me with this book written by David Lynch himself. Naturally I got myself a copy! “Catching The Big Fish, meditation, consciousness, and creativity” is a real Lynch book. In his simple English he tries to express how transcendental meditation helps him in his live, in his painting and in his filming. In short and humerous chapters he writes about a great variety of subjects, including several of his films. Some information is old, sometimes what he writes is quite revealing. I may not always agree with the man or see things entirely the same, but Lynch definately does have an approach to film that I value way over most directors. This book may tell you a bit about why the films are as they are. You will learn some of the backgrounds and the way things come to be, but of course this book isn’t about Lynch’s films. In the end it actually turns out to be an ‘advertisement’ for transcendental meditation and the “David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace” to which a part of the price you pay for the book goes. Read his ideas, learn a bit (more) about his art. It’s an easy-to-read book, not thick, well-published and as always with Lynch, not easily tagged.
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