If there is something that David Lynch's death on January 16, 2025 is revealedit's that the director and the artist had a profound and enormous impact on so many people. This is, on paper, surprising, given how esoteric and outlandish his work has been throughout his career, not to mention how unapologetic he has been about that fact. A consummate artist, Lynch confounded and delighted so many in equal measure because he was that rarest of creatures: a quintessentially American surrealist. Americans are somewhat used to European filmmakers using surrealism or symbolism; at least they can easily dismiss foreign directors as coming from a culture and tradition they do not know and understand. Lynch doesn't allow people the comfort of that answer, as even a cursory glance at his filmography reveals it to be steeped in pure Americana: the wind blowing through the Douglas Firs, the smell of fresh, hot, black coffee and cherry pie coming from a restaurant in a small town and so on. These images, these elements, are so recognizable to Americans, and yet Lynch delighted in subverting their meaning, finding the menace and terrifying, repressed secrets lurking behind every Hollywood facade and white picket fence.

Where did one of the most popular Lynch memes come from? an interview he gave with David Lean at BAFTAduring which he described Eraserhead as his "most spiritual film". When Lin asked Lynch to elaborate, Lynch flatly refused. This meme succinctly sums up Lynch's usual approach to discussing his work, let alone decoding it, with the director determined to let audiences interpret his films in their own way. While this isn't a new or unusual path for the director - Brady Corbett is currently avoiding any questions about interpretation on his press tour for "The Brutalist" for example - Lynch's ethos is notable both in how wildly he interprets his work and how adamant he has been throughout his career to never let up on that front.

Never, that is, except on a few rare occasions. The more one digs into the additional materials that Lynch has authorized to be officially released, the more (slightly) larger hints can be found about his mysterious creative process and ways of thinking. Material such as his books (notably "Room to Dream") and behind-the-scenes footage (notably those released on home media "Inland Empire" and "Twin Peaks: The Return") do little to dispel the mystery about Lynch. Arguably the biggest key to decoding Lynch, however, came via a flyer he personally wrote to be included in Mulholland Dr. DVD, a document that, level or not, is a great starting point when it comes to unlocking his work.

Of course, the initial questions when confronted with this document are why Lynch would suddenly choose to provide clues to the decoding of one of his films, and why Mulholland Dr. especially. After all, this clip is currently appearing at the 74th Academy Awardsin which Roger Ebert spots Lynch on the press line and asks him a point-blank question about how many characters Naomi Watts plays on Mulholland Dr., sees Lynch refuse to answer Ebert's question with, "How do you do, Roger?" " And then here is this other clipin which Lynch eloquently sums up his love of cinema as an art form and why he believes the many, individual interpretations of his films are far more valuable than his own.

An easy answer to why Lynch would write the flyer included in "Mulholland Dr." DVD (titled Mulholland Drive: David Lynch's 10 Clues to Unlocking This Thriller) is that Lynch's career was at a bit of a low point when Mulholland Dr. was being done. The film originally began life as a TV pilot for Touchstone Television and ABC, with Lynch looking to return to the small screen after his success with Twin Peaks. After the phenomenon around that series fizzled out, Lynch experienced several financial and critical failures, with the now-beloved Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and Lost Highway flopping, a sitcom called On the Air barely making it to the air, and even and his well-received film that proved he could branch out into all ages, The Straight Story, failing to make back its budget at the box office.

After Mulholland Dr. was rejected by ABC, Lynch made a Hail Mary addition and decided to write and shoot additional material to make the pilot his own closed (anyway) feature. Fortunately, the feature version of Mulholland Dr. received acclaim when it premiered at Cannes in 2001, and the good buzz surrounding it continued enough that it turned a profit when it was released by Universal Pictures later that year. So Lynch can be understandably doubly shy about his work and its reception, which could have led to that DVD flyer and its clues.

However, Lynch appeared to have a great deal of creative control over the release of Mulholland Dr., going so far as to have instructions for his screening sent to all theaters playing the film and insisting that the DVD release have no chapters. on the disc, meaning the film had to be watched in one continuous sitting. In this way, the evidence document is not Lynch's acquiescence to public demand, but is another piece of the puzzle of the film and his work that he explicitly envisioned.

For those of you who haven't read Mulholland Dr. clues document, you might think these clues are pretty clear hints at the larger meaning of the film's layered narrative. Not so fast, as you can see:

1. "Pay special attention to the beginning of the film: At least two clues are revealed before the credits.
2. Note the appearance of the red lampshade.
3. Can you hear the title of the movie Adam Casher is auditioning for? Is it mentioned again?
4. An accident is a terrible event - note the location of the accident.
5. Who gives the key and why?
6. Notice the robe, the ashtray, the coffee mug.
7. What is felt, realized and collected in the Silencio Club?
8. Did talent alone help Camila?
9. Notice the appearances around the man behind Winky.
10. Where's Aunt Ruth?"

These clues are presented in Lynch's inimitable style; they are at once utterly simple and bewilderingly confusing. They are also very straightforward, the questions worded like a public school quiz can be. The clues are less of a guide to the movie "Cliff's Notes" and more of a follow-up to it, as phrases like "Notice the appearances of the red lampshade" are similar to the cowboy (Monty Montgomery) telling Adam (Justin Theroux) what's going to happen. if it does "good" or "bad". There is an undeniable tension between the images, dialogue, and scenes that Lynch portrays and their elusive meanings, as even the biggest Lynch hater can sense that there is logic and purpose to Lynch's films. All these things mean something, in other words, and are not just arbitrary oddities for oddity's sake.

Much debate took place on message boards and other online forums regarding these clues and their true answers, with many people becoming frustrated because—big surprise here—they had different opinions about what the answers were and what everyone added to them. . The early 00s were a sort of golden age of filmmakers using their ability to discuss and package their films on physical media as a way to enhance and expand the film's impact; witness Christopher Nolan recording multiple endings to his commentary track for "Memento," ensuring that no two casual listeners walk away with the same "definitive" explanation of the events of that film. These clues are Lynch's version of that Mulholland Dr. idea. — additional questions disguised as answers.

In the end, the Clues Document was a huge gift to fans of David Lynch and his work. It just wasn't the gift it necessarily purported to be, because while those clues may or may not unlock "Mulholland Dr.," they certainly invite further thought and questioning on the part of the audience, which is the whole point. Yes, some such people believe that ambiguity is a flaw or at least a source of frustration. However, at the risk of humiliating them, these people simply do not understand the allure and power of mystery. Perhaps they genuinely lack imagination, and that is their problem; not the artist's, not ours. Fortunately for them, there's a wide variety of art and entertainment out there, and of course there are movies and TV shows that only require a golf-sized brain to grasp.

Meanwhile, for those of us adventurous and imaginative enough, by David Lynch will continue to provide an endless source of thought, desire, confusion, fearand above all pleasure. Lynch was one of those artists who inherently understood that art is not a finite thing, that despite its completion and capture in a certain canvas, a certain period of time or something else ephemeral, it can also be endless. Lynch's dreams gave me my dreams, as they have given me countless others of their own. His transcendentalist practices and philosophies found their way into his work, so much so that he was able to overcome the normal effect that all cinema can have, which is that almost any film can seem new with multiple viewings. With Lynch's films, not only can you find new elements in them, but they have the power to unlock new depths in your soul and give you new clues to questions you may not have asked before.

In other words, David Lynch's art is just a living, breathing entity, and its affordability and accessibility will ensure that it continues to be immortal. David has sadly passed from this world, but for many of us - through his work and in our hearts - he will never die.

"Who gives the key and why?" He gave it to us so we could unlock new dreams, forever.