Director: Alexandre O. Philippe

Features: John Waters, David Lowery, Karyn Kusama, Justin Benson, Arron Moorhead, Rodney Ascher

Following deep dive movie studies such as ‘Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist’ and ‘Memory: the Origins of Alien’, documentarian and film buff Alexandre O. Philippe, assembles an impressive range of directors – Karyn Kusama, John Waters, Justin Benson, David Lowery, Rodney Ascher, and Aaron Moorhead – for a diverting and varied collection of spoken word essays that explore the influence of the much-loved 1939 MGM musical fantasy ‘Wizard of Oz’ on writer-director David Lynch. Since Lynch’s first short, ‘The Alphabet’, and throughout his subsequent career, there have been numerous nods to the film, most blatantly of course in ‘Wild at Heart’. The interviews range from amusing and off-topic (Waters’ charm just about steers his contribution clear of triteness) to the genuinely insightful, most notably Karyn ‘Girlfight’ Kusama’s who makes interesting observations on the relationship and permeability between dreams and reality in Lynch’s work. Occasionally some of the directors’ pensées feels a bit of a stretch, but under Lynch’s spell, Philippe delivers his most visually accomplished documentary to date with clever juxtapositions and striking visuals. It’s maybe a little bit much over a two hour running time, but Lynch fans and cinema devotees in general will find much of interest.

David Willoughby

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