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Dumbland (2005)
R0 - America - Absurda / Subversive Cinema Review written by and copyright: Jari Kovalainen (20th May 2006). |
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The Film
 American director/writer David Lynch is an Artist with a capital “A”. In his cinematic world the dreams turn into nightmares (and sometimes vice versa), strange and surreal moods fill the screen, and carefully planned visual, and audiovisual, images take over the viewer. Lynch has usually done everything in his own way, and over the years his “Lynchian world” has touched many film buffs all over the world. His newest film is always an event of its own, both cinematically and artistically, and also for me he´s one of the best American film directors, probably of all time. Outside the film world, Lynch is also capable of doing “art” in a wider concept. He has done paintings, installations, designs and photography, and his comic strip “The Angriest Dog in the World” ran for several years. More recently (a few years back) Lynch launched his “davidlynch.com”-web site, which offered an internet-window to his world, and also to some exclusive material by Lynch. Through his site you could buy also his debut feature film “Eraserhead (1977)”, “The Short Films of David Lynch (2002)”-collection, and also documentaries such as “Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch (1997)” and “I Don't Know Jack (2002)” (most of them are now generally available through “Subversive Cinema”, but instead of coming in original special packaging they´re released in a keep case - and without booklets). His web site also included something special for the paying members; a series of animated short films called “Dumbland”. David Lynch created this series on his home computer (an iMac - wise choice) and solely by “Flash”-software, eventually also making all the dialogue, sounds and music. Now these 8 short films are available on DVD through his web site, and also in retail markets by “Subversive Cinema”. “Dumbland” is a strange and loud series of shorts, and, as Lynch himself describes them in the intro before the main menu, they´re “Crude, Stupid, Violent, Absurd - and Funny”. And - indeed - it pretty much sums it up. It tells about a bold, hairy and overweight man (apparently called “Randy" on the website, but not in the shorts itself) and his family of son and wife, who are all living somewhere in the noisy suburbs, where the cars drive under their window and where the life style is not generally anything very pleasant. Randy is a large character, with a very hot temper and a foul mouth, and he likes to use his fists more than his brains. He looks like a man who has eaten greasy ribs and drank “Pabst Blue Ribbon”-beer most of his adult life, and - he likes to fart. His wife is something of a nervous wreck, mostly screaming about everything, and his son has some resemblance to sperm. Or alien life form. Well, or both. All these 8 episodes focus of the life of this peculiar family mainly through Randy, and what is happening in his backyard and his house. You´ll also meet some of his neighbours, his good friend, and of course Uncle Bob. Whether you like it or not, it´s definitely something you won´t see on “The Simpsons”. In fact, “Dumbland” is a bastard son of all recent animation series, which focus on the family life. You can watch one episode at the time, or you can also choose “Play all”, where the episodes are running 33:26 minutes altogether. Here are the brief descriptions of the episodes: *Episode 1 - “The Neighbor” (2:52 min): In this episode Randy is introduced, while he´s talking with his poor neighbor about the wooden shed. This is a nice (ironic way to put it) way to get into the mood of the series, since Randy does his best of shouting, cursing, and farting. *Episode 2 - “The Treadmill” (3:40 min) Randy is trying to destroy a treadmill, which is annoying him in a big way. The rest of the family are introduced. *Episode 3 - “The Doctor” (4:33 min) While fixing a lamp, Randy obviously gets a huge electric shock, and sees the doctor. It´s not Randy´s day. *Episode 4 - “A Friend Visits” (3:49 min) Randy´s friend is stopping by on his way to o fishing. These two guys talk about hunting. And killing. *Episode 5 - “Get the Stick” (4:06 min) A man arrives with a big stick in his mouth. The son is enthusiastic about it. *Episode 6 - “My Teeth are Bleeding” (3:55 min) This is an inventive episode, where Randy is having a typical day in his extremely hectic home environment. *Episode 7 - “Uncle Bob” (5:09 min) Randy and his son have to watch their Uncle Bob, while the others go out. Uncle Bob is, well, a bit strange to say the least. *Episode 8 - “Ants” (5:18 min) Great episode, where Randy goes mental when he sees ants all over in his living room. You´ll also hear ants themselves shouting “asshole” in this one, so you better find out how that´s possible. “Dumbland” is something that is hard to recommend to everybody, since its occasionally violent, rough and vulgar style can simply annoy or even offend some more sensitive viewers. It´s still a highly recommended purchase to those who can delve into the unique art offered by Mr. Lynch, and are willing to accept his extremely black humour and “over-the-top”-visions. This is definitely not for the humourless people. The visual style of the series is very stripped and naive, only black animations on the completely white frame, but they do work. You´ll get the sense of the characters, and somehow the imagination is filling those gaps that are left due to the rather amateurish style of the series. You can imagine yourself in the suburbs, where this “Redneck” man and his strange family are living, even when the visual style of Lynch doesn´t give that many details this time. The series is also in a strange way evolving, since the violent and simple man from the first episodes is beginning to gain some even sympathetic characteristics when we reach the final episodes. Randy is everything that a person shouldn´t be and has a wide range of unwanted features, but in the context that he´s living in, Randy is probably not all that bad as a person. In a sense, Lynch is playing with the general concepts and stereotypes of family, home and surrounding world, and then hugely exaggerating everything, creating his own “suburbian nightmare”. Humour is really black and there´s very little action on the series that you would actually call pleasant, but again Lynch has created a little piece of unique art, in his way. “Dumbland” is probably something that Lynch has done for his own amusement as much as for his loyal fans over the internet, and it´s not really fair to place this in the same category as his more “serious work”. In the end the series is just silly comedy. Aggressive, odd, and rude - but still first of all a comedy.
Video
The series is presented within the 4:3-frame, but windowboxed at 1.66:1. The “Episode number”-intros are presented in 4:3, so I assume that the 4:3 is the correct way to describe the aspect ratio. In any case, transfer is nearly flawless, virtually without any compression issues (perhaps a glimpse of edge enhancement). Black and White images are stable, sharp and clear. “Single layer” disc is coded “R0”.
Audio
Disc includes one audio track, which is English Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 Stereo (with Surround encoding). “Linear PCM” is an uncompressed audio format, so in a way it´s the purest way to present the audio, and that´s the way Lynch likes it. Lynch is a master of using sound and music in his films, and in here he has also created a very lively mixture of loud noises, strange effects, weird dialogue, and aggressive music. The track is not balanced in the ideal way, so sometimes the audio comes almost distorted, but then suddenly there are very calm moments. There is shouting and cursing, drive-by shootings, and helicopters flying, all that makes the general feel restless where needed. I personally find the audio track very good via “Pro Logic”, since it widens the audio and adds effects and ambient sounds effectively to the rear speakers. You can hear some mild “hiss” in the track during the more quiet moments, which is probably a result of the quick recording process by Lynch. There are no subtitles, but then again there isn´t that much of dialogue either.
Extras
Unfortunately there are no extra-features. The original version (through “davidlynch.com”) included special custom box packaging and an 8-page booklet, but “Subversive Cinema” presents the film in a keep case, with a promo leaflet only.
Overall
Hats off to “Subversive Cinema” and “davidlynch.com” for bringing this small piece of Lynch's endless imagination to general availability for everyone. “Dumbland” is something different for sure, and not for the children, but for the more open minded ones it can be a crazy and wild comedy ride that can offend and make you laugh at the same time. For the others; stick to “The Simpsons”. For more info, please visit the homepage of Subversive Cinema.
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