We Live Inside a Dream (and the dream is a theatre in Halifax)
A Lynchian, hypothermic movie vacation.
No matter how much it gets put into perspective to me just how small it is, I will always think of Halifax as “the big city”. In the same vein, no matter how many times I see people on r/halifax complain about it, I will always fawn over the screenings at Halifax Park Lane Cinema.
Halifax has always been the movie lover’s destination of Nova Scotia to me with it’s many film festivals, 5 theatres in about a 100km range, and independent cinema projects like Carbon Arc Cinema. I will always kick myself for never learning to drive in and around Halifax to attend things like this (there’s also the 5-hour drive and accommodation cost keeping me from this too).
When Cineplex announced their “Room to Dream” retrospective series screening 7 of the newly late David Lynch’s feature films, I knew there was a chance that my Lynch-fanatic boyfriend and I would be taking a road trip up to “The Big City” to see as many films as we possibly could.
The films are introduced with a short introduction by film critic Richard Crouse. ‘Wild at Heart’ and ‘Lost Highway’ had a general introduction to the film series as a whole, as well as a personal story about interviewing Lynch during the press circuit for ‘Mulholland Drive’ at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11th, 2001 (Crazy coincidence!).
There was something really special about hearing Laura’s Theme from ‘Twin Peaks’ in the theatre for the first time, and I found my eyes begin to well with tears that lasted well into the opening credits of ‘Wild at Heart’.
The ‘Blue Velvet’ screening had an introduction built around the film itself and its creation, highlighting how Lynch’s ‘Dune’ failures were the reason ‘Blue Velvet’ was able to be made. ‘Eraserhead’ had it’s own specialized introduction, detailing the struggles behind the making of the film during it’s 5 year long production.
(UPDATE: 4/25/25) I reached out to Richard Crouse and asked if he had any insight on the intros. He let me know that the intros were filmed long before they had the full line-up of films secured, so for budget reasons they only did special intros for the two films they had confirmed at the time, ‘Eraserhead’ and ‘Blue Velvet’.
Overall Theatrical Viewing Hijinks:
The same pre-show played so I had the viewing pleasure-turned-disdain of seeing the trailer for David Cronenberg’s ‘The Shrouds’ 5 times in less than 48 hours. By our 3rd viewing of it, my boyfriend stated “This movie looks like it’s going to suck, and the trailer is not good.” To which I replied, “No, we’ve just seen it 3 times already.”
With 20 minutes left in ‘Wild at Heart’, three backpack clad teen boys SPRINTED in, sat down in the closest seats they could find and tried to look non-suspicious, which lead to this very loud conversation during a pivotal film scene:
“You guys can’t be here.”
“We’ve been here the whole time!”
“I saw you run in, show me your tickets, you were the guys with fake tickets.”
“Wait what’s this movie called it seems really good.”
“Can we stay and watch the rest of the movie?”
They were then loudly ushered out against their wishes to see the last 20 minutes of this movie, hitting the things as they stomped down the stairs saying “Fuck this place/theatre/movie”.
Is there some kind of new hyper-contagious bladder infection going around? The ‘Wild at Heart’ audience was 10 people plus myself, and I swear, everyone but me got up to use the bathroom TWICE during the movie. One person went to the bathroom 4 times during ‘Eraserhead’. I understand people may have chronic conditions, but why are we buying movie tickets for 2+ hour long movies when we seemingly have UTIs?
In the wise words of me explaining this phenomena to my boyfriend, “You should learn after a few times of going to the movies to not go up to concessions and say “BIG POP!” and spend the whole movie needing to pee.”
I think the guy two seats down from me during ‘Lost Highway’ was jerking off during the movie. The person 5 seats to my right basically gasped “She’s so sexy” the first time we see naked Patricia Arquette on screen. Very horny audience.
It was really cold in the theatre (more details on this below).
Slight spoilers below for ‘Wild at Heart’, ‘Blue Velvet’, ‘Lost Highway’, ‘Fire Walk with Me’, and ‘Eraserhead’!
FRIDAY 3:30pm - WILD AT HEART (Re-watch)
Laura Dern is such a classic beauty that can emote pure terror at the flip of a switch. Nicholas Cage is a perfect leading man, oozing with charisma. ‘Wild At Heart’ is a terrifying tale laced with so much love and ruined innocence.
As I shoved my hands into either sleeves of both my long-sleeved shirt and jacket, I couldn’t help but wonder: Was this theatre abnormally cold or is there something wrong with me?
I really like the ‘Oz’-ian oddity that is ‘Wild At Heart’. It perfectly captures the vibe of a road trip going wrong, just wishing you could click your heels and be back in your own bed (like when my at-the-time 7-year-old sister declared she “couldn’t do this [car ride] anymore” on a road trip to Toronto when we were barely to Fredericton, New Brunswick).
Love stories like Sailor and Lula need a happy ending, and I’m so glad they got one. This was the first film I had been to in a long time where people clapped at the end. I wish we clapped at the end of every movie, sue me!
FRIDAY 6:30 - BLUE VELVET (First Watch)
I truly think this film is one of the only times I wasn’t left with questions for David Lynch when the end credits started rolling.
This film pairs well with ‘Wild At Heart’ with the thematic semblance of completely losing your innocence as a young adult and being exposed to the horrors of this fucked-up world.
I’m racking my brain on something to say about ‘Blue Velvet’ but I just… cannot think of anything. It was the most straightforward film I saw that weekend and I would say the most accessible for those unaware of what a David Lynch movie entails. Highly recommend it as a first watch.
FRIDAY 9:45 - LOST HIGHWAY (First Watch)
I knew 2 things as David Bowie’s “I’m Deranged” started playing over shaky footage of yellow highway lines:
This would not be a linear film with a clear ending resolution.
I would be really cold.
(Even if you don’t plan on ever seeing ‘Lost Highway’, I would watch the opening title sequence as a masterclass in setting the tone for your film.)
‘Lost Highway’ was very good. Better than I expected really- Not that I didn’t have high hopes, but I had heard little to nothing about this film in the full Lynch stratosphere or any significant praise for it after he passed (Was there a Lynch recession after ‘Fire Walk With Me’?).
The film spun me around on my head. What I thought was going to be a film about mysterious video tapes and a married couple trying to protect their home and privacy turned into a film about a teenager who fixes cars and is really good at picking up women without really doing a lot.
I need to re-watch this movie again, but re-watching alone just for the cinematography and score are reasons enough.
SATURDAY 12:30 - FIRE WALK WITH ME (Re-watch)
Laura Palmer’s final days does not get easier to stomach with every watch (especially when you are getting the beginnings of frostbite). It’s awe-inspiring to me when a film so laced with grief and dread and pain can be so good at the same time (Not saying hard watches are inherently bad!).
David Lynch, Mark Frost, and Robert Engels did such an amazing job of making Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) feel like a real person- I feel like I am constantly stopped in my tracks to mourn Laura since completing the second season of ‘Twin Peaks’.
Recently, ‘Twin Peaks’ made its way to TikTok and the girlies starting glamorizing the horrors of Laura’s life.
I don’t glamorize or idolize her, nor do I believe I could have stepped up to help her if she was a real person. But I miss and mourn her constantly and people online are insane.
The world of ‘Twin Peaks’ was meant for the big screen, and Laura Palmer wasn’t meant for this world.
SATURDAY 3:45 - ERASERHEAD (First Watch)
Any minuscule desire left in me to become a parent was definitely washed away after seeing ‘Eraserhead’.
Though I wish to never have an ‘Eraserhead’-baby of my own, my heart broke for the little creature. No wonder he was miserable- he spent his whole life laying on a wooden dresser. Surely they could have fashioned a little dresser drawer bassinet for him and maybe he wouldn’t have cried so much.
But then again, this movie is about the fear of fatherhood and the complete lack of preparedness Henry and Mary face when presented with their premature “baby”.
I didn’t get as much from ‘Eraserhead’ as I thought I would. It fell kinda flat in a good way- I can appreciate the craft and dedication behind the film without needing to fully understand what was going on.
After the movie, before I could even ask my dad what he thought of the film he said,
“My god, it was cold in there. I had my hood up.”
My dad does not get cold easily. In the 24 years I’ve been on this Earth I have seen him cold exactly one other time; while we were in Montreal waiting for a taxi in -25 degrees with windchill, waiting at the top of Mont Royale after much convincing to my perpetually frozen mother (who must have been replaced with an alien before landing in Quebec because she was not cold this entire trip) that we needed to go back to the hotel or we were going to freeze to death.
He approximates the temperature in the theatre to be 12 degrees Celsius, but claims:
“…maybe it was a cold movie and it was an intentional choice, David Lynch makes very cold movies”.
I learned since then from a friend who regulars the Park Lane Cineplex that the screening room we were in is just abnormally code. Word to the wise, bundle up.
I opted to head back to Cape Breton after ‘Eraserhead’, and not catching the Easter Sunday afternoon screenings of ‘Mulholland Drive’ and ‘Dune’.
Though I regret missing the last two movies in the series (when will I ever get to see them in a theatrical setting ever again?), I am a family gal at heart and would have Easter FOMO.
My boyfriend decided to stay through till Monday to catch the final two. ‘Mulholland Drive’ is his favorite Lynch film, and he’s never seen ‘Dune’ (I tried to watch it with him once but we only got like 10 minutes in).
He borrowed an extra sweater from me, snuck 4-5 beverages into the theatre, used the horseshoe firmly planted in his lower intestine to sneak into ‘Dune’ without buying a ticket, and made friends with a convenience store clerk who kept his drinks in the store’s fridge while he was seeing the movies so they would be cold. He is the luckiest guy in the world.
I think we lost one of the world’s last true, great artists when David Lynch passed away. I’m glad I got to see some of his work (that I will never understand upon first glance) on the big screen. We will miss him forever.
Thank you for reading “Welcome to the Gabhouse”! The support for my last piece warmed my heart and really lit a fire under me to keep writing. I appreciate every single one of you <3
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I love that this made me feel like I was in the theatre with you, also the Lost Highway title sequence is sick as fuck!