There is nothing worse than getting excited to see a famous director's debut film, thinking you're going to have a good time, and then getting Eraserhead.
It is a film explicitly designed to be unpleasant. This may be artistically interesting, but it's certainly no going to appeal to most people.
First two seasons of Twin Peaks are his masterpiece IMO and his most watchable.
Those are some of the best characters of any film/tv show ever.
From there I would go to Lost Highway next for a stronger dose of the more out there stuff.
it's not like i'm not used to watching long movies and i would call myself some form of cinephile, but for some reason Twin Peaks felt unbelievably slow.
For me, the second step would either be The Elephant Man or Mulholland Dr. -- many of his works tackle very dark subject matter and include sexualized violence that can be downright disturbing to watch, but those two omit those elements. The Straight Story is much lighter, but largely lacks the surrealism Lynch is known for.
When people say "surreal" they mean "real", it's just most of your life is not very real, just repetition and routine. - Norm MacdonaldAnd his style of surrealism has been so influential that it has its own term: Lynchian!
I spent the whole time trying to work out what was different to the first episode.
I mean, it’s exactly the sort of thing and I still loved it.
Magic!
I liked the season after a rewatch but the Dougie stuff is still tedious.
For Eraserhead, I understand the metaphor of how parenting can be larger-than-life and terrifying and I see how Eraserhead was trying to embody that but I very much didn't appreciate the highly pessimistic ending. It's an early movie that would have benefited immensely from an alternate ending on its DVD.
Lynch: "Believe it or not, Eraserhead is my most spiritual film."
Lean: "Elaborate on that?"
Lynch: "No, I wont. No one sees it."
It isn't the elusive puzzle that many cinephiles value in his work, but it is clearly a Lynch film, even if it's not a stereotypical one.
Watch a few interviews where he is asked what a film of his means. A smirk comes on his face and he repeats his mantra.
He never let on.
Unless you are a narcissist (probable billionare) who feels the need to go back and explain every detail about the wizarding world you created a few decades later and reveal what kind of piece of crap you are.
These days you'll have to be more specific.