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.
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.
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 is a film explicitly designed to be unpleasant. This may be artistically interesting, but it's certainly no going to appeal to most people.
I liked the season after a rewatch but the Dougie stuff is still tedious.
I spent the whole time trying to work out what was different between the "two".
I mean, it’s exactly the sort of thing he would do and I still loved it.
Magic!
And his style of surrealism has been so influential that it has its own term: Lynchian!
When people say "surreal" they mean "real", it's just most of your life is not very real, just repetition and routine. - Norm Macdonald