We have the healthy habit of remembering those who pass away for all the good things they did and their great successes. But in the case of David Lynch it is also good to remember for what he failed at. Not for nothing is he not only a star of the film industry, but a soul of rock'n roll and his life a eulogy of difficulty.

This visionary director explored the darkest and most surreal corners of the American experience. Unfortunately, he passed away last Thursday at the age of 78. The news was confirmed by his family through a statement on Facebook, where they expressed: "There is a great void in the world now that he is no longer with us. But, as he would say, 'keep your eye on the doughnut and not the hole'."

Although no details were released about the exact cause of his death, Lynch suffered from pulmonary emphysema after decades of being a heavy smoker. The filmmaker lived in Los Angeles, the city that served as the backdrop for many of his most iconic works.

From his earliest works, Lynch made it clear that his interest lay in exploring the most disturbing and mysterious layers of American society. Films like Blue Velvet (1986) and Mulholland Drive (2000) redefined cult cinema, presenting disturbing stories with a unique visual style.

However, Twin Peaks (1990), his groundbreaking television series, is probably his most remembered work. Set in the fictional town of Twin Peaks, the story revolved around the mysterious murder of Laura Palmer. The series became a cultural phenomenon, paving the way for the rise of auteur television in the streaming era.

"David Lynch was a visionary dreamer who directed films that felt handmade," said Steven Spielberg, while Ron Howard remembered him as "an artist without fear." Francis Ford Coppola, deeply moved by his departure, declared, "It is a profound loss to cinema and to those of us who had the privilege of knowing him."

From Philadelphia to international stardom
Lynch was born in 1946 in Missoula, Montana, and had a wandering childhood due to his father's work as an agricultural scientist. It was at the Philadelphia College of Fine Arts where he found his true passion for visual art and filmmaking. There he began experimenting with short films that already showed his penchant for dark and surreal themes.

His first feature film, Eraserhead (1977), was an independent project that took five years to complete due to budgetary constraints. The film, set in a Philadelphia-inspired depressive industrial landscape, became a cult classic. Even Stanley Kubrick expressed his admiration for the film, describing it as a masterpiece.

International success came with The Elephant Man (1980), a dramatization of the life of Joseph Merrick, a man with severe physical deformities. The film garnered eight Oscar nominations, catapulting Lynch to Hollywood's elite.

Time of failure

However, not everything was a bed of roses. His adaptation of Dune (1984) was a commercial failure: he had demanded a budget of $40 million and the gross barely reached $30 million. And all this despite the fact that he had a luxury cast that included his fetish actor Kyle MacLachlan and a group of stars including Sting, the famous singer-songwriter.

The reasons were many, including the fact that Lynch wasn't quite leading the creative side of the film. But proof of the thunderous failure is that now Dune has become a super successful franchise with two chapters and a whole series on streaming.

But Lynch, like a good rock'n'roll soul, redeemed himself with Blue Velvet, a thriller that explored the dark secrets of suburban life and marked the beginning of a professional and personal collaboration with actress Isabella Rossellini. Kyle MacLachlan would reappear with the director.

Beyond cinema

Lynch did not limit himself to cinema. He also ventured into music, photography and television, leaving an indelible mark in each field. His return to the Twin Peaks universe in 2017 with a third season was hailed as a groundbreaking television achievement.

In recent decades, the director found new purpose as an advocate of transcendental meditation, a practice he adopted in 1973. Lynch devoted much of his time to promoting the benefits of this technique, becoming a spiritual guru to many.

He also developed a curious facet as an amateur meteorologist, sharing video weather reports from his home in Los Angeles. These brief reports, where he described the weather in his unmistakable slow voice, became a favorite of his most loyal fans.

His entire legacy

Lynch leaves behind an unparalleled legacy that will continue to inspire generations of filmmakers. Quentin Tarantino and the Coen brothers have cited his work as a key influence on their careers.

Kyle MacLachlan, who played Agent Dale Cooper on Twin Peaks, expressed his gratitude on Instagram, "I owe my entire career, and my life really, to his vision. He was an enigmatic and intuitive man with a fiery creative ocean inside him."

With four Oscar nominations and an honorary statuette in 2019, Lynch proved that experimental cinema could resonate with mass audiences. His ability to fuse the beautiful and the grotesque, the everyday and the surreal, made him an unparalleled pioneer. Bon voyage to the great artist.