Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Brokenhearted (1990)

Director: David Lynch
Stars: Laura Dern, Nicolas Cage, Julee Cruise

When Lynch studied at the Pennsylvania Acadamy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia (PAFA), he made a series of complex mosaics in geometric shapes which he called "Industrial Symphonies."

Now this musical performance entitled "Industrial Symphony No. I" is another collaboration between composer Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch. Lynch presented this musical spectacle about as he puts it "sound effects and music and … happening on the stage. And, it has something to do with, uh, a relationship ending" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music as a part of the New Music America Festival on November 10th 1989. The New Music America Festival was founded in the early 80's by David Byrne and Laurie Anderson. David Lynch produced a 50 minutes video of the perfomance.

Song List:
- Up In Flames
- I Float Alone
- The Black Sea*
- Into the Night
- I'm Hurt Bad*
- Pinky's Bubble Egg (The Twins Spoke)
- The Dream Conversation*
- Rockin' Back Inside My Heart
- The Final Battle*
- The World Spins

All lyrics by David Lynch
music by Angelo Badalamenti
except * Music: David Lynch/Angelo Badalamenti

How to describe Industrial Symphony? Well, it almost defies description, in conventional terms, except that it's a story of broken love, and of a sort of floating angel (dream-self) singing of the inner-most feelings of love and happiness that are always out of reach. That's the basic description, I suppose, but what if I were to add that includes a dwarf sawing a log, or that the said angel gets "killed" (killed in quotes cause I don't know for sure, and I don't want to) and dumped in the trunk of an old 50s car, or that there's a big elk zombie at one point, or baby dolls that come down slowly with masks over their heads?

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Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Brokenhearted (1990)

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That's just some of what makes up one of David Lynch's most under-seen efforts, where he experiments yet again by filming a live stage show- occasionally in 80's style slow-motion and dissolves like in a live music video of the period- and in using lighting effects and methods of 'storytelling' that are completely abstracted from anything you think you've seen before.

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First off, there is no "4th wall" in this world of the Industrial Symphony, far from it. As in Inland Empire, to which this shares a kinship in terms of how the lighting and production design goes, there's only a reality, and then an un-reality, and then the two possibly blended into another un-reality, or something like it. So it's, for lack of a simpler description, a dream-land where the peaks and terrors of love are meant to be taken in emotionally, not intellectually. And he provides us with a very talented singer, Julee Cruise, who would also appear on a couple of episodes of Twin Peaks.

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She helps put into some kind of context the story of Heartbroken Man (Nicolas Cage) and Heartbroken Woman (Laura Dern) after their break-up over the phone. Lynch then throws in these extra images, of destruction, death, of as naked woman writing on a car, a dwarf going busy sawing a log (as well as repeating in full accentuations the conversation that opens this special), and the dream-self singing from the trunk of a car into a TV camera. Finally, the last song is played over a rendition of the Twin Peaks theme, and it closes like any dream should, on the precipice of pure emotional catharsis.

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What this catharsis will do for some instead of others I can't say, but overall it marks as something to behold not just from Lynch who makes a great leap into theater direction and staging and using it as a crazy opera, but for Badalamenti who gets to spread his own creative ideas and melodies that stick in one's head long after it's done. My favorite was "I wan't you rockin' back into my heart", and the finale Twin Peaks theme, but the mid-segments that played, like the music over the sawing or the elk-zombie's uprising, plays like it's a cross between new-age sap and the most haunting 40's noir music around (and, perhaps, like music one would think is played over a tender sex scene in Twin Peaks).

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Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Brokenhearted (1990)

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So, if you're a die-hard Lynch fan, track it down, and enter into what's described on the original pamphlet as a "triple-exposure dream." Whatever it is, it's a delirious, sumptuous testament to the heart, as corny as that sounds. Goofy at times, sure, but the humor there-in is outweighed by the grand theatrics of it all.

IMDB Reviewer

Special Features:
- Both 4:3 and 16:9 versions
- A Conversation with David Lynch, Angelo Badalamenti and Julee Cruise (10:40)