David Lynch famously died with many projects abandoned or left incomplete: the comedy “One Saliva Bubble” with Steve Martin and Martin Short; a highly-unlikely Eraserhead sequel that would continue Henry’s adventures (which Mel Brooks farcically claimed would be titled “Eraserhead: The Terrible Twos”); the animated “Snootworld” (canceled by Netflix); “Unrecorded Night” (code named “Wisteria”) (also canceled by Netflix); and, perhaps most infamously, “Ronnie Rocket.”
Lynch was known to extensively storyboard his ideas with sketches and/or doodles before embarking on a script proper. This is where our story starts. This reddit poster claims to have found this a this drawing at the bottom of a box of papers and trinkets labeled “memorabilia” purchased at a recent L.A. estate sale for $50. On the back (the poster did not upload an image) was written “DL-3/6/26.” The poster theorizes that is an authentic Lynch sketch, made in his final days, for an unproduced project, many of which were rumored to still be brewing in Lynch’s always-busy brain. Horizontal streaking near the bottom of the image suggests it might have been transferred from a video source—or deliberately crafted to look as if it had?
To be skeptical, the style is only pseudo-Lynchian. The crosshatching at the bottom is similar to, but less aggressive, than Lynch’s usual pencil style. The rabbit definitely fits the auteur’s preoccupations. But “grey aliens” are not a typical feature of Lynch’s work (Lynch prefers his aliens more like pillars of steam arising from some baroque samovar apparatus), and the floating fish and eyeball in the doorway seem like they were tacked on by someone trying to be “weird.” It actually seems too “regular” for Lynch.
OK, it’s probably not from an unproduced Lynch project: but what could it be? Are the numbers at the bottom some kind of timecode, or a title? What plot or symbolism could it hide? And what does it mean?
Play Fight! (dir. Katrina Larner; 8 min.)—There are countless gaps in my personal experience, and one reason I’m drawn to animated shorts is in order to fill those gaps. Herein, Katrina Larner explores the vagaries of ‘tween girl sleepovers, and the mental impact of homosexual preferences at that age. A 5th-wheel girl is dropped off for a night of party-playing, and so we observe a cavalcade of cacophonous color and craziness. A giant mother mother shoots a knife and fork from her eyes and pursues what she views as wayward behavior. But!, things wrap up well enough for our pentad of party people, ’cause it’s only a play fight.
blinks in mimi’s singing voice (dir. Natalie Xie; 6 min.)—Is this but an elaborate series of notebook doodles brought to life? Perhaps, but maybe not. I can’t say I understood just what this was or where it was going, but Natalie Xie kept my eyes occupied throughout as the image shifted from clusters of kitty faces to jumping jacks to desks, chairs, and birds. On its one-and-a-half second course across the screen, a green dot kept my rapt attention.
