It’s not that I don’t like his more surreal works, but for me the best movie David Lynch has ever made is The Straight Story, a tiny little film about a man riding his lawnmower across Iowa. Because when Lynch focuses his talents on the grand adventure of ordinary human experience as opposed to more absurd visions, the result is profoundly affecting.
Lynch is not the chief architect behind Interview Project, but the adventure fits easily into that humanist tradition. Co-directed by Austin Lynch (Lynch’s son) and Jason S., Interview Project captures the results of an epic 70-day road trip spent interviewing Americans about their lives. Interviews were conducted with 124 people, which will result in 121 episodes being released every three days for the next year. The filmmaking involved in this series is spare yet elegant, as the directors intercut the interview segments with footage from the road, including lots of (so far, anyway) dry Southwestern landscape. It’s a concept that celebrates the little details that make up a great road trip, as well as the people you meet along the way.
The series premiered on Monday, but waiting a bit to review it paid off. Episode 1 features Jess, 64 years old and hanging out on the side of the road in Needles, Calif., who bluntly relates the story of his life — from a stint in the army to being abandoned by his wife and children to… well, to the side of the road in Needles, Calif. He’s not nearly as dynamic as Tommy, the subject for Episode 2, and in comparing the two segments it’s clear the most successful episodes will probably be the ones in which the subject being interviewed isn’t just reflecting on his or her life, but has a story to tell. In Tommy’s case, he’s waiting out his probation before hopefully moving up to Montana with the love of his life — who’s also the reason he’s on probation in the first place.
The process of selecting interview subjects, Austin Lynch said via email, “was very organic and based on a variety of factors, for example: the mood we were in, the time of day, the weather, the last person we interviewed, the song on the radio, what clothes the person was wearing…” When you have more than three months and 20,000 miles to cover, this process definitely works. But as simple as the project was, the immense amount of footage that resulted required a high-tech solution, which the team found in Open Box Technologies, which would allow them to upload any variety of file format to be automatically encoded, while also having the capacity to handle “lots and lots of viewers,” he said, adding, “Of course, we hope to push this feature right to the limit!”
Will this series find an audience? Its high production values and tight running time give it a fighting chance, as does its inspiring populist message — though the amount of content that it will yield (121 episodes multiplied by 3 minutes is 363 minutes, which even over the course of a year is quite a commitment) might need some curating so that the best episodes aren’t lost in the mix. However, as David Lynch says in his trademark nasal deadpan during the project’s introductory video, “It’s so fascinating to look and listen to people.” Over the next year, you may want to continue checking in. If you’re not inspired to go out and explore the world a little yourself.
