Boat (David Lynch, 2007, USA)

2007, Boat is a short film by David Lynch. The film opens with the images of trees and narration: "It was so bright. I couldn't sleep. Trees. The dogs were barking. When things go wrong, it gets like this." The film is shot on what seems like a very primitive digital video. The titular boat appears very soon. There is a low droning sound that plays beneath the dialogue. Someone begins pouring gasoline into the boat. We see images of the boat and its various details of it. The narration continues along - "I thought nature contains many mysteries."

The narrator continues the narration of her dream. The strange shapes. The boat - the "Little Indian" - begins its embarkation into the water. It seems at first as though nobody is on the boat. We see a hand switching on the key of the boat's ignition and fiddling with various mechanisms at the control panel of the boat - "and the boat began to move." We see director David Lynch at the helm of the boat.

"We're gonna try to go fast enough to go into the night," Lynch says - addressing the camera. We are then treated to images of the water the boat is moving along. Lynch is the only person on the boat, although the narrator's disembodied voice is also embarking on this journey. The sound of the boat's engine and the ambient music increases with time. The image then appears to be a negative of itself, and then things get dark - "all of a sudden, it was dark." We see the water beneath the boat in darkness. The film concludes with the narrator saying how tired she feels, and how the boat is moving so fast. This cryptic short is mid-tier for Lynch, not among his best, but certainly not among his worst.

6/10