The Three Rs (David Lynch, 2011, USA)

The Three Rs is another short film released for David Lynch's online YouTube channel David Lynch Theater. The film begins with a shaking camera, showing a man with a hat and Googly-eye glasses. This man will be familiar to anyone who has watched Lynch's other short films, as one of the men who appeared alongside Lynch in his film The Disc of Sorrow is Installed. The film cuts to the man's hands - there are rocks in each of his hands. A block of text appears on the screen, white text overlaid against a black background: "Pete Has How Many Rocks?" A woman's voice reads this as it appears onscreen.

The camera then zooms in on Pete from a further angle. This time, Pete is not wearing the glasses. The camera zooms in on the two rocks in Pete's hands. The woman's voice again appears: "How many rocks does Pete have?" A board appears on a wall - "PETE HAS ____ ROCK / ROCKS". A woman writes in chalk to fill in the number, writing "3" - an incorrect answer. She looks toward the camera. Her hand erases the 3 and replaces it with 14 - this all while the sound of buzzing flies is in the background.

We then see a rubber duck in a bathtub, whose head is cut off. There is an ear-piercing screaming that follows, then the title card "SCHOOL". A high-pitched voice says "School!" Then we return to the man at the beginning, who is playing a game of whack-a-mole with a hammer and dirt, the hammer instead making the sound of pigs squealing. This concludes one of David Lynch's weirdest short films. Not one of his best, but worth a watch for David Lynch completists. Not worth a watch for anyone else most likely. 

4/10