A David Lynch Coffee Commercial

David Lynch is surely one of North America’s most acclaimed directors, and despite the fact that he makes really surreal, challenging films, he has still become somewhat of a household name. His second most recent feature length film, Mulholland Drive, is regarded by many as the best film of the past decade, and his ‘90s television series Twin Peaks has a cult following that continues to grow. Over the course of the past three decades, he’s made a number of acclaimed and award-winning films that have loyal cult followings, including The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, The Straight Story, and Inland Empire, among others. In short, if you don’t know who Lynch is, it probably means you’ve been living under a rock.

All of this, however, doesn’t mean that Lynch can make an effective commercial, at least in the traditional sense. This video, posted on his Vimeo, is an advertisement for “David Lynch’s Signature Cup Coffee” – available in House Blend, Espresso, and Decaf French Roast.

Curiously, Lynch’s commercial resembles ‘80s video art as much as it resembles his own work, and this isn’t the first time a Barbie doll has appeared as the main character in a film (Todd Haynes, for example, used Barbie and Ken dolls in his first film, Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story).

The video displays Lynch’s trademark sense of humor (at least, for some it’s humor), which is characterized by sentiments so earnest that they just might be ironic, but we’re not quite sure. It’s best exemplified by things like the ending sequence of Blue Velvet where Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern notice a beautiful bird in the backyard, MacLachlan’s love of coffee in Twin Peaks, or the creepy couple who befriend Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive.

I’m sure that for Lynch fans, this is probably about the best commercial they’ve ever seen. Whatever the case may be, enjoy.