The Sound of Pearls

                          Photo by Steve Klein

Ideas come to him, like a bait, and bigger things will follow. The bait, to David Lynch, in the short film--Lady Dior Lady Blue, is the poem “Pi Pa Xing” by Bai Juyi—“different sized pearls falling in a jade plate”.

The color, the sound and the juxtaposing scene of old buildings and futuristic skyscrapers all feed the mood, a Déjà vu mood. The mood is dreamy, the suspense---nobody expected Mulholland drive-like suspense in the sixteen minutes film--still gets the Lynchian tension and anxiety. But having seen Sherilyn Fenn dancing to Angelo Badalamenti’s music in Twin Peaks, or even Lady Rouge singing the song by Franz Ferdinand in the previous sequel, you may be disappointed by the character in Lady Blue. There seems to be a lack of strong connection between the mood and the character.

The sound in Lynch films creates themes for characters. When Lynch asked Badalamenti to write the song for Twin Peaks, he said, "It should start with an anticipatory melody, then build slowly up to a climax - a climax that's slow and tears your heart.” The classic Shanghai music in Lady Blue is finely made by David Lynch and does build curiosity and anticipation, but just is not well weaved into the character. It would take a lot of effort for the audience to feel the energy and to feel the sound of pearls in Lady Blue.