David Lynch's The Elephant Man (1980) is easily one of the most conventional films the director has ever made. Surrealism is almost non-existent and storytelling is rather simple. The flick is based on the true story of a badly deformed man who lived during the 1800's. It is a tale of discrimination and dignity. The film handled its themes properly enough to be satisfying. However, I found some of the characters to be a bit lacking. Even though the main character was well developed, sometimes I couldn't tell whether John Hurt's performance was brilliant or terribly over-the-top.
Lynch's form is very good: the black and white photography was beautiful and menacing and the editing was marvellous. However, the musical score put me off on a few occasions by being way too dramatic.
Ultimately, The Elephant Man works well in all aspects even though it had its own flaws and it didn't impress me in any special way.
Score: 7 out of 10
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