Very well executed

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Soon 50 years ago, David Lynch shot his very first short film named "Six Figures Getting Sick". It's as weird as you expect from him, but beyond that there's really nothing watchworthy at all about this little piece. There is no real story or character development and it's basically exactly what the titles says: 4 minutes of animation in which men throw up in all kinds of colors and constitutions. Pretty gross actually and no artistic value at all. The one thing it has in common with some of his later works is that he already used the strong contrast between the B&W-setting and different shades of red and purple. Nonetheless, this may be his worst work to date, but it's kinda excusable as he was still defining his style. His takes on the alphabet and grandmothers from not much later were clearly superior to this one already and I'm glad he did not choose the constant noise of sirens from this one as a recurring theme for his later works. It's really one to watch for Lynch completionists only. Everybody else should give it a pass.

This first film from David Lynch is not really a film at all. It is better to think of it as a moving painting. Its origins bear this out. Lynch was working on a picture while studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts when he felt a 'little wind' and wished that the painting could move. This set him to work on creating an animated composition which became Six Men Getting Sick.It consists of a screen with three sculptures built into its top left corner. These three figures are casts of Lynch himself. This screen then has an animation projected onto it. The animation adds a further three figures. It connects the stomachs to the heads. They fill up, hands appear over the distressed heads, the word 'Sick' flashes up and the heads catch fire and vomit. All of this is accompanied by a repetitive siren wail.Because the image is projected onto a sculpture it's fair to say that this is really a 3D art installation rather than a film. When it was shown at an art competition it was repeated on a continual loop. On DVD this is reduced to six cycles. The repetition does make sense though as it allows you to see different things each time. It certainly indicates what an original artist Lynch was even at this early stage.

This short film has lots of implicit messages hidden in a rough and simple animation. The title for itself, "Six men getting sick (six times)" contains, quite deliberately, the Devil's mark 666, and the never ending, irritating siren howling, is maybe a not secondary aspect of the evil invention created by the young Lynch. The idea of figures vomiting, of represent them with their stomach getting full and exploding is not a simple one. It comes from the inner consciousness of the author, pouring out as the vomit on the audience, and giving it a strong feeling (weirdness, fear, repugnance, it does not matter: the aim of Lynch is rousing people from indolence). So, I think this one is the first step of the career of a great director, even a jump, for it creates tension and dizziness with a poor budget, a simple animation and a recognizable genius.

The repeating of the film 6 times is essential in order to become acquainted with the sequence and give you the opportunity to look in different areas of the screen to catch other cool visuals. I loved this little film, it showcases the twisted, genius mind of Lynch at an early age. This can be found with his other shorts on a new DVD that I just picked up. Its an amazing find if you can get a copy. 9/10