Industrial Symphony No. 1 [Movie Review]

"Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Broken Hearted" is a movie directed by David Lynch. It stared Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Michael J. Anderson, and Julee Cruise. It was released in 1990. On top of being a film, it could also be described as a concert or a musical.

This film is not well known. I actually had thought I had seen all the Lynch movies up to that point, but this one slipped through the cracks. When I heard it was more of a concert, I remembered his other similar film "Duran Duran: Unstaged," which was not great. That worried me, but I figured I'd watch this in the name of completionism.

The theme here has to do with the concept of broken relationships. It can be lovers or friends, as long as the bond is strong when the breakup happens. There is a sort of scary place the brain can go when this happens, where everything seems really bad. The whole thing starts off with a scene from his movie "Wild at Heart," where a similar thing actually occurs.

From there, you get bombarded with the genius and often creepy music of Angelo Badalamenti with lyrics written by Lynch himself. The stage performance is a spooky industrial setting in complete darkness, with only spotlights, strobes, and pyrotechnics in order for you to see any of it.

Julee Cruise takes the leading role and does all the singing. A lot of the time she is suspended and flying around as she sings, which I found to be pretty impressive. There was also a really startling moment where it appears that she actually takes a fall from a great height, which would have killed her.

Michael J. Anderson was all over this production too. You will remember him as the little guy from the red room in "Twin Peaks." He is talking forwards in this one, and having him in the production was a nice touch. There is an extended sequence where he is sawing a log. I don't know what it meant, but I enjoyed it.

Holy heck! It was good! But it isn't for everybody. This movie was avant-garde as hell. I would only recommend it for people who are die hard David Lynch fans, especially those who like his early stuff. I'm not sure why most people don't know about this one. It's pretty awesome.

This blog was written on September 5, 2026.

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