I'm not saying it's right for the directors to take all the time in the world on a random idea, but it certainly seems that's how some directors work. It's a complete waste of time and money for all involved but if that's the work environment that he works best in, you can't really change what's worked before. Especially when the director does have the backing from studios that won't force him to change.
But I never really get the appeal of the artistic film industry. I liked Mulholland Dr. at first, but now it's basically unwatchable. I loved the 4 episodes of Twin Peaks (mainly due to Kyle McLaughlan) but I couldn't continue due to it's weirdness was just taxing on my psyche. I don't get how that was such a cultural phenomenon when it first aired, nor do I understand how people become
such big fans of his movies. I do quite want to see Blue Velvet and the main plot summary I've read seems pretty awesome, but the whole Dennis Hopper/Isabella Rosselini parts are really stopping me from seeing it.
Whenever I see Lynch or Tarentino's films, I never get a completely cohesive storyline from it, which is what I want. (Though Tarentino is decades more accessible than Lynch.) I'm all for experimental and boundary pushing directors, but the main focus on the film should be the the storytelling and the audience (like Hitchcock or, hell, Pixar), not one who just had a cluster of random events and scenes which tie together
somehow. I blame French New Wave and Stanley Kubrick for all of the directors who decide to do the latter. (Though for some reason I do quite like 2001 and A Clockwork Orange, which are just as WTF as a tamer Lynch film.)
Hell Peter Jackson is pretty damn good at all of that -- Dead Alive (Braindead) was weird and downright gross at times, but the story was fantastic and the main character was really one you rooted for.
What really annoys me is that though is that Tarentino and Lynch can make all the movies in the world no problem, but it's hard for Terry Gilliam to even get a project off the ground. But at least he might finally be making his Don Quixote movie. (Possibly with Michael Palin too!
)