Final Rating: 2/5
Catherine Coulson was a long time friend and collaborator of the late David Lynch though she’s most famously known for her role as the iconic Log Lady in the hit television series, Twin Peaks. In one of the strangest and most wonderful series in history, the Log Lady was easily one of its most memorable. She became a flagship character, encapsulating the bizarre yet charming elements of the show, delivering vague words of wisdom while carrying her beloved and mysterious log.
I Know Catherine, the Log Lady directed, produced and (perhaps most importantly) edited by Richard Green was an opportunity to unveil some of the mystery of the woman behind the legendary character. While we do get to learn a few more details of the life of Coulson, there’s simply not enough presented in this sloppily edited documentary.
I Know Catherine, the Log Lady is presented mostly in the form of a talking head documentary. We spend time with various friends of Catherine as well as other artists of film and stage that she had worked with previously, including David Lynch. At first look this feels like an exciting chance to learn more about Coulson, her lesser known works on the stage and screen, and her deep connection to her Twin Peaks reboot reprisal. However it doesn’t take long for the stories being told to start to feel exhausting and repetitive.
Most of the interviewees seem to eventually say the same things about Coulson, repeating compliments and facts about the actress so frequently that the words begin to lose their meaning and take on a generic feeling instead. By the time the finale of the documentary is reached we’re so tired of hearing everyone repeating each other that it’s hard to appreciate the display of Coulson’s emotional and triumphant final performance.
A lot of the exhaustion caused by repetition could’ve been resolved with a better edit. There’s a feeling that nothing was cut from the film and instead interviews were cut and rearranged to mask the repetitive sections. For some reason the documentary is presented out of a timeline, jumping from the 90’s to the 70’s and back to Coulson’s latter years multiple times, for seemingly no real reason. This made finding the fascinating parts of Coulson’s story feel few and hard to find.
There are moments we spend with friends and collaborators that are so brief you don’t have time to read their name and relationship to Catherine. While there are a handful of interesting stories with important members of Coulson’s life (a personal favorite being cinematographer, Frederick Elmes) the constant jumping from one interviewee to the next with hardly any chance to breathe between them makes for an unpleasant experience. When paired with a truly tone-deaf musical score there are moments you forget you’re watching a tribute to an iconic actress and not a vertical scrolling drama cut for short attention spans.
I will admit that I personally am a huge Twin Peaks and David Lynch fan. Catherine Coulson clearly adored the Log Lady and the chance to be part of the now classic TV series. With that being said there were times that the documentary felt less about Coulson and more about Twin Peaks.
Any time a star from Twin Peaks appeared on screen they were explaining the success and impact of the show rather than their relationship with Coulson. While some of this Twin Peaks praising is necessary to help understand how much of an impact that Coulson and the Log Lady herself was, at times it felt overdone and distracting from the purpose of the film.
There are bits of this film that are exciting and intrigue you to learn more about the late, great Catherine Coulson. It’s a shame that the film isn’t the one to help you in that affair. Perhaps a cleaner edit and a shorter film would’ve helped do justice for the actress. Maybe more emphasis on her impact than the show would’ve helped as well. I love Twin Peaks but I’m here for Catherine.
Thank you to Justin Cook PR for the screener.
