I Know Catherine, The Log Woman Is an Affectionate Portrait of a Twin Peaks Icon

When Twin Peaks: The Return hit Showtime in 2017, there was one very poignant presence tucked amid all of the signature David Lynch model and weirdness. It wouldn’t be a real Twin Peaks revival with out the Log Woman, and Catherine E. Coulson—whose portrayal of the enigmatic character made her a cult-beloved icon—acquired to play her one final time earlier than her loss of life from most cancers in 2015.

Richard Inexperienced’s new documentary, I Know Catherine, The Log Woman, reveals simply what went into creating that last efficiency whereas additionally celebrating the life and profession of a lady David Lynch referred to as “certainly one of my dearest, closest pals.”

With Lynch himself now having departed, there’s an additional layer of melancholy woven into the documentary, although he appears in good well being right here as he appears again on his longstanding relationship with Coulson. Lynch met her within the Nineteen Seventies—she was then married to Jack Nance, star of Lynch’s first function, Eraserhead.

Coulson, who’d met Nance once they had been each a part of the late-Nineteen Sixties theater scene in San Francisco, shot a job that didn’t make it into the ultimate movie, however she principally labored behind the scenes, constructing expertise that led to a profession as a digital camera assistant on movies like Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

Although she was a proficient behind-the-scenes craftsperson, performing was clearly Coulson’s past love, and I Know Catherine follows her profession trajectory to the position she turned most well-known for, in addition to past that as she continued performing, totally on stage. As a substitute of merely following a straight line, the documentary makes very clear that her loss of life will likely be a giant a part of its narrative, opening with a cellphone name she herself made to a mortuary to “set issues up slightly bit” forward of the inevitable.

All through, it incorporates tales from her pals and colleagues as Coulson’s well being started to worsen; all of them marvel on the quantity of drive and vitality she managed to carry onto till the very finish.

Although I Know Catherine makes clear that there was much more to her than the Log Woman, Twin Peaks continues to be a giant a part of Coulson’s story, and solid mates together with Kyle MacLachlan seem to reminisce concerning the spirit she dropped at the manufacturing. “She liked the enjoyment it dropped at individuals,” one affiliate remembers, and he or she was happy when Lynch’s offbeat ABC cleaning soap opera turned a TV sensation.

Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost additionally pops as much as speak extra about what Coulson dropped at the character—who everybody agrees was nothing like Coulson in actual life—and why the Log Woman resonated so strongly with followers. Frost remembers an enormous snicker on the Twin Peaks pilot screening when the Log Woman is seen flicking the lights on and off on the city assembly. When MacLachlan’s Agent Cooper asks what’s up with the girl with the log, he’s matter-of-factly knowledgeable “we name her the Log Woman.” It’s all you must know!

A mixture of humor and seriousness, the Log Woman (actual identify: Margaret Lanterman; she was a personality Lynch had been pondering because the Eraserhead period) was an individual everybody in Twin Peaks took very severely regardless of her oddities. As Frost explains, she was revered, slightly bit feared, and if her log had one thing to say to you, it was understood that you’d pay attention.

Coulson conveyed all of that in her measured efficiency, and because of this the Log Woman made a big effect each time she was onscreen. That features her handful of scenes in Twin Peaks: The Return, which had been captured simply days earlier than her loss of life at a set-up that got here collectively in a short time in her dwelling. (Lynch, who was on location filming the sequence, directed her over Skype.)

David Lynch followers—Twin Peaks followers specifically—gained’t need to miss this heartfelt doc, an exceptionally intimate portrait of Coulson’s life story constructed by a number of the individuals who knew and liked her finest.

I Know Catherine, The Log Woman opens in NYC Might 1 and in Los Angeles Might 9; you’ll find an inventory of screenings at numerous theaters nationwide here.

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