Greg Muskewitz's contagious enthusiasm for movies and his extensive film knowledge impressed me from the very first time we met. He was still in high school then, and it was my pleasure to support his efforts as a budding film critic. Later, when Greg learned that he had terminal cancer, his great courage became an inspiration to me and to everyone fortunate enough to know him. Greg's family, his friends and his colleagues were saddened by his death last week (April 22). He was only 23 years old.

I'll be forever grateful to Greg for giving me an "in" with filmmaker David Lynch. At the 2001 Telluride Film Festival, Lynch was one of the honorees but seemed to be out of reach because of a group of "bodyguards." However, I managed to catch the elusive Lynch right after his tribute program and mentioned that Greg Muskewitz, a young critic friend of mine who considered him "the greatest director alive today," wanted an explanation for the theme behind his disturbing movie Lost Highway.

"Tell Greg it's based on a condition called psychogenic fugue," Lynch stated.

That didn't clear things up for me, but Greg seemed elated when I reported our conversation. "Great! At least David Lynch knows my name now," he said.

And that's so like Greg -- enthusiastic, positive and hungry for knowledge about the cinema. Not even the loss of a leg from cancer could dampen his indomitable spirit.

Greg's splendid reviews on efilmcritic.com remain a testament to his passion for film, as the following excerpt from his perceptive critique of Mulholland Drive illustrates.

“The combination of Lynch’s visually spooky yet attractive images along with the seemingly unforced and impenetrable atmosphere is concocted like no one else can dream of replicating. Mulholland Drive remarkably sees its way into the director’s venerable oeuvre, and all throughout its searing beauty and chilling mystery, despite the film’s beautiful flaws, it has an unshakable experience. Once the film has its claws dug into you, or has inveigled you via its seductive scent, there is no way for it to relinquish its grasp, and Lynch (understandably) wouldn’t have it any other way. If not by somewhat wringing out or carrying over the drugged hallucinations perfectly fabricated and designed in Lost Highway, Lynch again shows why he is the best filmmaker around, why he blows the competition away, and why once you’ve had it, you can never go back!”

Greg Muskewitz was a very special person. He will be greatly missed.

(Photo: Greg with Imelda Staunton at the San Diego Film Critics Awards Luncheon, 2005.)