small-town morality

His films like 'Paris, Texas' and 'Alice in the Cities' explore isolation, moral ambiguity, and the collision between individual values and conformist small-town life.

His masterworks 'Blue Velvet' and 'Twin Peaks' dissect the darkness lurking beneath small-town surfaces, revealing hypocrisy and moral corruption hidden by quaint facades.

His socially conscious cinema, especially 'I, Daniel Blake' and 'Kes', scrutinizes how institutional and community morality affect vulnerable individuals in economically struggling communities.