Meatplow
11-06-2006, 12:52 AM
Mulholland Drive
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g17/Haz657/mul.jpg
Spying the DVD cover sitting on the shelf in a movie store, one could be forgiven for thinking Mulholland Drive is probably one of the thousand forgettable glitz and glamour Hollywood productions you don't really have any real need or desire to watch, so you just glance over it. Of course if the name David Lynch means anything to you, this won't be so, but first impressions last they say and mine was shattered when my teacher introduced me to this film.
Mulholland Drive is one of the most mysterious, bizarre and loopy high budget films i can personally name. For those new to the man David Lynch is a name that has conjured up a lot of heated debate amongst fans of cinema over the years. The bulk of his work has been called everything from brilliant, stupid, fantastic, frustrating, life-changing, absolute rubbish and everything in between. Overrated director or not, through all this talk only one fact remains; everyone who watches a David Lynch film comes out with something to discuss. Mulholland Drive is a perfect example, and in anticipation of his new film Inland Empire i've given it another watch.
To describe this story in full detail would do it no real justice. The basic outline is that amongst a myriad of sub-plots and scenes that make little sense a mysterious and very attractive woman (Laura Elena Harring) ends up in a car accident on the famous stretch of road Mulholland Drive in LA, and stumbles her way through the streets to end up hiding in an old woman's apartment. A young, enigmatic woman, Betty (Naomi Watts), with stars in her eyes and dreams of making it big as a Hollywood actress arrives in town to find this mysterious woman hiding in her Aunt's shower where Betty is staying. Everything seems so perfect on the surface, almost mind-numbingly sugary. However there is a dark underbelly that reveals it's significance patiently over time through a lot of bizarre, disconnected scenes and surreal moments as as they to decipher the mystery behind the woman and work up to the final, depressing revelations that tie it all together and disturbed the hell out of me for quite some time.
Mulholland Drive has a heavy emphasis on visual imagery, which doesn't so much complement the bizarrely structured plot as take the steering wheel and drive it. The surreal, mood swinging score by Angelo Badalamenti works wonders, giving a beautiful, textured layer of emotion and very strong character to the story. These two elements are better descriptive to the nature of the film then a mere plot summary could ever do, but still it's something you have to experience first hand to fully grasp the idea of. It's an odd ride that is almost absurdly blunt in its surrealism to the point of being funny (The Cowboy). Mulholland Drive is a film that will provoke a response from anyone fresh from watching it, for better or for worse and the most common will certainly be the confusion of what the hell was it all about. I didn't grasp it at first but we analysed later on in class, and it fit brilliantly after that for me. It introduced me to new ways of thinking about how cinema can work in an unconventional structure, and even through the criticism i find value in that. A number of key scenes ghosted my brain for weeks after watching it, and I still get shivers just thinking of them.
Go watch it if you haven't already.
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g17/Haz657/mul.jpg
Spying the DVD cover sitting on the shelf in a movie store, one could be forgiven for thinking Mulholland Drive is probably one of the thousand forgettable glitz and glamour Hollywood productions you don't really have any real need or desire to watch, so you just glance over it. Of course if the name David Lynch means anything to you, this won't be so, but first impressions last they say and mine was shattered when my teacher introduced me to this film.
Mulholland Drive is one of the most mysterious, bizarre and loopy high budget films i can personally name. For those new to the man David Lynch is a name that has conjured up a lot of heated debate amongst fans of cinema over the years. The bulk of his work has been called everything from brilliant, stupid, fantastic, frustrating, life-changing, absolute rubbish and everything in between. Overrated director or not, through all this talk only one fact remains; everyone who watches a David Lynch film comes out with something to discuss. Mulholland Drive is a perfect example, and in anticipation of his new film Inland Empire i've given it another watch.
To describe this story in full detail would do it no real justice. The basic outline is that amongst a myriad of sub-plots and scenes that make little sense a mysterious and very attractive woman (Laura Elena Harring) ends up in a car accident on the famous stretch of road Mulholland Drive in LA, and stumbles her way through the streets to end up hiding in an old woman's apartment. A young, enigmatic woman, Betty (Naomi Watts), with stars in her eyes and dreams of making it big as a Hollywood actress arrives in town to find this mysterious woman hiding in her Aunt's shower where Betty is staying. Everything seems so perfect on the surface, almost mind-numbingly sugary. However there is a dark underbelly that reveals it's significance patiently over time through a lot of bizarre, disconnected scenes and surreal moments as as they to decipher the mystery behind the woman and work up to the final, depressing revelations that tie it all together and disturbed the hell out of me for quite some time.
Mulholland Drive has a heavy emphasis on visual imagery, which doesn't so much complement the bizarrely structured plot as take the steering wheel and drive it. The surreal, mood swinging score by Angelo Badalamenti works wonders, giving a beautiful, textured layer of emotion and very strong character to the story. These two elements are better descriptive to the nature of the film then a mere plot summary could ever do, but still it's something you have to experience first hand to fully grasp the idea of. It's an odd ride that is almost absurdly blunt in its surrealism to the point of being funny (The Cowboy). Mulholland Drive is a film that will provoke a response from anyone fresh from watching it, for better or for worse and the most common will certainly be the confusion of what the hell was it all about. I didn't grasp it at first but we analysed later on in class, and it fit brilliantly after that for me. It introduced me to new ways of thinking about how cinema can work in an unconventional structure, and even through the criticism i find value in that. A number of key scenes ghosted my brain for weeks after watching it, and I still get shivers just thinking of them.
Go watch it if you haven't already.