Mulholland Drive (2001) (1 Viewer)

[Mark McLeod]

This was my first David Lynch experience and I saw it on Saturday afternoon with a fairly decent crowd. I'm still not over it. This picture single handedly zoomed in to my top 3 of the year within mere minutes. I'm unable to find words that do it justice. I think I'll have to see it a couple more times before I can really review it. If movies like this that I wish were made more often. I think I should stop seeing all this mainstream junk and just go to stuff like this.

Perhaps this 19 year old is finally growing up as more and more Hollywood stuff just isn't cutting it for me. When I look at films I truly enjoyed this year the short list is "Moulin Rouge", "Lost and Delirious" and "Mulholland Drive" all 3 films I wouldn't have touched last year.

M.
Link Removed

 

[Richard_Huntington]

"Fire Walk With Me." That's what my wife said to me just as the credits rolled. She was clearly comparing it to that film, which we both found to be an incomprehensible mess.

But I think this film can actually be interpreted and I am inclined to agree with many of the comments stated here.

What I would like to see is the original pilot! Perhaps the DVD can be a special edition, with a second disc that contains the Pilot that was rejected by ABC. I am just dying to see what Lynch did with it to come up with this very graphic and nightmarish film.

I am also curious what the two actress' reactions were when Lynch came to them and said "OK, we're going to shoot more scenes and you both are going to get naked and have a graphic lesbian scene!" That must have been an interesting conversation.


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"My wife actually prefers widescreen"

[Edited last by Richard_Huntington on October 29, 2001 at 07:34 AM]

 

[BrianB]

Were you big fans of the TV series? The film made a heck of a lot of sense to me... Especially on a second viewing.

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Nothing In Particular

 

[Richard_Huntington]

Loved the TWIN PEAKS TV show, up to when... Spoiler:Laura's father was revealed to the world as the killer and killed off himself, ending the mystery.

After that, there was no point to the show for me or my wife, who saw FIRE, WALK WITH ME and hated it, though we rented it three times on laserdisc to try and figure it out. We have concluded that it was simply a bad film that deserved the boos it received at Cannes.

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"My wife actually prefers widescreen"

 

[GregoryP]

Mark,

I'm glad you liked Mulholland Drive. You DEFINITELY need to check out David Lynch's other films and TV shows. I think my favorite film of his is Lost Highway, but they're all good in my opinion.

Gregory

 

[Ken Chan]

I am puzzled by one line in Ebert's review:


What's he talkin' about?

//Ken

 

[Joel Mack]

My guess is when Betty asks Rita: "Have you ever done this before?" and Rita replies "I don't know"...

It got a big laugh from the audience I was in, anywho...



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"The internet is a place where people from all over come together to
bitch about movies and share pornography."

 

[Patrick Sun]

Another thing that I don't recall anyone mentioning is how Rita starts going SWF with Betty as she goes for the blonde hair look (one as an attempt to keep a low profile, the other to emulate Betty). Again, a slight merging of the personas is probably indicated here.

I thought it was hilarious when they guy shoots the dude with the "black book", then shoots another shot to simulate a closer angle for the gun, and then inadvertently shoots the fat lady in the next room. I don't care if it was in there for narrative effect or not, it was just a funny scene.

Was it me, or did Diane have dingier teeth than the idyllic Betty?

Anyhow, it was just a cool film-going experience. The film plays fast and loose with objective logic, and goes for the jugular of subjective logic. Some of the backstory for the "characters" in the film serve to fill in the "yeah, that's how it must have gone down for us to get to where we are" blanks of Diane's fantasy in explaining how things just fell apart for her.

The Winkie's scene at the beginning of the film (the guy talking about his dream and its fatal potency) gives the audience a clue as to the whole fractured narrative structure of the film without really tipping us off until later into the film. Very clever use of foreshadowing if I ever saw it used in a film.

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PatCave; HT Pix; Gear; DIY Mains; DIY CC; Sunosub I + II + III; DVDs; Link Removed

 

[Seth Paxton]

Okay, I'm with Tino a bit here in it being more reality than people are saying.

But my primary feeling coming out of the film was this...

At the cinema much is made of THERE IS NO BAND. It's a lip synch theater. So what, so this. When we watch a movie there is a point of view, there is a narrative line following 1 or more characters.

What if in this film, THERE ISN'T??

Without that anchor, the film is free to wander a bit. I see that moment at the cinema as being directed at the film audiance more than the characters in the film. It is all illusion, we see characters interacting, yet there are none. We hear the band, yet there is no band.

I'm out on a limb with that I guess, but try to think of it from Lynch's standpoint rather than ours. Why would Lynch want us to see and hear what we do? After all he is speaking to us, not just telling some story. Some directors do focus less on the audience, but I've never found that to be Lynch's style.

In my review I questioned if he is just trying to be intentionally difficult, but I'm not sold on that by any means. A bigger part of me suspects that he has stumbled onto something of genius.

A narrative film without characters, without a point of view, yet still with a narrative. We see them, but they are not there, in terms of being primary characters, heros and protaganists, etc.


Back to the reality, I do believe in the murder because of there being several scenes to support it. The HITMEN are talking about how RITA GOT AWAY. The guy who gets killed was in charge of it all and is telling the other the anecdote about how the car crash spoiled it.

What he doesn't know is that his old friend was the guy in charge of it all initially and probably got it farmed out to him via the shady connections. That's why he shows up and cleans house. He takes the contacts back so no one can trace the murder back to them/him. Both he and his buddy are mostly secretive about each other's work/contacts.

Also, I agree with the phone call to "Diane's" by the "mafia". I also wonder if she had some involvement with Camilla getting the part since it appeared that the same people were involved.

Another thing, the director was not single, he was divorced. He got the pool and she got the pool boy, remember. So the moments early on when he is forced to hire Camilla appear to be well before the party later when he announces his new marriage to Camilla.

It seems like some of it could be rearranged to flow into a more sensible narrative, primarily all the "side" stories.


At the very least, Lynch has given us a film to discuss endlessly.

 

[Lawrence Davis]

...oops wrong forum.

 

[Mark-W]

Thought I would post Lynch's 10 Hints from inside the DVD
cover and see what you all think, since really this belongs
in here and not in the DVD thread regarding the film:


David Lynch's clues to Unlocking this Thriller:

1) Pay attention to the beginning of the film:
at least two clues are revealed before the credits.

2) Notice appearences of the red lampshade.

3) Can you hear the title of the film that Adam
Kesher is auditioning actresses for? Is it mentioned
again?

4) An accident is a terrible event...notice the
location of the accident.

5) Who gives a key, and why?

6) Notice the robe, the ashtray, the coffee cup.

7) What is felt, realized and gathered at the club
Silencio?

8) Did talent alone help Camilla?

9) Note the occurences surrounding the man behind
Winkies.

10) Where is Aunt Ruth?


Love to see some responses to these hints from some of
you who have already done a great job of analyzing this film.

Mark

 

[josh4040]

Someone help! Those clues only confused me more! A cool think for me was the betty/diane nametag at winkies.
I hope somone can knock out these clues. This movie is haunting me!

 

[Richard Kim]

After Rita opens the box, she disappears, and another woman walks in the room. Could that be Aunt Ruth?

 

[Jeremiah]

I just saw this film last night and what can I say but THIS MOVIE IS FREAKING OUT OF SIGHT. I loved this movie, I went to bed last night thinking about it and I woke up this morning doing he same. But I have some questions...

Patrick, I also thought that "Diane's" teeth were messed of more than "Betty's".

Was there really a car accident or was this more of Diane's whacked out death fantasy of how these events(having Camilla killed) could of taken place?

It seems that most of the movie is Diane's warped thoughts of when she killed herself and her maybe flashing back in her mind of her life in Hollywood.

I don't know, I need to see this movie again

 

[Martin_Frohlich]

Watched Mullholand Drive last night. I am not a particularly huge Lynch fan. This movie was both brilliant and horrible. The plot, once you see enough of the movie to get it, is pretty brilliant. There are so many loose ends that never make sense (on purpose), once the plot is revealed, that I thought it took away from the movie. Almost like he did it for the sake of doing it. Anyway, worth watching but not as good as I had heard.

 

[Doug Schiller]

If you want to know Mulholland Drive in and out, check out this excellent article.

It explained everything for me.

Excuse me if this was already posted.

http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feat...sis/index.html

Doug

 

[Joseph Young]

The Salon article, much like its 'Memento' counterpart, is pretty awesome, I agree. A part of me thinks that Lynch posted those clues to 'have fun' with the audience, to make them think even harder about a film that was difficult for me to understand logically.

Certain aspects of a David Lynch movie defy convention. In many ways, the acting, directing, plot progression, and characterizations are so drenched in their self referencial irony that they come across as bland, cliched, irrelevant or just plain stupid to some people. I happen to think that there's a point in which art (and in this case, film) passes over this 'hump' of that cliche and ceases to be pretentious but rather a thing of beauty. Am I totally off base?

Joseph

 

[Steve Tannehill]

That was intentional...take a close look when Betty is in front of the movie lot just before her audition. Does that arch look a little bit like the one in front of Paramount?

Look at the car on the right. It's an old-fashioned limo, a Bentley I believe, and one that might be said to get 10 gallons to the mile. And just outside the limo, standing at attention in a uniform, is the driver. I wonder if his name might be....Max?

This is a visual reference to Sunset Blvd.

Also did you notice the woman in the balcony at Club Silencio? Did she resemble...Norma Desmond?

Is Betty...Betty Schaefer?

What a fun movie!

- Steve

 

[Doug R]

To me, the biggest clue in the entire movie occurs about 2-3 minutes in. After the jitterbug scene, watch what happens next carefully. You see a red sheet, green blanket, and a soft red pillow. You can hear the sound of breathing. The camera moves from a POV that appears to be someone waking up briefly then falling back asleep.

Make note and look later who has red sheets and a green blanket.

 

[Ike]