....and suffice to say it's just as I expected it.

I had planned on watching all of Lynch's films in turn, and I got all the way up to The Elephant Man (yes, all the way!) before that plan was sidetracked. Mainly because I didn't want to watch Dune without reading the novel, and I didn't feel like reading the novel just yet. So instead I skipped ahead to the film I was psyched to watch the most - Mulholland Dr.

SPOILERS AHEAD

I knew it would be bizarre, baffling, and frustrating going in, and that's exactly what I got. I knew from Zing + Squee's negative reviews (though I'm not sure how you didn't like it, Squee - it's not all that dissimilar from Stay, which I know you liked, though this one is a bit more obscure) that it wasn't straight-forward at all, but I knew that I liked Lynch already, so I was interested in how I would like it. And, like the two Lynch films I've watched before, I'm having trouble pinning a grade down. I also know that this is the most obsessed I've been with a film of this ilk after a first-time watch since Donnie Darko.

It's so hard to define why I loved it so much. I suppose because it's a combination of so many bizarre story ideas that I love - surreal realities (Stay, Jacob's Ladder), tangled film noir (L.A. Confidential, Double Indemnity), strange time shifts (Twelve Monkeys, Memento) and fantastic visuals (Eternal Sunshine, Brazil). It's definitely a lot like the aforementioned Donnie Darko, but it's also very different from it. It's a puzzle movie wrapped in a visual feast, and sprinkled with that Lynch touch. It really was quite amazing.

At the same time, I felt like I'm missing something. The main interpretation of the film (first 2/3 a dream, last third reality) fits well, but also leaves a lot out. So many strangely placed scenes and colourful characters that come out of nowhere. I mean, Robert Forster is given the 'and' billing but gets only one scene and a few lines. And the two guys at the diner near the beginning? It's just a very weird experience.

I feel like discussing the film; does anyone have anything to add? I know you just watched it, Zing, but did you really hate it that much? I'd really like to hear anyone else's opinion of it.

Well it's in my top 10

I haven't seen any other Lynch movies and I generally stay away from most nonsensical arty/foreign films, but to me Mulholland is the ultimate mindfuck/endless puzzle piece movie. I feel like there is no answer and there isn't supposed to be an answer, but that's partly what makes it brilliant and unique. Everything that unfolds minus the first 30 minutes is sensical, but when you add that last 30 minutes on, all of a sudden you lose track of what is real, what is not, and what order everything came in. It's the ultimate trip into insanity, and again, total mindfuckage. I couldn't get the movie out of my head for days after seeing it for the first time.

The direction and cinematography is also amazing, even a straightforward scene such as Watts and Rita approaching the cabin reaches a ridiculously high level of suspense, and other moments like the acting audition is just perfect.

For me, it's one of the most brilliant movies I've seen, and it messed with my head like no other. It's something I can't rave enough about.

This is the definition of a "mess with your mind" movie. I still don't understand half of what I watched, but I loved every minute of it. I need to see it again sometime to see if it holds up and see if I can understand it better.

I didn't "hate" it, but...I didn't get it. At all. I waited almost a whole day before posting my thoughts just thinking about it and I just got lost. I've seen bizarre films and liked 'em (I consider Donnie Darko to be one of them, definitely), but Mulholland Dr. is too fucking weird. And it's really discouraged me from watching Lynch's other films because I'm sure they're all like this from the reviews I've read.

Don't let this crappy film discourage you from seeing The Elephant Man. (a great movie)

See, with this, and every other puzzle movie I watch, I immediately start researching the film after I watch it, and I read different interpretations of the film, and I try to figure out as much as I can about the movie. Sometimes I figure out parts of a movie, but am completely lost on others, and sometimes (like with this one) I am really in the dark. But I love movies like this, movies that make you think and research and then rewatch them to see if everything fits.

The main interpretation of this film that I read is that everything up to the Club Silencio scene is Diane's dream. Everything after that is reality, but it's a mishmash of present-time and flashback. Basically, Diane was jealous of Camilla, and hired a hitman to kill her, and then in her guilt, fell asleep and fantasized wildly about a different life, where she is Betty and Camilla has amnesia and they end up falling in love. It's very weird and strange but it makes sense when you think about it. It's got that Lynchian bizarreness, but it's due to the dreamlike state that the first 3/4 of the movie are engulfed in.

I dunno. I just really dug it. It's a puzzle movie mixed with a visual fantasy. It definitely takes a lot of work to understand the movie, and you will probably never understand anything, but I think it's worth the effort.

sgod give or take

Seriously.

Do I ever envy you...

To be working your way through the works of David Lynch for the first time... aaaahhhhhh... paradise! (or was it purgatory?)

One of his movies, though, stands head and shoulders above all the rest - - it's a true film masterpiece and resides permanently upon my lifetime top ten list, and it's sure as hell not Mulholland Drive.

Blah...blah...blah...stop with the BS, trixster...we know why you liked it...lesbian sex scene

Well, yeah. Any film automatically becomes better with some lesbian action in it....

Now seriously, I don't think it shares many things in common with Stay. As I want to avoid spoiling any of the 2 movies, if you want to discuss why I think they are completely different, we can continue communicating through PMs.

no spoil i want to read it
[/spoiler]

Here's an interesting current interview with David Lynch from mtv.com - - with my favorite quotes:


Very true. Film is almost over.




When I learn how to travel to alternative universes, the first thing I'm going to do is go see the David Lynch version of Return of the Jedi...