Mulholland Drive
September 22nd 2010 14:26
An accident is a terrible event …
Part One: She found herself the perfect mystery.
Blonde Betty Elms arrives in sunny Los Angeles, with rose-tinted eyes, and Irene and her companion wish her the very best of luck in making it in Hollywood, Betty is sure to be a bright burning star, but the mysterious raven who calls herself Rita crosses her path, suffering from amnesia, anxious about the huge amount of money in her purse, and Betty wants to help, excited by the discovery of adventure and allure; she’s falling for this voluptuous siren, all ebony eyes and knowing smiles, but Coco, the landlady is suspicious, because strange Louise Bonner said someone was in trouble, something bad is going to happen, and at Betty’s audition the director remarks “very good, really, I mean it was forced maybe, but still humanistic, yeah, very good, really, really,” and Betty feels much better, and whispers to Rita “I’m in love with you”, and Rita replies “Go with me somewhere,” into the night, the theatre Silencio, where all is recorded, it is all an illusion, leaving Betty to shudder; her nightmare seizure shattering her sweet dream, while Rebekah Del Rio croons Crying in Spanish, and the blue key fits the hole in the blue box from the black purse; Betty is engulfed in the in between, and Rita is overwhelmed by the darkness …
Part Two: A sad illusion.
Hot shot director Adam Kesher is having problems, because Sylvia North’s Story is no longer his movie, everything will be shut down unless he casts Camilla Rhodes, even though it’s not a recommendation; “This is the girl,” but he’s had enough of interference, so he heads into the Hollywood Hills to his pad, but wife Lorraine is screwing the pool guy, while his assistant informs him a cowboy wants to rendezvous at Beechwood Canyon corral, where a man’s attitude does some ways, the way his life will be, and the brow-less man informs Adam that “You will see me one more time if you do good, you will see me two more times if you do bad,” but it doesn’t matter anymore because the Stetson man has told the pretty girl, “Time to wake up,” to the body on the bed, the corpse in the bedroom, “Camilla, you’ve come back!” cries Diane, a shell of her former self, rubbing one out furiously, desperately, on the sofa, the casting couch, “Hello it’s me, leave a message,” at 1612 Havenhurst, or is that 6980 Mulholland Dr., “What are you doing, we don’t stop here,” it’s a short cut, “Well, here’s to love” …
Part Three: Love.
Doin’ the Jitterbug baby, lured keen Diane Selwyn to the bright lights big city of dreams, where everything is not what it seems, where the half-night shadowed through the undergrowth, the glimmer of neon from the City of Angels beckoned, and Tinseltown glittered, but not all of it gold; the scarlet blush of infatuation, the crimson rage of jealousy, the blood-red lampshade, the grand piano ashtray, the dirty white shower robe, the velvet purple gown, the glare of the studio redheads and blondes blaring down, blinding the ingénue, she crossed the line, hired the clumsy killer who gave her the key, and stumbled into a wilderness where a desperate girl whose innocent dreams were shattered by the betrayal of a lover’s stab in the heart of her American Dream …
A flashback borne from an enigma disguised as a riddle masquerading as a puzzle pretending to be a chimera that reveals itself to be a pitch-black mockery reflected off the jagged fragments of an American Nightmare. David Lynch’s masterful fabrication of indulgent and sensuous machinations, arch plot devices and cryptic symbolism, weaves the elusive narrative strands of the dramatic thriller into a convoluted and delicious mind-fuck. Mulholland Drive (2001) is the desolate boulevard within his trilogy of psychogenic fugues - Lost Highway (1997) was the off-ramp and Inland Empire (2006) was the exit - swerving along that famous long and winding road that caresses the hilltops of Hollywood, cutting through the elaborate figments of the Lynchian imagination, and curling back on itself like a marvelously dangerous and slippery Möbius strip.
Naomi Watts gives a career performance as Betty/Diane, Laura Elena Harring is fatally seductive as Rita/Camilla, Justin Theroux is arrogantly cool as Adam, while a motley crew, a rogue’s gallery, if you will, of peripheral actors (Ann Miller, Lee Grant, Dan Hedaya, Robert Forster, James Karen, Marcus Graham, Lori Heuring, Billy Ray Cyrus, Missy Crider, Melissa George, Monty “Lafayette” Montgomery, Mark Pellegrino, and Michael J. Anderson as Mr. Roque) play the rooks and pawns of this strategically unfolding ciné-oneirodynia. Angelo Badalamenti provides the proverbial musical broodiness (and makes a rare on-screen cameo as an espresso-swilling movie exec). Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger provide a rather putrid corpse. Long-time collaborator Mary Sweeney is Lynch’s partner in narrative structural crime (a.k.a. his editor), as is another Lynch veteran, Jack Fisk, on design duties.
When the blue-haired lady in the balcony seat of the night club whispers “Silencio”, the dream fabric has been torn asunder, the fantasy bubble has burst; the suicidal tears before bedtime have been spilled like the blood on the pillow. Humiliation was the game that burned like the flames of betrayal. It’s dog eat dog and the creatures climbing to stardom are savage beasts who smile like assassins as they lead you down the sickly-sweet-scented garden path. A box office hit mirrors the gangster’s mark, and the audition that works is one that feels hard, but you keep it real even though the truths hurt. Reality is a lie, it’s the fiction that counts, or at least it’s the illusion that lingers longest in the movie projected in the sad lover’s mind … on the dark subconscious corners of Mulholland Dr.
And the smell of freshly roasted coffee hangs in the air.
Here’s the trailer:
NB: For an absurdly overwhelming and fathomless analysis of the movie visit this dedicated site: Lost on Mulholland Drive
Part One: She found herself the perfect mystery.
Naomi Watts as Betty/Diane
Part Two: A sad illusion.
Laura Elena Harring as Rita/Camilla
Justin Theroux as Adam
Part Three: Love.
And the smell of freshly roasted coffee hangs in the air.
Here’s the trailer:
Publicity shot
NB: For an absurdly overwhelming and fathomless analysis of the movie visit this dedicated site: Lost on Mulholland Drive
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Comment by JMD
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
You really captured the essence of the film in your writing.
Another true movie experience that demands all senses are focused.
Lara Harring and the cinematography are both hypnotic. Such a unique trip, that never gets sullied with too much exposure.
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Catherine Stebbins
Thoughts from a Cinephile
Thoughts from a TV Watcher
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
So what is your fave of the 2000s then? And I'm very curious to know your top ten.
Comment by Catherine Stebbins
Thoughts from a Cinephile
Thoughts from a TV Watcher
1. Mulholland Drive
2. The Squid and the Whale
3. Fellowship of the Ring
4. Before Sunset
5. George Washington
6. There Will Be Blood
7. A Single Man
8. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
9. Almost Famous
10. 8 Women
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
I have to admit I've only seen half of your list. I loved Before Sunset when it came out. I saw it again a couple of years ago and it didn't quite have the same magic for me. Blood is impressive for sure, but a bit austere for me, Fellowship is a movie of great moments, but too bloated as a whole (the same goes for the two other movies), although that said, I've only seen the entire trilogy once and would like to see the extended versions (go figure). Almost Famous didn't do much for me, but then I just don't like Kate Hudson.
And for the record, my top ten:
1. Blade Runner
2. 8½
3. Apocalypse Now
4. Withnail and I
5. Alien
6. Down By Law
7. Cul-de-Sac
8. Goodfellas
9. Fallen Angels
10. Blood Simple
This top ten has remained unchanged for close to fifteen years.
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
David, I actually much prefer Lost Highway, but I simply couldn't help myself with this review, it being as much a tribute to Lynchland as it was to his uncompromising approach to "mainstream" cinema.
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
hahahahahahha
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
Comment by Catherine Stebbins
Thoughts from a Cinephile
Thoughts from a TV Watcher
Great list! I've seen all but Cul-de-Sac. The only one I didn't like was Fallen Angels but everything else on there I enjoy. 15 years?! I am impressed.
ShaunK - Sorry that our lists don't meet some sort of higher standard.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Catherine, aha! I knew something was up! Sunset! Not Sunrise. Gotcha! By all means send me a pm re: all-time faves ... I'm curious!
Comment by Always Eighteen
Always Eighteen
I've seen it about... nine times. This is what made me become a temporary fan of Naomi Watts.
I've always found the part where the "boogeyman" guy popped out of the wall to give the guy a heart attack funny.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile