Tell you 'bout a dream that I have every night
It ain't kodachrome and it isn't black and white 

Mulholland Drive is not a film for everyone.  David Lynch's dreamscape style look at the simultaneous construction, dissection, explanation, chronology and destruction of the Hollywood dream, will come as no major surprise for those familiar with his work and used to his combination style of visual confusion and storytelling wrapped in one twisted mass of celluloid.  Before Memento, before the Sixth Sense, even before the Usual Suspects, there was Lynch giving us his own cinematic twists and turns while other film makers were still in diapers.  Regardless of success, there is one undeniable fact about a film by Lynch, it will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen before, and if you see it again, it is because he inspired it.  Mulholland Drive is Lynch’s latest form of abstract movie making.  It is stylish, beautiful, dark, mysterious, confusing and yet powerful.  He has a way of incorporating all of those elements into an effort which will make you wonder before, keep you watching during, and inspire discussion afterwards.  You may not understand it, but you will appreciate it.

Take me for a fool if you feel that's right 
Well I'm never on my own but there's nobody in sight 
I don't know if I'm scared of the lightning 
Trying to reach me, I can't turn to the left or the right
I'm too scared to run and I'm too weak to fight

This time around, Hollywood is the target and setting for his kaleidoscopic view of life.  It is a fantasy of many, attained by few and merciless sometimes in it's delivery of lessons and justice.  It is the bright lights, big city dream of wanting to be famous, to be noticed, to be a somebody and to escape the humdrum of the ordinary.  Under its warped surface, this is the underlying message in Mulholland Drive. Originally, this was set to be a pilot for an ABC series, following up his Twin Peaks success.  But it was rejected, and its not hard to see why.  This is unconventional entertainment personified, and Lynch knew it, so he took his odd little toys and ideas, added in some sexy scenes, and gave us this gift.  Trying to deduce or explain the plot of this movie would be to rob it of some of it’s odd, surreal magic.  That, and the fact that I am not wholly sure myself what it is.  Just to give a general idea, here's how things start.  There is a car accident which foils a potential murder of a young brunette.  She then stumbles towards a house, where she encounters and aspiring actress, fresh from winning a jitterbug contest in Ontario, Canada.  Meanwhile, there is a meeting of movie people to discuss the casting of a new film by a young hot director.  Two mysterious money men, and one in a wheelchair, are in control of things and demand to have a certain actress play the role. Throw in a dream description involving a beast behind a diner, a slimy hit man and a prophetic well spoken cowboy and have still only scratched the surface. The significance, relevance and purpose of each of these things are for the viewer to discover. Things progress, digress, meld together, split apart and become more abstract as things become clearer.  Make sense? .  vision.   As usual, Lynch has assembled a varied and odd little cast of characters that make no sense, yet make perfect sense.  In his universe, no matter how odd things are, they make sense.   Lynch has repeatedly proven himself to be the master of melding dreams into reality, then interpreting them through his own obscure but powerful filter.  Using characters, dialogue, symbolism and non-linear storytelling, he makes us not only question the possible, but to consider the impossible.  This time around, he muddles the reality into a blurry haze akin to awakening from a dream and frantically grasping to retain pieces of what was, while becoming more aware of what actually is, spawning a commonality that is observant to the attentive, and foggy to the impatient. 

Part of Lynch’s beauty comes from this abstract nature that I mentioned before.  I have said before about his films that I wonder if he even knows what they are about, or did he just throw some images, characters and dialogue on the screen, link it together somehow, and then let us figure it out.  But now I feel that his films should be viewed as a work of abstract art.  The artist creates a work, and has his view of what it means, but each person who views it, may see it differently.  That doesn’t make anyone right or wrong, just their impression and view of what they see.  It’s all in the imagination, Lynch unlocks the door, shows us in, then locks the door behind us, and we are his.  Just us, and our minds to go on a loosely guided roller coaster ride through his version of reality.  Lynch doesn’t just twist reality; he turns it inside out, doubles it upon itself, ties it into a Windsor knot, and then warps it into another dimension.   The key to the enjoyment of this film is if you let your mind go, and let him play with it.  There are things that happen, or maybe they don’t.  There are people that are there, or maybe they aren’t.  To truly understand what I’m saying, you have to just see the film.  This isn’t a film for everyone, because you will have to have your brain fully engaged, your imagination wide open, and your sense of believable occurrences turned off.    In the hands of anyone else, Mulholland Drive would have been a jumbled train wreck, but in the right ones, as it is, it is a surreal journey and commentary on he Hollywood experience. Think Short Cuts on a really heavy dose of acid, viewed through kaleidoscope.

Well I see the way to go but there isn't any light
I don't know why I'm scared of the lightning
Trying to reach me
Help me to find what I don't wanna know
You're taking me there but I don't wanna go

Fans of his other films will revel in similarities to Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks and Lost Highway, others will, and should, want to see more of these works to truly appreciate what you’ve seen. The difference between this and his other films which didnt work for me, was that this one actually seem to have a purpose and a theme amidst the confusion, it builds suspense and grips the viewer in a stunned, yet curious state of entrancement.  When the dust settles, things may not be any clearer then they were in the beginning, but at least we'll be able to generate our own sense of explantion with this one, because he gives us all the tools to build our own analysis.  A lesson he apparently learned with the mass confusion that abounded in Lost Highway.  It's good to see him learning from his mistakes.  Another part of this movie's magic lies in its twists and mysteries which will be hard to ruin for anyone who hasnt seen the film, since most viewers may not understand themselves, or which the descriptions will be lost in translation, and found only in the context of viewing the film.  Another part of Lynch's magic, create something complex, that the mere analysis and mystery must be seen to be relevantly discerned. 

You're readin' my mind you won't look in my eyes 
You say I do things that I don't realize 
You're lighting a scene that's faded to black 
I threw it away cause I don't want it back

Here, as in past efforts like Blue Velvet, he has the knack and talent to enlist a cast of relative unknowns (a stunningly innocent, yet versatile Naomi Watts, who brings back memories of Janet Leigh in Psycho), obscures (yes, that was Billy Ray Cyrus) and near forgotten (Lee Grant and Ann Miller) and bring them all together in a near rhythmic, yet haunting harmony.  Watts, and Laura Harring get the majority of the screen time and bond yet contrast each other in a way that is even visualized late in the film.  Then there are veteran character actors Forster and Hedaya who appear, and disappear as only people can in these kinds of films.  Again, only something that a master of a mind game where he controls the rules, could do. 

Agree? Disagree, Questions? Comments?

Tell Me Here

(Psychobabble, (1981), performed by Alan Parsons Project, written by Eric Woolfson and Alan Parsons)