Mulholland Drive (2001)

[Foxbat]

Please put your ramblings/thoughts/confusions about Mulholland Drive
here

 

[ravenus]

Someone, without too much of metaphysical sophistry, please tell me if the movie actually had a constant theme or was it just arbitrarily mixing characters and situations. I may have missed out on stuff because of dozing off in brief spaces during the film.

What did the part where this dude who just goes shooting a whole bunch of people after he is seen committing a murder have to do with the rest of the film?

What does the part where Darth Maul turns up to frighten the "dream" guy have to do with anything?

Was the "Cowboy" actually meant to be scary? He was one of the most boring and pointless characters I have ever seen.

I've seen and loved previous Lynch efforts like Eraserhead, Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, even Wild at Heart (which many ppl don't like) but this one seems exceptionally determined to test my understanding or my capacity to take arbitrary BS.

 

[Foxbat]

I'm going to watch this one again before I say anything

In the meantime, here's a copy of the link knivesout kindly left in a previous thread (I found it interesting if somewhat even more confusing)

http://www.themodernword.com/mulholland_drive.html

 

[Foxbat]

Well. I’m still confused. As to your questions Ravenus –


The guy shooting people seemed like nothing more than a comic interlude to me.

The Cowboy? I have no idea if he was meant to be scary but he seemed to be a bit pointless.


The Darth Maul type character? Again I have no idea. But there is a moment where he puts the blue box in his bag. It’s as if he is playing a role far too subtle for me to determine.



Anyway, here’s what I think is going on (disclaimer: I am only guessing).

I think the best way I can describe this movie is as if two films were being made and they got mixed up on the cutting room floor. There seems to be a point of crossover at the Club Silencio when the blue box appears and is opened. I see this box as a plot device where realities shift and characters take on differing roles. It’s as if Lynch is telling us that we have no control over our destiny – that it is being decided elsewhere.



But I also get the feeling that there is much more significance in the club than I am actually grasping. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that everything is recorded and that the performers are not in control of their acts? Is this an allusion to our own lack of control in the real world?



Much of the rest of the movie is beyond me (the grinning old folk that reappear in miniature for example). I wonder if much of this film is fleshed out with red herrings - as if Lynch is deliberately forcing us to play detective.



Then again, perhaps I am looking too deep? Look at the beginning and end of the film and ask what it is about. A girl from a small town casually destroyed by the uncaring and anonymous systems of the Big City?



I like the way it has been filmed and it feels very much like Twin Peaks Goes to Hollywood but it begs me to ask the question: has Lynch gone too far? There’s nothing wrong with making the audience think for themselves but there is just so much in here that it swamps an ordinary brain like mine. I can’t honestly say that I enjoyed this movie because I can’t honestly say that I know just what the hell is going on.

 

[JunkMonkey]

My favourite Lynch (after Dune). Most of the movie -from when she lies down after arriving at her aunt's flat to the opening of the blue box - is taking place in Diane's head as she is dreaming.

 

[CupofJoe]

I remember enjoying it when I saw it in the cinema [and I think I have it on disc too somewhere], but I've never had the itch to watch it again.