"Huh?" was the reaction I got when I first saw Mulholland Drive. I practically sat slumped on my bed, soda in hand and jaws on the ground, scratching my head in the process. If you thought Memento was challenging, you thought wrong. M.Drive makes Memento look like a walk in the park. This is the real deal.
The first hour was pretty normal though. Things only started getting interesting and confusing in the second hour. I've never watched a David Lynch film before and didn't know that Well, I tried writing a review for this but frankly after sitting in front of my computer typing and re-typing, trying to make the whole damn thing make sense, I've decided that it's easier to just give this link:
http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2001/10/23/mulholland_drive_analysis
After the mind boggling first viewing, I came across this site, read through it like 5 times before getting some semblance of what was going on. It sure made the movie more platable by the time I went back for a second viewing. But before you press on that link, make sure that you have at least watched the show once. Otherwise, you might as well put your head in a microwave. It'll make more sense than what you are going to read there.
For those who hasn't actually watched the show, go watch it, especially if you like a mystery. It's pretty nicely done and will leave you thinking about events and the symbolisms behind the various acts long after the show is over. Heck, the first viewing made me lose sleep trying to figure out what the frilly heck the show is all about.
The acting in this show is top-notch, especially that of the two leading ladies' - Naomi Watts and Laura Elena Harring. Much credit must also go to the casting and make-up artistes for totally transforming the actresses into the 2 drastically different characters. Unless you have been paying attention, you will actually have problems realising that Betty and Diane are actually the same person (Naomi Watts). The audition scene that she had was also perfectly done and showed the multi-layered talent of Watts' acting skills.
As for directorial ingenuity, I have to say I'm in no position to make any comments. I guess it is already some piece of work just getting the piece out and ultimately making so much sense in so many levels in a disjointed manner. I've never watched a David Lynch movie before and never knew what he was about. It was only later that I realised that changing symbolisms was his style (thank goodness, I thought I was dense or something) and I liked it that the film gives food for thought.
Have to comment on the advantage of having his style though and that is that even if he did cock up, there's little chance that people would know since they are too busy trying to make sense of all the symbolisms that any nonsense would start to make sense. Then again, this could be me as a movie novice talking. Don't be mistaken, I'm impressed with the work he did. It seems to make sense on several levels but really, no one knows the exact truth of the whole show except Lynch himself. He's not saying anything about the show and I would have to say rightly and smartly so. Revealing the whole plot would really kill the mystic and supremacy of it. Just look at Star Wars.
Ok, enough of Lynch and on with the box. There's a lot of debate over this blue box and what it stands for. For me, it stood for real life - the life that Diane wanted to keep locked up. It was a life she didn't want exposed which made it ironic that in the dreamscape, she actually helped Rita in searching for the truth. Guess it symbolises the fact that she knew that the truth could never be suppressed and it also hints at the guilt she felt at plotting the murder of her girlfriend. It also made sense that Betty/Diane wasn't around when Rita was there to open the box. She couldn't be there - the guilt was too much to bear. And when Rita/Camilla opened the blue box, she was drawn into the truth, whether she liked it or not. She too afterall, had to face the truth that in her real life, she was a bitch. A different person from the Rita she was in the dreamscape. She wasn't a black slate. Diane wanted her to be a black slate but the fact was that she was a totally unpleasant and mean person.
In a way, I think Lynch was also trying to insinuate that every single one of us has a little blue box of our own. The colour blue for me had a more significant role than did the box. There are several scenes when the use of blue as a background lighting which made food for thought. Such as in the Silencio Club when the guy was talking about people hearing what they wanted to hear and that everything was staged. I think it meant that everyone of us reacts to our environment in a staged manner. You hear what you wish to hear and you tell people what you think you want them to hear (which is true). We have little secrets and true opinions which we are ashamed of that we want to keep locked up in a little blue box and would not be exposed until someone opens it and the consequences unhurled.
Of course, that's my own jumbled interpretation. I still can't make much sense of it all and really, I stopped trying after getting splitting headaches. Doesn't help that I've just watched it 2 times and not at one whole shot. Guess when I'm feeling up to it again, I'll try. Or at least when I find someone who's actually watched it and can actually discuss this with. Kind of difficult to talk to oneself like that sometimes. Need new fresh ideas and perspective from another person.
This show is not perfect though. Although it's a thinking film, the backdrop actually deals with lesbians who are evil, dead and come to no good end. Essentially, the GLBT cliche. Having seen this show after the horrendous turn of events on Buffy where Tara is killed and Willow turns into a evil witch intent on destroying the world only to be saved by, of all people, XANDER with a speech about yellow crayons, I have to say, "Phuulleezzz! Can't you come up with something a bit better or creative?" I mean this is a guy who can come up with such a good film with layered symbolisms and he can't overcome the cliche that's used by so many film makers?
Then there's the critics who have said that this is among Lynch's films, the one which takes the most sympathetic stand towards women. Personally, I don't really see how this could possibly be. I mean we are talking about women being murdered and committing suicide here. How sympathetic could that be? And really, I don't see how Lynch actually subverts the portrayal of women on films as sex objects by having the scenes of extended lesbian sex. I'm no film student but really, how subverted is that? Hasn't Hollywood always used women on women action as part of the objectification of women as sex objects? I really don't get it here and if anyone could make me 'see' it, let me know.
Overall, in today's world of movies where violence, sex and mind numbing special effects are the call of the day, Mulholland Drive is a gem in that it is a thinking film rather than a numning one. Recommended but pity for the cliched storyline...
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