The first time I watched David Lynch’s 2001 neo-noir movie ‘Mulholland Drive’ I was, to
quote English barrister Rowley
Birkin QC, “very, very drunk”. I put the fact that I didn’t understand
head-nor-tail of it down to my inebriated state. However, I always planned to
re-watch when sober and then subject it to a finely detailed critique. I
intended deconstructing Lynch’s carefully plotted narrative, decomposing the
various story lines and vignettes and then submitting a killer thesis as part
of my University course.
But I never got around to
it.
Instead, I’ve written this
blog-post.
During the summer break from
Uni I have been working in an office learning about all spread sheet
accounting, Health and Safety legislation, the importance of fire drills and
the Protestant
work ethic. My dad never tires of telling me that it is, despite all my amassed
evidence to the contrary, good for me.
However, there is in fact
one good thing about working – and, I am beginning to suspect, is the sole
reason why trillions of people on planet Earth make the daily trudge into the
workplace despite their personal misgivings – and that is that you get paid!
Money! A most rare and sought after unnatural resource!
Although most of my wages has been spent on vet fees
due to my cat eating a particularly nasty decomposed rat-carcass he
found in my work lunch box, I did somehow manage to just about have enough
money left over to treat myself to a Kindle Fire HD. I’d originally only wanted a basic e-reader for bus
journeys, train trips and hot baths but the Fire HD was on a reduced price plus
had two special offers - a £10 Amazon book download voucher and, significantly
for this blog-post, 30 days of unrestricted, unlimited free IMDb movie views! I can now catch up and watch all those movies
which I wanted to see at a cinema but just could not afford!
I will say that the Kindle
Fire HD is much, much cooler than I thought it was going to be! I am very happy
with my purchase.
The first movie I wanted to
catch-up on was, of course, ‘Mulholland
Drive’. I watched it in bed late Friday night with a glass of warm milk in
my hands and a very poorly pet moggy at my feet.
‘Mulholland Drive’ has won a galleon of awards and accolades including
Best Director at Cannes, a Best Director Oscar nomination, the Best Film of the Decade citation from
the LA Film Critics Assoc., it is listed in Channel 4’s Fifty Films to See Before You Die and included in Nitro Fireguard’s
respected ‘must-see movie’ roll call
as well as many, many others.
The film itself breaks many
of Hollywood’s conventions and rules. It is very unusual in that it does not
have a standard linear narrative. The timeline can change without notice and in
fact, some of the actors even change the role they are playing unexpectedly and
at strange points. It can be quite disconcerting and disorienting.
Visually the film is glorious. The characters are interesting to look at, have some great dialogue and are superbly
filmed and directed. I found the film engaging and was glued to my screen - even though, for the most part, I had no fucking idea what was happening!
That killer thesis will have to be shelved, I'm afraid.
However, if you’d like to see someone else’s attempt at an explanation of the
film, you could start here.
For me, there were two
scenes which stood out and are extremely memorable:
- The Cowboy Scene which is
fabulously sinister and beautifully threatening because of the sociopathic calm
and measured tones of The Cowboy, and
-
The Club Silencio
scene in its entirety but particularly the sequence I’ve embedded below, Rebekah Del Rio (playing herself)
singing Roy Orbison’s ‘Crying’ in Spanish. It gave me goose bumps. It is simply
stunning and beautiful. Nitro loves it, too.
'Mulholland Drive' is definitely a “must-see”
because it is so unusual and daring.
Pixie xx
