Name of film – Mulholland Drive (2001)
Lizard film – 009
Chosen by – Dreyer
Date – October 2017
Director – David Lynch
Starring – Justin Theroux, Naomi Watts, Laura Elena Harring, Ann Miller, Robert Forster
Duration – 146 mins
Genre – Neo-Noir Mystery
Summary –
David Lynch’s acclaimed tale of murder and amnesia in Los Angeles. Having narrowly survived a murder attempt and a car crash, a shocked and wounded woman (Laura Elena Harring) takes refuge in a nearby apartment. When she is discovered the next morning by the apartment’s official resident, aspiring actress Betty Elms (Naomi Watts), she confesses that she neither knows who she is nor what happened to her. The two women then begin to investigate, and it gradually becomes clear that they have known each other in the past. Meanwhile, a young film director (Justin Theroux) finds that the mob are taking an unusual interest in the casting of his latest film.
JONES’ SCORE & REVIEW
ACTING – 9
DIRECTING – 9
SCORE/AUDIO – 9
CINEMATOGRAPHY – 7
ENTERTAINMENT – 7.5
TOTAL – 41.5/50 = 83% ****
If there’s a director out there who could cause a mass debate (and thousands of men to masterbate over a lesbian romp), it’s the one and only David Lynch. He’s definitely the Marmite of directors. Even though I have a bulk of his films in my DVD collection, I wouldn’t say I love him, but where would cinema be without his contribution? “Elephant Man” and “The Straight Story” are not your typical Lynch movies but we know he can do “normal”. However, the majority of his filmography is littered with “weird” flicks. “Mulholland Drive” would certainly be joining the likes of “Blue Velvet”, “Eraserhead”, “Twin Peaks” and “Lost Highway” in that category. You know when settling down to watch a Lynch film that you’re in for one hell of a journey and a crazy ride.
As the swing music opening scene kicked us off, I thought, “Ooooh nice one, “Swingers”, my type of film!” but within a blink of the eye, there was a sudden change in atmosphere as the slow, haunting music took over as we followed a car through the dark. This was typical Lynch. The automobile seemed to be travelling at the pace of the score or as quick as Chris Smith trying to hook up in a brothel. Not even a 10 second car crash could interrupt the moody setting. A great opening to the film as we see a woman staggering out of the battered vehicle looking dazed and confused, like she had just left Harvey Weinstein’s penthouse suite.
“What are you doing? We don’t stop here!”
Lynch’s actions speak louder than words. He prefers direction over script. Robert Forster seemed to be an ideal actor as he had limited vocab in “Jackie Brown” too. However, he literally remains in the film for one whole minute. His name on the starting credits seem to linger longer than his performance. That’s Lynch for you though. He gets what he needs from his cast and swiftly moves on. Lynch creates the most bizarre characters out there, non-human like, the stuff of all nightmares. There’s the guy in the cafe, creepy as fuck as we are mesmerised by his slow talking, evil eyes and unpredictable actions. Then we have the odd-ball with the voice box. Now you’re talkin’ my language Alan. It was like watching Stephen Hawking playing a Bond villain. Before we know it, he was gone and not to be seen again. Melissa George gets a cameo role too. We’ll be seeing much more of her next month when reviewing “30 Days of Night”.
As for the leading ladies, Lynch loves his dark haired mysterious women. Laura Elena Harring playing Rita fitted that bill perfectly. Not since Isabella Rossellini in “Blue Velvet” has Lynch had such a strong performance. We are then introduced to Naomi Watts. Her over the top cheesedick smile was testing me. I hate happy people. Still, as she checked out her new apartment, I was soon thinking, I wouldn’t mind slipping her one. Anyway, where was I? Ooooh naked woman in the shower. Can I slip her one too? The chemistry between the two actresses was clearly there to see and I hope they had as much fun as we did watching them. The girl next door and the seductive mistress. Incredibly sexy and erotic. In the first part of the movie, due to the happy-go-lucky characteristics of Watt’s character, it was difficult to judge her acting skills. However, ironically, as Betty auditions, you can get see the real Naomi Watts. In the final quarter of the feature, she comes into her own. She also cums on her own. I think we can all appreciate Naomi fudding herself silly. Hence my acting score went up from 8 to 9, purely on this pleasurable scene.
“Just forget you ever saw it. It’s better that way!”
Lynch’s style is disjointed and at times all over the place. You have to piece together yourself like one fucked up jigsaw. Who the hell are these people? You certainly have to stick with it and concentrate.
Then there’s the comical side to Lynch. The scene where the fat woman wrestling the bad dude after she’s been accidentally shot through the wall, comes out off nowhere. As the large lady comes to her fate of being shot in the back, it doesn’t end there. Let’s shoot the cleaner in cold blood and then attempt to kill the Hoover. This of course leads to some alarm going off and a quick scarper from the building. This was more Tarantino than Lynch. Then there was the moment the director (played by Justin Theroux) catches his lady in bed with another bloke. The immediate revenge of pouring pink paint all over her expensive jewels whilst upbeat music can be heard in the background, makes the whole thing fairly amusing. I loved how the cheating bitch’s day went from bad to worse when the gigantic henchman smacks her in the head.
Lynch’s direction for the majority of the film is world class. The close up facial shots as we see the fine details of tears in the eyes, the focus on the lips, the sound of a bag zip opening, it all adds to the tension. Beautifully crafted.
If I had to pick one scene from “Mulholland Drive” to demonstrate how Lynch’s mind works, it would be the stand-off board meeting with the pressure on the director to cast the girl. You could cut the tension in the air and chuck in a dribbling coffee moment, now we are talking weird. Let the craziness begin.
“This is the girl.
Hey, that girl is not in my film!
It’s no longer your film.”
The score is vital in a Lynch movie. The audio and vision are perfectly timed together, like Ant & Dec, Laurel & Hardy, Toye & Prendiville, Mash & Dreyer. You can’t imagine one without the other. The background music creates the emotion and is simply magical. Angelo Badalamenti is the film composer who not only deserves the credit for bringing the film to life with his score, he also should get a round of applause for his acting. Yes, the composer is in the film too. He plays Luigi Castigliane, the mobster who spits out the espresso on a napkin.
I liked how during all the craziness, we are suddenly treated to “16 reasons I love you” that acts like a half time interlude. Bizarrely this song was cut from the official soundtrack. I won’t be buying that CD then. Grrrr!
The highlight regarding the soundtrack was “Crying” being sang in a foreign language. I’m sure we all immediately thought of “Only Fools” and Tony “Cwying” Angelino. Stick with me Tony, I’ll make you wich!
“That’s no way to treat your wife buddy, no matter what she’s done.”
Lynch loves dark scenes. Generally his cinematography is all about night settings, car lights, and long roads. He’s done this a lot in previous films. I didn’t think he brought anything new to the table and wasn’t in the same league as “Lost Highway” this time round. Therefore I felt the film was a little let down on that front. However I’m comparing this to his past projects so maybe I’m being a little unfair here. It still scores a solid 7 from me.
“You’ll see me one more time if you do good. You’ll see me two more times if you do bad. Good night!”
In certain sections of “Mulholland Drive” it was just a typical movie like an 80’s thriller that went straight to video but then Lynch goes nuts and the last hour explodes. I actually felt the film lost it’s way as if Lynch felt he’d done enough and now it was time to throw in a cheeky sex scene. I wasn’t complaining. Finally spooters and bush were out on display. If Tarantino needs his guns, Lynch needs some sexual fantasy to be played out in front of us. Who needs a storyline when some lesbian action is on offer? We just needed the plumber to ring their doorbell to see if the girls needed their leaky pipe fixing. David Lynch – the fuckin’ pervy genius. To be honest, after the first sex scene, I couldn’t care less what happened to the girls and another bean flicking encounter wasn’t too far away, rounded off with the blonde bombshell pleasuring herself. Ooooh Betty! There was no need to cry throughout though Naomi, that nearly put me off my stroke!
I struggled to piece everything together in the last hour. I felt like I was living in Lynch’s sexual trippy nightmare. Clearly it was weird and rather confusing or am I a total fuckwit who missed a lot what was going on? The type of film Jabba knocks one out over. Strange doesn’t always mean brilliant. Suddenly that homeless gruffalo character pops up again. I’m sure Mash is still cleaning his M&Ms off the floor from when the hairy fucker first appeared on the screen towards the start of the movie. Who or what the hell was that thing? Only Tim Parsons would be prepared for that gruesome creature after a couple of decades living with Hallam.
What about the laughing elderley couple? Jesus, what happened to them? Have they been given the Rick Moranis treatment? “Honey, I shrunk the old bids!” What the hell was going on? I was getting lost quicker than Chris Smith still searching for some mott in that whorehouse. Admittingly, when the film finished, I felt I needed to Google for some support and help me understand the final 60 minutes. So many questions…
How is Diane, the failed actor, related to Betty, the fresh-faced wannabe? Was the end really the beginning? What was the significance of the creepy nightclub and what was in that mysterious blue box? What did the cowboy have to do with anything? (who by the way, had no eyebrows as Lynch wanted to make him more disturbing). Is there a deeper meaning – or is it a mistake to try too hard to decipher anything that David Lynch does? I decided to go to bed and sleep on it. Even though I was completely baffled at 2am, I could happily acknowledge it was fantastically produced by Lynch. He’s certainly unique.
In the morning, I came to the conclusion there was no explanation. Lynch was just fuckin’ with us, although it was definitely about Betty’s dreamworld vs reality. Although I don’t mind films that are not nicely wrapped up with clear endings, “Mulholland Drive” had too many dead-ends and I think we’ll leave that to the experts to fathom out. You need a degree from the University of Lynch to have just a handleful of answers. It was a bloody nightmare Rodders! Even if I maybe thicker than a whale omelette, and not follow big chunks of what I was witnessing, I still look forward to the post-movie lizard chat over a beer or two. Fuck it, after that, we need a bottle of whisky between us.
“Silencio”
MASHITER’S SCORE & REVIEW
ACTING – 7
DIRECTING – 4
SCORE/AUDIO – 9
CINEMATOGRAPHY – 5
ENTERTAINMENT – 3
TOTAL – 28/50 = 56% *
Right. What on earth did I just watch? Is it a dream? Is it real? Will lizard man ever pop his cherry? All questions I was left with after watching what many believe to be the greatest film of the last 20 years. It left me baffled.
As far as I could tell some woman has a crash on Mullholland Drive and wanders around disorientated. The lone survivor seeks refuge in a house owned by Naomi Watts’ aunt and, suffering from memory loss, she doesn’t know where the hell she is. The chemistry between Watts’ character Betty and Rita simmers from the start. It quickly goes from Les be friends to, well let’s just say full blown girly action. What happens after and between this I cannot make head not tale of but it gave me a thumping headache! Little morsels thrown in here or there which left me perplexed and wondering if they really meant anything at all?
The cinematography grated on me really. Nothing that captured my imagination and I disliked the dull, grainy, dream-like colour and effects that were used throughout. The score though I thought was excellent and I would love to have this adapted to a film more within my taste.
Some would appreciate the artiness of the film but I hate having the wool pulled over my eyes! Surrealism just isn’t my thing. Give me the narrative of Casino, Trainspotting or Goodfellas and I am as happy as Kryten with mud stained floors and a mop and bucket.
It wasn’t that I didn’t rate the acting either, some of it was pretty decent. It was just far too weird. It’s just not my cup of tea. It’s like asking your local priest to review ‘The Omen’ or Sylvester the Cat to score ‘Cujo’. If I’m going to sit through a film I want to have learnt something, got so far into the character I could write a book on them,been thrilled or seen a twist or two. Someone’s dream? Real? Not real? 2 and a half hours that leaves me questioning if I’m just not clever enough to get it or the movie is just too weird for my tastes.
Not a classic for me but then again your reading a review by somebody who worships DeNiro but can’t stand Taxi Driver. It’s all about individual taste-sorry boys!
ACTING 80%
DIRECTING 65%
SCORE/AUDIO 90%
CINEMATOGRAPHY 60%
ENTERTAINMENT 52.5%
TOTAL SCORE 69.5%
(RJ – 83% MM – 56%)
** LIZARDMAN RATING OF 2 STARS **
Lizardman Film Club 