Rating: Summary: Intellectual Theatre Review: ...I didn't get it either. Kudos to anyone who did on their first viewing. After the first time I saw it, I had to be told what the plot was about. Then I went to the theatre to see it again just to pick up on the little nuances. (blue and red). Even now, theirs still alot of it that I don't understand. This movie is art. You can watch it, get the general idea, and appreciate it without picking up all of the subtle nuances. Its like reading TS Elliot. TS Elliot is not meant to be fully appreciated in one reading. Take my word for it that the fragmented scenes and confusing images in both Mulholland Dr. and TS Elliot do make sense if you'll only puzzle through them.
Rating: Summary: What the heck was that? Review: This was easily one of the worst movies that I have ever seen. But, it has it's good points. The acting is very good. Naomi Watts in my opinion should have been nominated for an Oscar. Her character transformation in this movie is incredible. This movie had me completely enthralled for about the first 1 1/2 to 2 hours. If ended differently, it could have been really great. But, then the box drops. Oh, that damned blue box. This is where Mr. Lynch's surrealistic ideas get into the way. It was probably about the point that the TV pilot ended and the real Lynch took over. And, what was with the love scenes? Who saw that coming? Did they make sense to anyone? I saw this movie months ago and have thought about it a lot since then, and still don't know what the heck was going on. Who is Who? What is What? Why is she there? Why, why, why... this is the prevailing theme of this movie. It led you down so many rabbit trails that never had an ending that poor Peter Rabbit is dead from exhaustion. Tripe. Pure, undiluted tripe. Don't waste your money like the academy wasted their Best Director Nomination. (To the expense of Baz Luhrmann.) Save your money and buy ANY OTHER movie that was made in 2001... you'll be glad that you did. Silencio.
Rating: Summary: Doppelganger redvivus and redoubled Review: Mulholland Drive is truly the scenic auditory seduction the reviewers who liked the film liked it for. However, I see several Lynch obsessions here, and I'm intrigued by the fact that he can't let go of them. The most important is the notion I discovered first in Twin Peaks: the notion that we all carry within us alternative Mr. Hyde persona, a double. The German word doppelganger (meaning "double"), as I recall, occurs among the twilight verbal oozings in the Red Room. Agent Cooper's doppelganger appears at the very end of the last episode of Twin Peaks, which brings the whole meandering story back to the beginning, but 180 degrees reversed, like a moebius strip. Bob, I suppose, is Laura Palmer's father's double, who finds himself killing both double versions of Laura, the seductress and the naive cousin from Montana. The double motif is explicit in Lost Highway, where the young car mechanic's double is the older (Bill Pullman), cynical and suspicious saxophonist and murderer. In Mulholland Drive the "real" story is given in the latter part of the film, where "Betty" turns out to be the initiator of "Rita's" attempted murder, a mystery she is also trying to solve: the criminal and the detective are the same person (Oedipus Rex all over again). Naomi Watt's most affecting performance came at the end, where we can almost feel viscerally her bitterness, anger, and envy at missing both the movie part and and the movie's director. Like every envier, she both loves and hates the object (Camilla Rhodes/Rita) of her envy. Make love to her/kill her: Laura Palmer and her father redoubled. Both Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive are about revenge, where the revenger is self-doomed to oscillate between victim and victimizer. Don't tell me Lynch doesn't keep a gimlet eye on America's current gender scene. Finally, there's Lynch's obsession with 1950s culture, something it has become axiomatic to refer to as his version of a distant, impossibly innocent lost eden. The movie that's being cast is one that's going to take place in that period, complete with 1950's bubble-gum pop. As an oldster who lived through WWII, I noticed something that may have escaped others: in the scene where the director shows the actor how to neck with Rita in the car. In the lower left-hand corner of the car's windshield is a square decal, a white letter "A" on a black background. That was the rationing license issued for every car during WWII, limiting the amount of gas that could be bought during a given month. "A" was the lowest priority--"C" as I recall was the highest.
Rating: Summary: Weird! Review: Left-brained, analytical people should not watch this movie. My head hurt after leaving the theatre trying to figure everything out. Made me laugh the more I thought about the movie afterward. I would like to know where she got her brand of lipstick that stayed on so perfectly (even in the shower) throughout the entire movie.
Rating: Summary: A dream inside a dream! Review: This movie is fascinating, beautiful, scarey, funny, creepy and wonderful. So much of Lynch's work worms its way into your subconscious and this movie is no exception. I think he's gotten more subtle in doing this over the years, making the movies less squirmy to sit through, but the images are there in your mind as from a dream. Your brain gets a nice workout mulling over the various people and incidents, trying to fit the whole thing together. Just when you think you have it figured out, something else pops up and you have to start all over. I loved the cinematography. The limo driving through the dark road was wonderful. The acting was amazing. I didn't even realize at first that Naomi Watts was in both sides of the story, she morphed so completely. Great movie!
Rating: Summary: Wow Lynch Wow! Review: This is one of my favorite movies of all time. I only had money to see it 6 times in the theater. It`s a great, exuberant, brilliant masterpiece. Lynch had fun making this movie, I`m sure!
Rating: Summary: Crystal Clear Review: One super excellent film, a classic. It is of interest that this movie was intended for TV and rejected eventually. That is, the first two hours of the movie constitute the TV pilot, and Lynch added the last half hour to close things up. Otherwise as a series, I expect it would have been a Twin Peakean odyssey with the interminable but interesting Lynchian meanderings. I must ashamedly admit that it did not gel for me until the second viewing when (slapping forehead) all became clear. The third time, it was just a relaxing evening basking in the intricate details that Lynch is famous for. The music, for my money, is top rate. You will love/hate this movie [choose one]. No middle ground. Be sure to give it a chance to work on you. I look forward to watching this movie at least once a year for the rest of my days.
Rating: Summary: Lynch's best Review: This movie seems to be the fruition of everything Lynch has been working toward as a director. There are connections with his past work--like Hitchcock, he returns to certain themes and motifs again and again--but something seems different this time around, and everything clicks together perfectly. There's so much to be taken for granted--as usual with Lynch, the sound design sets a new standard, the casting is dead-on, and the sense of an impenetrable mystery suffuses the atmosphere. Simple lines resonate, and a nervous tension vibrates even in the awkwardly comic sequences that are something of Lynch's trademark. (No other director has demonstrated such a deft hand at manipulating absurdity into fear.) Naomi Watts gives one of the year's best performances as the central character, changing from naive ingenue to embittered, lonely cast-off. It's like watching a pane of glass shatter against the floor, splitting into two equally true parts of the same thing.
Rating: Summary: Manipulative Review: As I walked through the parking lot of the movie theater to see this film, I heard exiting moviegoers saying things like, "I'm NEVER going to another David Lynch movie again!" "Amateurs," I thought. By the end of the film, I understood those comments. Although I will most certainly patronize future Lynch films, this one angered me because it kept me thinking throughout that something would eventually tie all the weird plot twists together. When it didn't happen, I just got mad, feeling like I had been watching two and a half hours of form with no substance. I thought, "Couldn't Lynch have made a movie that made at least SOME sense?" I spent those two and a half hours trying to remember all the weird little twists, thinking they would be important later. However, I strained my brain for no payoff. However, I will say this: Those two and a half hours do go by pretty darn fast. It's not a boring movie by any means. And a totally abstract movie sounds like a great idea. Unfortunately, this wasn't weird enough to fall into that category. I will also say this: I do plan to watch it again, as perhaps it will make more sense the second time around. First impression, however, is THREE STARS.
Rating: Summary: *yawn* Review: Quite possibly one of the most boring films of great potential I've ever seen. I just wanted it to be over. This film could have been so good if they'd been a little less wanky, and a bit more in touch with the characters'. None of the shortfall was due to the cast mind you - stunning performances by them. It's the script that made me want to drive nails through my toenails. I hope this gets remade some time in the future with changes, because it was several yawns short of brilliant.
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