Movies Mulholland Drive - worth it?

[Natural Order]

His most accesible film is The Straight Story.
A wholesome, stoic, quirky linear story about mending a familial bond. Rated G.

Fair, I'd completely forgotten about this one. In fact, I haven't even seen it!

Dune and Elephant Man are probably more accessible as well, at least from a basic storyline perspective.

 

[Crazy Source]

Fair, I'd completely forgotten about this one. In fact, I haven't even seen it!

Dune and Elephant Man are probably more accessible as well, at least from a basic storyline perspective.

I had no idea The Elephant Man was David Lynch. Fantastic movie.

 

[AGGAMEMNON66]

There was a Mayberry thread on it not too long ago. Fantastic film, I think everyone should see it, personally. But I’m a big David Lynch fan. Like @Sweater of AV said, he’s very surrealist and dreamlike, and he’s an acquired taste. Lynch isn’t for everyone, but I think that’s what art should be like: wholly unique, like no one could have made that film but Lynch. I have a friend that doesn’t like Lynch because she likes straightforward plots, and all the plot points wrapped up in a pretty bow by the end of the film—Lynch isn’t that.

Well.. if I’m not mistaken ‘Mullholland Drive’ is kind of about being in a dream or dream state. I believe there are identical themes in the Showtime finale of ‘Twin Peaks’ tho there’s also the ‘different dimension’ or ‘spirit world’ stuff going on too in TP.


Either way while I do appreciate Lynch I also find his work outside of TP to be overly tedious at times and even over layered to some extent. ‘Mullholand Drive’ is a pass for me personally. I think it’s one of his worst works.


Whenever anyone I know asks about Lynch I always refer them to ‘Blue Velvet’ and the ‘Twin Peaks’ series. It’s all his best traits with most of his bad ones toned down.

 

[HOLA]

Haven't seen it in 20 years, but I thought it was great.

Lots of people watch it and have no idea what it's even about, which is OK, because David Lynch didn't even know what it was about when he made it.

 

[ufcfan4]

I remember watching Lost Highway and thinking it was garbage. When I looked it up online, I thought there was some slight pretentiousness behind some of the reviews, typically saying something like "aaah if you're looking for a plot-driven movie where guy X does action A and causes reaction B, then you won't like it," as if that may be the only reason someone may not be into it, almost as if not liking it must necessarily require a level of simple-mindedness. I love Jodorowski's films, because he goes fully into the surreal in a very unique way, and creates truly interesting, creative, thought-provoking, and arresting vignettes, but I really thought Lost Highway was simply 2+ hours of pointless shit, with maybe 2 or 3 interesting short scenes in the entire runtime. Anyway, this was a long time ago when I was much younger, but it put me off Lynch's stuff for a while, and I never really bothered with it again. Not saying his work is worthless based on that one watch; one day I may give it another try. I'd watch his stuff knowing that it may be strange, mostly incomprehensible, and that it appeals only to a small set of very devoted fans.

I remember virtually nothing from it aside from the scene where Blake approaches Pullman at the party. Memorably weird scene but what always stands out to me the most is Pullman’s reaction when Blake tells him they met at his house. “I’m there right now.”

“Where?”

“Your house.”

“….That’s f’n crazy, man.”
Hilarious delivery by Pullman there.

 

[HOLA]

As for what it's actually about (bear with me here, like I said it has been decades) It was her (Naomi Watts' character) idealized self at the start, she opens up Pandora's Box, and then boom: time for reality.

 

[ufcfan4]

I had no idea The Elephant Man was David Lynch. Fantastic movie.

An absolute classic. I watch it once a year.

 

[AGGAMEMNON66]

Another issue I have with Lynch is his insistence that ‘humans are natural detectives..’ which is essentially his excuse for avoiding the ‘straight forward’ approach in his story telling. I mean I get it, it’s his bag, but I shouldnt need to be a film student or critic to understand a film. It’s entertainment.


This is why someone like say.. Kubrick is more agreeable for me. Tho both admired one another (Stans favorite film is allegedly ‘Eraserhead’) Kubrick was able to tell stories that were more inclusive and approachable while also being heavily nuanced and immersive. He knew how to be entertaining even when he wasn’t trying to be obvious.

 

[Bojka]

The only part that I remember standing out was when the guy was talking to his psychiatrist at the diner about what was behind the dumpster or w/e. The movie was ok, but not amazing. I remember reading that it was originally meant to be a TV show, but it got canceled and then Lynch salvaged it by making it into a movie.

 

[HOLA]

Another issue I have with Lynch is his insistence that ‘humans are natural detectives..’ which is essentially his excuse for avoiding the ‘straight forward’ approach in his story telling. I mean I get it, it’s his bag, but I shouldnt need to be a film student or critic to understand a film. It’s entertainment.


This is why someone like say.. Kubrick is more agreeable for me. Tho both admired one another (Stans favorite film is allegedly ‘Eraserhead’) Kubrick was able to tell stories that were more inclusive and approachable while also being heavily nuanced and immersive. He knew how to be entertaining even when he wasn’t trying to be obvious.

I think his movies are basically like Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden. If you asked Chris Cornell what the song is about, he'd say it was just a stream of consciousness that wasn't deliberately about anything, although the atmosphere is great and you can obviously read a lot into the lyrics, even if Chris didn't deliberately instill any particular meaning into them.

 

[TheNinja]

Never seen it

 

[ufcfan4]

I think his movies are basically like Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden. If you asked Chris Cornell what the song is about, he'd say it was just a stream of consciousness that wasn't deliberately about anything, although the atmosphere is great and you can obviously read a lot into the lyrics, even if Chris didn't deliberately instill any particular meaning into them.

Very well said.

I do think I give music a lot more leeway to be lyrically abstruse though than I do films and television to be narratively so.

I never really stopped to wonder what Black Hole Sun was about but I thought it was an awesome song from the first time I heard it. But if there’s a movie that creates cool atmosphere but I can’t make heads or tails of, I find it hard to fully appreciate it.

 

[John Stockton]

One of my favorite movies, but it's not for everyone.

 

[AGGAMEMNON66]

I think his movies are basically like Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden. If you asked Chris Cornell what the song is about, he'd say it was just a stream of consciousness that wasn't deliberately about anything, although the atmosphere is great and you can obviously read a lot into the lyrics, even if Chris didn't deliberately instill any particular meaning into them.

There might be a little bit of this but.. I do believe Lynch has something in mind with most of his projects. One example I can point to is the main thread in ‘Twin Peaks’. Lynch knew the answers but didn’t want to give them to the audience.. but the network and Frost (co-creator) disagreed with him. This lead to some lackluster moments in the original series due to Lynch leaving the project only to come back and eventually help put a bow on it -complete with some answers.


If you know you know (I don’t want to spoil anything).


That said I do believe there are answers but it’s kind of frustrating to really be limited to what ultimately breaks down to just ‘fan theories’ because David didn’t like to flat out reveal said answers. And now that he’s gone, there will almost certainly never be actual closure. But.. I do believe he had deliberate cause behind his actions. Most of them anyway.

 

[GordoBarraBJJ]

Young Naomi Watts lesbo scenes