Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

I saw "Mulholland Drive" last night. . . . WTF?

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread		 This topic is archived.
Home » Discuss » The DU Lounge Donate to DU
 
Butterflies Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 01:52 PM
Original message
I saw "Mulholland Drive" last night. . . . WTF?
Maybe I'm being really dense, but I didn't get it.

Why did the female characters keep changing who they were?

Who was the dirty street person next to the dumpster, and what was the point of his section of the movie (the scared guy in the diner who dreamed about him.)

Why were the old people who were with "Betty" at the airport in the beginning so weird?

What was "the cowboy" thing about?

I know the film won honors the year it came out (2001, I think), but I have no idea why. The actress who played Rita was beautiful and I liked her, but the rest of it was a waste of time in my opinion.

What am I missing?
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
skypilot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 01:53 PM
Response to Original message
1. I can tell you what was going on.
Edited on Tue May-25-04 01:54 PM by skypilot
Do you want me to or do you want to figure it out on your own?:)

The explanation is actually quite simple and it's something you've probably seen before.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
KissMyAsscroft Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 01:53 PM
Response to Original message
2. Do a google search "Salon Mulholland Drive Article"

It is a great explanation of the movie...
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
zbird Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 01:54 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. Here's the link for Salon's piece.
http://dir.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2001/10/23/mulholland_drive_analysis/index.html
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Butterflies Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 02:24 PM
Response to Reply #3
8. Thanks for the link
I feel better because at least I'm not alone in my confusion about that movie.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
hlthe2b Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 03:02 PM
Response to Reply #8
9. Definitely read the Salon article... I was equally baffled and
even irritated after watching the movie, that I had no clue what I had just watched. I like movies with subtle twists that make you think, but I hate movies that make you feel stupid for no reason....Mulholland is one of these, IMO.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
m-jean03 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 01:55 PM
Response to Original message
4. I agree. . .
Have you seen Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me?
David Lynch is a just a big old weirdo! :D
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
LoZoccolo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 01:55 PM
Response to Original message
5. I saw an interview with David Lynch from like 1990 where he's like...
...not everything has to mean something.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
flowomo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 01:56 PM
Response to Original message
6. One of my favorites.... and a tremendous soundtrack!
Angelo Badalamenti.... and the a cappella version of the old Roy Orbison hit "Crying"
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
TheDebbieDee Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 01:59 PM
Response to Original message
7. Check out the thread on "Mulholland Drive" on the
IMDB website. Find the page with info on the movie and read the viewer's comments - they'll explain a lot of questions you may have about the movie.

I'm a very literal person and symbolism is so subtle that it just goes right over my head. When I don't "get" a movie, I look it up on IMDB and find out there are all kinds of clues and stuff that I missed.

This site was especially helpful with regard to the movies "Donnie Darko" and "Grovesney Park".
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
sus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 03:03 PM
Response to Original message
10. I stopped watching ten minutes into it
and I NEVER do that.

but now I hear there's some hot lesbian sex so I might have to rent it again.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
plcdude Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 03:35 PM
Response to Reply #10
12. yes
you should very erotic stuff got me going that is for sure.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
sundog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 03:28 PM
Response to Original message
11. that movie is fab
for me, the whole thing was a juxtaposition of watts' perfect dreams/aspirations & her hellish reality -- the movie also the contrasts the best & worst of hollywood: the california dream & the california nightmare

other people have different concepts, that's what makes it so good...
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Westegg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 04:32 PM
Response to Reply #11
16. Sundog, you are so achingly right!...
I lived and worked in Hollywood for a dozen years, until fairly recently. I knew a lot of folks who worked for Lynch, especially on "Twin Peaks." I spent enough time with Lynch himself to say that you got exactly what he was going for with this movie.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
sundog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 05:14 PM
Response to Reply #16
18. what a cool thing to say...
:)

yeah, i've watched it 3 times also -- for me, the main clue in separating the illusion from reality is the film's "bookends" -- the pink bedsheets...

lynch also uses a lot of techniques of noir/expressionism with harring's character as the doppelganger -- ultimately she's an extention of watts' character (there's a shot at the end that reinforces that)... but i'd have to watch it a few more times...

i love this kinda stuff
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Westegg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 03:57 PM
Response to Original message
13. A stunning, confusing movie I've seen 3 times now...
...and yes, the Salon piece, co-written by an old compatriot of mine, Andy Klein ( a very smart man), goes a good ways towards explaining it. But not all the way, because at the end of the day there is no full explanation. That's not what Lynch is about. It's quite frustrating to people like me whose minds frequently demand a full explanation. But for Lynch, I'll make an exception. I find his disturbing cinematic visions to be so subtle, so close to my weird nightmares that I'll grant him license to have his loose ends.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
m-jean03 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 04:35 PM
Response to Reply #13
17. I'll stick by my original post...
David Lynch is a big old weirdo! :D
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Westegg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 05:23 PM
Response to Reply #17
19. He ain' t just a weirdo. He's disturbed. Why I love 'im! (n/t)
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
m-jean03 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 05:33 PM
Response to Reply #19
20. Oh, admit it!
You act all highbrow, but you just like to see girls boinking! :P
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Kazak Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 04:02 PM
Response to Original message
14. At the very beginning, even before the credits...
you see the camera pan toward a bed then onto a pillow (as if going to sleep), much of the movie following this point is a dream.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Lindsey Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 07:25 PM
Response to Reply #14
21. I've seen it three times ...after the first time the friend who I was
with and I were both "WTF"!!!!! (but I was more pissed off at myself that I saw Carl Reiner in the theatre with his wife and didn't go up to him to beg him to have his son, Rob, save the f'in' country -this was at a theatre in West L.A. when the movie first came out...but I digress)anyhow, we re-rented it this time after a little, shall we say, mind alteration...and "got it" better the second time. Then, I rented it the third time because, yes, I'm a lesbian and OMG that scene is SOOOOO HOT!!!!!!!! In any case, I love movies like that and would see those types over the blockbusters any time.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
TXlib Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 04:18 PM
Response to Original message
15. It truly was a WTF movie.
Didn't make sense until I read the Salon article on it.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
EstimatedProphet Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 07:55 PM
Response to Reply #15
22. It makes sense NOW?!?
Even after the Salon article it makes no real sense. What's the deal with the guy drinking espresso? Why is SO MUCH made out of it? What's up with the guy with big ears that sits in the chair? And for god's sake what's the deal with the old people that turn into little itty-bitty people and crawl under the door? The bit about how maybe they represent her lost innocence or something doesn't explain about how people TURN INTO LITTLE ITTY-BITTY PEOPLE THAT GIGGLE!
AAAAHHHHHHHHH! WHYWHYWHY?!?
Jeez what a movie...
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
VOX Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 08:02 PM
Response to Original message
23. It's a cinematic ink blot...
Ask any three people who've seen it, and you'll probably get three different opinions.

Perhaps it's best to just enjoy it as a strange (and sometimes silly) movie, and not get too far into trying to comprehend it -- there may not be all that much to get, anyway.

Sometimes that sense of "not knowing" can be a great ride.

:toast:
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Jade Fox Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 08:06 PM
Response to Original message
24. David Lynch is a Republican. That 'splains why his movies suck to me!
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Khephra Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-04 08:31 PM
Response to Original message
25. Everything you were afraid to ask about "Mulholland Drive"
http://dir.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2001/10/23/mulholland_drive_analysis/index.html
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Thu May 09th 2024, 01:00 PM
Response to Original message
Advertisements [?]
 Top

Home » Discuss » The DU Lounge Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators

Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC