I figured we should start off with a bit of a challenge, David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, from 2001. Labeled as a surrealist neo-noir film, and confusing as all heck, Mulholland Drive is an enigma inside a riddle inside a Sudoku.
Plot Synopsis: Betty Elms (Naomi Watts) arrives, perky as a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader, in Hollywood to persue her acting career. When she reaches at her auntie's old Hollywood apartment, she discovers a voluptuous dark-haired stranger with amnesia (Laura Herring), who takes the name Rita after Rita Hayworth. Rita has been in a car accident, and has hidden out in the apartment in her confusion. Betty has Rita look in her purse, and they find a pile of money and a weird key. They go to Winkie's diner, where their waitress is named Diane. Rita remembers the name Diane Selwyn. Is this a clue to her real identity?
Subplots abound. Two fellows also meet in the diner. One relates a nightmare about a monster outside that causes his death. Guess what? There's a monster outside who causes his death. In the second subplot, gangsters tell a director who to cast in an upcoming movie, and the director arrives home to find his wife in bed with the pool man, who is magically portrayed by Billy Ray Cyrus. The director also meets a mysterious cowboy who also tells him to cast Camilla Rhodes in his film. In the third subplot, a goober of a hit man makes a mess out of nicking an address book.
Back to Betty and Rita. They decide to investigate Diane Selwyn's apartment, and find a decomposing body. A wig and girl on girl sex ensues. Rita awakens with the word SILENCIO! This leads the couple to The Club Silencio, where everything is an illusion, even the lady singing Roy Orbison's "Crying" in Spanish. Betty and Rita are upset by the show. Rita finds a blue box in her purse. After returning to the apartment, Rita finds that the strange key opens the strange box! And Betty vanishes.
Whew.
Dark dingy apartment with threatening, eyebrowless cowboy knocking at the door. Betty (Naomi Watts) is on the bed. But wait! Betty is now Diane Selwyn. Rita (Laura Harring) is now Camilla Rhodes. What the hell is going on here? Diane is in love with Camilla. Camilla is involved with the director and kissing another actress at a party. Diane is depressed and angry, and meets with a hit man to have Camilla killed. Guess what? This time, the waitress is named Betty.
Are you with me so far? Yeah, it's going to be all right. Onward!
The hit man says that after he kills Camilla, Betty will find a blue key on her coffee table. What does the key open? HA! Who knows? Betty finds the key on the table. Camilla must be dead. Betty is chased by the perky old couple who originally flew into California with her in the first half of the movie. Now, they don't seem so nice, do they?
Betty goes into the bedroom and shoots herself in the head. SILENCIO!
Review: Wow, maybe I should have started with an easier movie! I love David Lynch, and I love Mulholland Drive. I have seen it several times. The first time, you do get that "What the hell am I watching here?" sensation. The second time, it starts to shuffle into place a bit more. What we have here is a nonlinear narrative, with a dream/fantasy sequence, and then Lynch just doing his thing. Or not.
The first half may be Diane's dream reality, heavily influenced by her (and Lynch's) love of old Hollywood and old movies. It's a mystery! It's a caper! We're girl detectives! The second half is the dark reality of what often happens to happy, shiny young women who go to Hollywood with visions of Oscars in their heads. Grim, depressing, with rotary phones.
The joy of Lynch is not over-analyzing. Just make as much sense of it as you can, and love the way the movie looks. Love Naomi Watts in her double role, and the way that woman acts. My goodness. Suspend logic, suspend disbelief, pay your money, and ride the ride. Mobius strip? Dreams? Parallel universes? Sure!
Little known random fact: Angelo Badalamenti, Lynch's longtime soundtrack composer, plays the gangster movie guy early in the film, the one with the espresso issue.
MAB rating: Five out of five Wubs. I'm not sure what just happened, but I liked it.
WUB WUB WUB WUB WUB!
And this concludes our first trip through MAB on Movies! More to follow!
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