8. Mulholland Dr. - Dir. David Lynch
Writing about David Lynch films is intimidating for me. I've only ever properly reviewed one of his films, Inland Empire, and I've started, but scrapped, multiple reviews for many of his other films. I just never know where to start, where to end, and how to get there. I don't know how to properly convey the way his films make me feel. More so than just about any other director, Lynch's films conjure deep rooted emotional responses from within me. They make me feel something primal, something meaningful. After watching a great Lynch film, I actually feel as if I have witnessed something truly artistic.
Mulholland Dr. is such a film, and I think it is Lynch's best. This film perfectly captures the milieu of the dreamworld, and the atmosphere of Los Angeles, the city of dreams. I lived in L.A. for a while, and I didn't really care for it. Things didn't go well for me there. I was kind of homeless for a bit, rang up a great deal of debt, and just kind of lost track of myself. However, when I look back at my time there, and the feelings that the city evokes, I can't help but feel elated. Los Angeles possesses a unique romantic quality, one that draws people to its streets, and one that absorbs those who are not prepared to play the game or pay its price.
Through an intricate marriage of audio and video, David Lynch totally captures the soul of this city, and illustrates the power it has through the scenarios and situations he puts his characters through. Passionate auditions, lost identities, crumbling dreams, schmoozing at dinner-parties, closed-door industry meetings, chance encounters with bizarre characters, the theatre of the absurd, and a gripping, supernatural allure: each piece effectively translates the essence of the experience to the audience. The film is episodic in nature, and yet through carefully balanced thematic qualities, the entire thing congeals into a single powerful experience.
Lynch's films always employ great sound design and evocative music, and with his audio muse, Angelo Badalamenti, in tow, the two craft a haunting and beautiful auditory world. Badalamenti's score for Mulholland Dr. is one of his best, second only to his work on The Straight Story. Music is used in all of its capacity here. Sometimes it is bombastic and over powering, symbolizing the caustic and frightening emotions of lost souls traversing through the unknown, and at other times it softly lingers, slightly boiling away under the surface to create a sense of wonder and mystery. Lynch uses music to signify changing themes and shifting dimensions, and Badalamenti's work here perfectly reflects this.
Mulholland Dr. is a film that rewards numerous viewings, and I also think it is Lynch's most rewatchable film. It possesses everything that I like about his films, and each facet is expertly executed. It contains the absurd humor found in Twin Peaks, the otherworldly quality of Eraserhead, and the examination of humanity's dark side found in Blue Velvet. It's is haunting, mysterious, passionate, and alluring. I can't imagine ever growing tired of this film, and I look forward to entering its world whenever I can.
