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Mulholland Drive: According to German philosopher Immanuel Kant, we can never fully comprehend the t
THU, FEB 27
cyberjunkie
Watched
Mulholland Drive
Movie by David Lynch · 2001
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According to German philosopher Immanuel Kant, we can never fully comprehend the true nature of things outside of the human way of perceiving and structuring them.
Much about this statement is true for an attempt at making sense of David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, or any other of his films, really. To do so will be a honest attempt but mostly in vain. That said, I don't think Lynch insisted on keeping his films as foreign as to be indigestible by the human mind. Neither was he hell-bent on defying logic. A true surrealist, he believed in the power of intuition and the sublime quality of sensory perception. "When your life doesn't make sense, how could you expect art to?"
This is especially striking to me after I got to attend Wim Wenders' Q&A at his India tour, where he spoke of David briefly, in regards with the latter's restoration of Inland Empire. Later, talking at length about his own philosophy of filmmaking, Wim explained how no one's life has a beginning, middle, and end in the way traditional (American) storytelling does.
So, then, is it so hard to let go, and surrender yourself to the vivid, hallucinatory and deeply hypnotic imagery of Lynch's most well-received Hollywood noir?
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Fact: Mulholland Drive is a wide stretch of road in the eastern Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. Pictured above is David Hockney's 1980 recreation of the street, where many celebrities found their homes. Including Lynch.
This is where the story "begins" in Mulholland Drive, the film.
It follows a bright-eyed aspiring actress Betty and her close involvement with an older woman, Rita, who loses her sense of self after being on a wild-goose run from hired killers. As their relationship develops, the Lynchian universe comes into full view: heavy use of Dream Logic, mystery box, typical MacGuffins, and unexpected dramatic turns.
By Naomi Watts (Betty)' admission, Mulholland Drive serves as a quasi-biographical interpretation of her early years in the hellscape that is Hollywood: her failing auditions and considering a permanent escape on long drives to said auditions.
Did her performance merit a so-called prestigious Oscar win? I'll leave that judgment to you.
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In the 24 years that passed, David Lynch went on to make the most of his Dream Logic in only two major projects: Inland Empire and Twin Peaks: The Return.
I will be watching Inland Empire sometime soon.
FRI, FEB 28
cyberjunkie
Watch the trailer for 4K restoration here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?…
