POSSIBLE VERY MINOR SPOILERS

I don't have any inhibitions about saying Lynch's worst yet. The weirdness that comes off as ridiculous as in Fire Walk with Me mixed with lots of even greater utter nonsense. He directly rips straight off his other good movies Blue Velvet and Lost Highway ( and even Twin Peaks) to come to a conclusion that can only mean that he's one of the worst writers in Hollywood. There are some nice cinematographic moments, but the early on background of it being a TV production seems to stand out a lot during the first hour & 45 minutes (the portion intended to be a TV pilot). The direction is just awful and makes no sense why it would garner a Best Director at Cannes except that they're interested in praising garbage for the notion of seeming smarter than everyone else. I warn you to steer clear of this utter piece of junk unless you unfairly praise movies that are "different" in hopes to impress some people. Yuck.

Thanks for your honest opinion, but I still plan to be first in line when it reaches my area. Lynch rocks the house, and I have heard absolutely nothing but ebullient accolades toward it from all the critics I respect. I may be disappointed but, frankly, I doubt it...

I saw this last night. I enjoyed it a lot. While it does borrow from all his other films heavily, it was still entertaining. It kept me thinking for a while.
Marc

It wouldn't be a Lynch film if it didn't polarize people.

And you know what--some of the most divided in reception are some of my favorites.

I can't wait to see it this coming weekend. I walk in with no preconceptions and let it wash over me...

I saw this movie today at a free screening in UCB....
I can safely say that this was the weirdest movie I have ever seen.... But that's about the only conclusion I could really come up with. The story was bizarre to say the least. (What was up with the old couple at the end?!?) I didn't really like the film that much... but this is the first Lynch film I have seen, so maybe I don't have the "right state of mind" . It was unclear to me if some parts of the movie were meant to be as funny as they were to the crowd.....

I also agree that the ending was less than satisfying. But I think the movie was already too long in the first place. However, I would like to hear Lynch's commentary on the film... It would clear up many of the scenes that seem confused in their place...

Originally posted by mvc:
this is the first Lynch film I have seen, so maybe I don't have the "right state of mind"

He's an acquired taste, like coffee or cigarettes. Keep trying out some of his other works--chances are, after two or three more films, you'll be hooked and wonder how you were ever repelled by the guy's style.

BTW, I can't imagine how any movie could out-weird LOST HIGHWAY, but we'll see what Lynch has up his f*cked up sleeves this time...

BTW, Part II, us Lynch fans don't have much more of an idea what his films are about than you do--with Lynch, it is often not as much about what is being told as how it is being told...

But there is a certain sense of "I understand what's happening, but I just can't explain it" that I get when watching his movies... Lost Highway in particular.

Saw Mulholland Drive last night and it's f u ckin brilliant. It's definitely a culmination of all his works to this point. It's almost as if everything he's done in the past was prelude to this film.

There's one scene in particular, at the Silencio club, that killed me. So much emotion.... That sequence might be one of the best things he's ever done.

Originally posted by Oliver Clothesoff:
But there is a certain sense of "I understand what's happening, but I just can't explain it" that I get when watching his movies... Lost Highway in particular.

Sure, sure, I agree, but if you can't make sense of it to the outside world...well, ever heard the phrase "a difference which makes no difference is no difference"?

BTW, freakin' hysterical username ya got there!

After my Mulholland Drive screening, I did say to myself "Omigod, that was more confusing than Lost Highway!" But over the next couple hours, as I absorbed it and mentally put all the pieces together, I realized that it's not. With LH, it's hard to figure out even where to BEGIN assembling the puzzle. With MD, you can BASICALLY figure out what happened, but there's still plenty of nagging little details which should (happily) keep us all busy for years trying to make them fit.

Anyway, they're both great films.

The tomatometer rating at rottentomatoes.com so far is at 74%, with everything from "A Masterpiece" to "Unbearable."

I'm excited!

I spent all morning typing up a three page explanation of MD that I'm going to send to all my friends after they've seen it.

It makes sense if you can put the pieces together, and to do that, you have to know how Lynch thinks.

MD is really quite genius as far as allowing you to put the pieces together.

Thanks for clarifying that. I have seen that said a few places and I just cannot imagine a more convoluted mess than Lost Highway (a beautiful mess though, as Lost Highway is my favorite Lynch film). MD opens here in Philly tomorrow, but I won't get a chance to see it until next Friday.

Lynch's only film more intangible than Lost Highway is Eraserhead (although the first part of Hotel Room comes close sometimes) but that is in a totally different way. Lost Highway can be retold to someone else....it has a story....although one so dizzying that retelling it to someone qould make them look at you funny.....Eraserhead is too symbolic to be retold....and what the symbolism means is rarely agreed upon by Lynch fans....perhaps due to overanalyzation.

Anyway....I am really excited to see MD come Oct 19th.

Just checked all the showtimes for my area for the week ahead and nada!!! Dammit straight to hell--I hate living in the frickin' hee-haw state of Oklahoma!

I would guess they were....
and even if not, it doesn't matter. Lynch's finely tuned sense of oddity is pure hilarity for many Lynch fans if it was intentional or not....other times is is just visceral and disturbing, but often it is funny. Lynch does seem to have a great sense of humor so his original intentions often seem blurred or unclear.

If MD is nearly as similar (as in confusing) to Lost Highway as people are saying....don't let this first experience turn you off. Lynch is my favorite currently living director (my user name is Lynchian). See Twin Peaks, the greatest tv show ever created.
Season 1 minus the pilot comes out on dvd Dec 4th.

The pilot is available on a dvd imported from Asia (Region 0, NTSC) and is a godsend to Twin Peaks fans because it is the first time ever that the pilot has ever been available in its "as aired on tv" version (with the exception, I hear, of a Japanese laserdisc box set). The version that came out on vhs and laserdisc was a theatrical version released in Europe that was designed to be a stand-alone film, had the last minute or so of the tv version excised, and added about 15 minutes of junk that makes no sense in the context of the rest of the show (the important stuff turns up in dreams later in the series). Avoid that version. If WB ever released the pilot on dvd, I worry that they may release it in the European form. The Asian dvd can be had cheaply several places....I think for about $17 or so. There are many threads on it floating around.

WHat's the masturbation scene like??

***Spoilers*** are welcome for this scene--

I don't get why people don't understand Mulholland Drive. I understood it right away, and I can explain it in probably 2 sentences.

Michael Wilmington of The Chicago Tribune gave it ****. Haven't read Eberts' yet though.

I am not very well versed in Lynch's work, so I cannot really comment on if this film is overly derivative of his past work, but I can say this is one of the best films I have seen all year. Perhaps everything should go together, but I cannot see how that could be possible, so I am viewing this film as a surreal experience. I don't think anything is supposed to fit together in a competely logical way. The first 15 minutes of the film were good, but nothing great, and I thought that (as someone mentioned before) this is just weird for weird's sake. I couldn't have been more wrong. The rest of the film had me in a trance. I was spellbound. Perhaps I have been thinking more about dreams after seeing Waking Life a few days ago, but this film captures that feeling of a dream perfectly. Sometimes they are so vivid they have to be true. Others are realistic, but slightly off kilter. And some are just a mixture of previous dreams and thoughts mixed together and tossed out in ways only our subconscious (and apparantly David Lynch) could imagine.

Some of the scenes in this film are almost as emotional as anything I have watched, even if there is no real rhyme or reason to why they are there or how they fit with the rest of the film. They are filmed so beautifully and with such skill that they just take over, you can't look away. Scene for scene this film is amazingly written and directed.

The acting is also incredible. Both of the lead actresses deserve oscar nominations and every supporting character is portrayed very well. I especially liked the actor who played the director. There are some funny scenes, but in general the mood is, well, undescribable.

I recommend this film whole heartedly, especially to people who may have seen one Lynch film and did not particulary care for it. Go see this movie with an open mind, and let its mood and dream like atmosphere envelope you.

I saw Mulholland Drive last night and thought it was great. Just to let you know that I don't drool over everything that Lynch does, I'm not crazy about The Straight Story and I think Wild at Heart is so so too.



That's what I took from the film. I didn't find it complicated or too hard to follow. I think MD is his best film since Blue Velvet, though I like Lost Highway quite a bit too.

cheers, Tony Block


http://alliance.zap2it.com/custom/me...9034-1,00.html

Tony,

That is exactly it. Except there's like an hour and a half's worth of material that is totally unrelated and there for weirdness's sake. Not to mention that that story is pretty stupid in itself. I don't know why everyone is getting conned into thinking this is good.

I just saw Mulholland Drive, and I loved it! Is it Lynch's best work since Blue Velvet? I don't know, I have a real soft spot for Wild At Heart (and we can't ignore Twin Peaks, even if it was for TV).

Did anyone else think there was some similarity to L'Avventura and Eyes Wide Shut (which have quite a lot in common anyway)? The scene in the club really hit that home for me. Wonder if anyone else noticed that.

And, Gladiator Crowe, I think your name tells us why you didn't like this movie.

Originally posted by Suprmallet:
And, Gladiator Crowe, I think your name tells us why you didn't like this movie.

OUCH! And I think we just found out why you're called Suprmallet!

By the way, Gladiator Crowe, when so many people are singing MULHOLLAND DRIVE's praises, and you're (relatively) the only one denouncing it, isn't it just possible that the masses aren't being conned so much as you're just not the right state of aesthetic mind to appreciate what Lynch does so well? I mean, you know what they say about people who believe everybody else has it wrong, and they're the only ones aware of the truth...

Definitely. The last time I was really entranced by a film was when I saw Eyes Wide Shut. Kubrick and Lynch both create this dream like atmosphere that just slowly lulls you into submission.

Lynch is a master artist and craftsman. I always maintained it, and this movie has confirmed it for me again. It might become one of his very best in my esteem.

I am seeing it again tonight because I can't possibly form a 100% valid-feeling response to it yet--it's just too rich.

But the fact that he made such a beautiful film out of what was a disastrously received TV pilot (ABC, thanks for your short-sightedness) is something I celebrate. I expect to get repeated rewards from watching this one tonight and in the future.

I just saw the movie, and I'm starting to understand it (my friend thinks he's got it, but I know I've hardly scratched the surface). This is definitely one movie that demands repeated viewings. I hope I can see it again as soon as possible.

And, forgetting all discussion of art for a moment, Laura Elena Harring and Naomi Watts are SO damn hot!

Okay, testosterone moment over.