Lets goooo. Not enough people react to this! Lynch has stated that his favorite film is the wizard of oz and it has influenced him the most. It makes a lot of sense when you look at the plot of both films and see the dream versions of Dorothy's family and society vs the real. Lynch is just much more coy about where the dream begins and ends.
For me, Lynch is much more about atmosphere than the actual plot. His movies kind of capture what a dream feels like. Like you said, he does a very good job at giving everything this kind of unsettling, anxiety-inducing vibe. Especially Mulholland Drive has this surreal atmosphere built up throughout the entire film that puts you in this uneasy mindset, making some of the scenes almost feel like a nightmare, like the Winkie’s diner scene. His humor really gets me as well, though, especially on a re-watch when you’re not too preoccupied with the mystery of it all. There are so many scenes that had me in stitches (and your reaction made it even better lol). Mulholland Drive is a brave choice, though, for a first Lynch film. I always recommend Blue Velvet for anyone unfamiliar with his work; it's much more straightforward plot-wise and easier to understand, though still packed with Lynch's trademark eccentricity.
The basic explanation is; most of the movie, everything you've seen before the blue box opened is the dream/nightmare of Diane. The last half an hour or so (after the blue bok opened) is the non-linear depiction of reality. The short story is; Diane wanted to be an actress and moved to LA, didn't succeed. she met Camilia, a more succesful actress who helped her get some minor jobs, they also had a romantic/sexual relationship which Diane took seriously but Camilia didn't. Camilia fall in love with a famous rich director, dumped Diane, rubbed their "happiness" on Diane's face. Diane got jelaous and angry and hired a hitman. After she realized the job is done, she feared the consequences and also regretted kililng her loved one. Her guilt and fears got stronger and stronger and as a result she experienced that nightmare we've watched at length, and after waking up from the dream, she was overwhelmed with the guilt and all that fear, and in the end, she killed herself. The dream/nightmare part begins as her alternative "happy" reality but slowly hunted and conquered by her real guilt and fears. Every scene is a depiction of either her dreams coming true or her fears and guilt coming to hunt her, pulling her back to reality.
What does the audition scene represent? Why do we see the blurring of the image in the ´reality´ sequence 3 times? Why do we see the elderly couple coming out of the Blue Box and haunting Diane? Just some questions that do not get answered satisfactory by the classical interpretation.
@@praapje Yes. The analysis isn’t wrong, but it’s incomplete because it doesn’t account for all the elements, and Lynch is unconcerned with tying together all the loose ends. The mind might want everything tied up and neat, but the mind itself is not. The elements that don’t fit neatly into the above analysis are not disconnected. There is another solution to the puzzle that incorporates them, but in that solution, maybe other pieces don’t fit. I’m not saying I have an alternate solution, I’m saying that the movie itself suggests that there are multiple answers, none of which account for everything. Leaving the film itself, and looking at the history of the project and Lynch’s creative process, there is strong extra-textual support for the theory that there is no single correct decoding of this movie.
@@MarcosElMalo2 Not all explanations are equal. Some are better than others depending on the internal logic of the analysis. Even the judgment of the different interpretations is tricky since we all have our biases in what we want to take out of it.
Back in the day I went to see this with a friend of mine, both of us huge Lynch fans. The movie he did before this was called The Straight Story, and it is literally that, a story that goes from A to B without any shenanigans. Reviewers said of MD, that Lynch was weird again. When the movie ended my friend and I looked at each other and said, at the exact same time "That wasn't weird". After, we went to get a few beers and while she was doing something I went to buy a drink and, while standing at the bar, I looked out into the dancefloor, and I felt, with every fibre of my being, that I somehow had jumped from reality into a dream scenario. It was the weirdest feeling, not like anyhting I'd ever felt after a movie before or since, I hope you do more Lynch, don't just watch Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, unless you plan on also watching the two first seasons of Twin Peaks first.
The audition scene is crucial to understand Diane as a character. Just moments before she rehearses her lines with Rita/Camilla in a completely different way, in a very traditional/soap opera-esque tone that has nothing to do with the intensity and context of the scene in the actual audition. That not only tells the viewer that stories and characters may not be what they appear to be, but more importantly, that Betty is not the person we think she is. She hides the true nature of the scene while reading the lines with Rita, only to reveal moments later the real character in the scene, which basically is what the movie is all about.
Partly. At the audition, she took the scene in a different direction than was expected-which was soap opera-esque as you aptly put it. It was written to be typical melodramatic schmalz, but she gave it the sexy dangerous interpretation that blew everyone away. She turned the tables on the scene. But as you said, it revealed a hidden depth we didn’t know was there, something in contrast to “innocent Betty”. I agree with you 100% that it’s a key reveal.
I see the rehearsal with Rita/Camila and the audition in a different light. Diane (as revealed later at the dinner party) was not a successful actress, who only got small parts with the help of Camilla, who actually was successful. In the rehearsal Rita/Camila has no acting skills at all and at the audition Betty/Diane appears as an award winning actress. This is the way Diane's reality appears distorted in her dream.
There is a consensus among critics, film journalists, film makers etc. that this one of the best movies of this century, if not the best among them. It is defiantly worth multiple viewing, especially after reading different interpretations as to the meaning of this film. What I like about this movie is that, at least for me, this is a puzzle with a solution. We first see the reality, the Jitterbug contest that Diane (the blonde) won. Then we see her going to sleep. This happens after the hit on Camilla, Diane's lover that left her for Adam. The dream mirrors reality, but mostly in the way Diane wished it would be. All of the people in the dream are projections of her fears and desires. She is a promising actress, Camilla is in love with her and dependent on her, the hitman is clumsy (so he could have failed to kill Camilla in reality), Adam is having the worst time, etc. But the dream is unraveling. Reality is creeping in. It starts in the beginning. Aunt Ruth = untruth. Later Louise says to "Betty": "Someone is in trouble. Who are you?" Betty answers "My name's Betty" and Louise says "No it's not". The bum, dreamt by "Rita" in Diane's dream, may represent the place where the hitman left Diane the blue key, which means that Camilla is dead, behind Winkie's. And in the end of the dream, in the club, it is said and shown, that this is all an illusion. This is a dream. Diane wakes up. We see flashbacks, to the movie being filmed where Diane is a minor character, her relationship with Camilla, the party, the hiring of the hitman. At the end Diane is ridden with guilt about what she did. She hears the police knocking on her door. She hallucinates the elderly couple. Perhaps they are her grandparents, or the judges of the dance contest, those that represent the hopes and dreams she had before coming to Hollywood. She kills herself and all that is left is silence. Silencio. But what is so great about this movie is not only that it is a solvable puzzle, but that it has even more layers. I especially like the theory that the movie alluded to the Hollywood habit of the "casting couch" - A woman needs to sleep her way to the top, or she won't succeed as an actress. I also see the connections between this movie and the 1950's film "Sunset Boulevard", starting with the name of this film. And all of this is just the tip of the iceberg. This is truly one of the greatest films ever created.
Quite good! I also think there is a bit of Wizard Of Oz in there, as just about all his movies, and enough ambiguity that there will always be valid multiple interpretations, but I really like what you've come up with here.
It was amazing to see your reaction to this film. When I watched it for the first time, I had the same reaction. Then I showed it to my friends and they reacted the same way. This is one of my favorite films and Lynch's favorite. It is deeply tragic, dramatic, it talks about the psyche, the unconscious, love and hate... and there are many layers there. And although there is a “generally accepted” version on the Internet about what happened here, I like that, in general, as in dreams in general, there are many different interpretations. Interestingly, when Lynch himself was asked what the box and key symbolized, he replied that he had no idea what they meant.
In the most basic of terms, the film is about the destructive power of the “Hollywood dream” and most specifically about how that fabricated dream chews up and spits women out. As to everything that happens and how it all connects and functions in service of that theme, it’s all up for interpretation. And that interpretation is part of the fun.
Well done, you made a great attempt to get into this. Here's my bare bones explanation. Diane/Betty is a bad actress trying her luck in Hollywood. Rita/Camilla has a brief affair with her and gives her some small parts in her films. They break up when Camilla hooks up with the director Adam Kesher. Betty/Diane hires a hitman to kill her. Then there's a ton of stuff about perspective. For example, through Betty's eyes, she's a great actress and a kind positive person. In reality she's a terrible mess. The comical hitman scene is Betty/Diane regretting her decision and so she paints a picture of the hitman as incompetent in her mind. The blue key is just a symbol to show the hit has happened. Betty/Diane invents theories as to why she isn't being cast in roles and suggests the directors are being influenced by the mob or whoever. You have one woman with concussion and another sleeping or in a coma. Much of this is dreams. Think about your own dreams where people or faces you know do weird things or even represent different people to reality. I have a detailed attempt at explaining this on my blog from years ago if anyone cares. Reality is basically the party at the end. And I don't claim to really have the answers and I'm not certain of anything. I like how Lynch makes us feel though.
@@redatlitwhat do you mean? Rita seems more like a representative of someone who becomes cold and callous and comfortable with something like the casting couch because it worked for her, and the fame was worth it. At least, that’s how Diane imagines Camilla feels about her career and her sleeping around.
I enjoyed that you tried to experience the film rather than sit on the fence being analytical. Rather than figuring out the “meaning” of the film, how you felt while watching it is what counts. Great stuff!
Fun fact: this first part of this movie was mostly shot for the tv pilot. But THAT scene, the love scene. is exactly when the movie leaves the pilot behind. tells a new story, and never looks back ❤
So, this is my favorite film of all time. Like, by a lot. My reaction the first time (in the theatre) was similar to yours. LOTS of laughter. Not really getting it, but I was so affected by it. The third time is when I figured it out. People will say it's not supposed to be figured out, but it's all very clear once you piece it together - if you wish to. The magic is, you don't HAVE to. Great reaction!
Great, great reaction! I think it's about the closest to my first reaction to this masterpiece. I hope you get as much enjoyment in rewatching this terriffic movie and finding out about different interpretations and perspectives to it as I did. In the end it made me appreciate the completely different way a story is told and (overt and implicit) criticism it has of Hollywood and the rather simple and standardized way of most moviemaking in general. It is definitely in my top five all time and happy there is a David Lynch, a true artist showing that movies can be art. If you become a true fan, try Inland Empire, though it is not for the faint hearted.
No he didn't. He'd never say that. He famously refuses to insinuate or explain. This theory came from another youtuber who came up with that theory and then the telephone game took over.
@@JamiHeart there is an interview here on RUclips where David Lynch is talking about the casting couch and that whole part of Hollywood. I’m not sure if they are discussing, or if it is in relation to MD or not. I don’t recall. It may actually be in that RUclipsrs video on the MD explanation. I did enjoy his interpretation, and it does kind of make sense when you think about it.
The director offers an interpretive helping hand as to why the film seems strange: The title sequence includes a POV shot looking at a pillow and fading to black. This suggests going to bed and going to sleep. During sleep, we dream. Dreams have their own proprietary logic that doesn’t necessarily make sense. Once saw James Karen (Wally Brown) at a Q&A. Also, I cite this film in my writings, but not for the expected reason.
When I saw this the first time, I had to see it again right away because the main thing I took from the first viewing was that Naomi Watts is a really good actress. I've seen it many times since, but that original opinion hasn't changed.
fun fact: the mobster who didn't like the espresso is Angelo Badalamente, the guy who composed all the music (for this and most other David Lynch projects)
First off, this was so much fun to watch with you! I would NEVER have told you "it all makes sense" in the end. All of his movies are super weird, it's all just a matter of degree. I've seen this movie a hundred times and I was just noticing and understanding things when I was watching your edit. With Lynch, you just go and get the general idea and the feelings (which are usually weird!) and the incredible imagery and the imagination of it all. I was noticing how much Tarantino owes to Lynch, although he'd never give him credit. You can totally see it in (pre-Tarantino) Blue Velvet and Wild At Heart (which is basically what a Tarantino movie directed by Lynch would look like). And you can totally see it in this one, stuff like the incompetent hit man scene, the diner stuff. Also was noticing the Hitchcockian influence on the audition scene (specifically the way she's kissing him), and one homage to Bergman (whose "Persona" is a total precursor to "Mullholland Drive". Other films in that "identity" lineage include Altman's "Images" and Bunuel's "That Discreet Object Of Desire", as well as Lynch's own "Lost Highway". (And of course "Vertigo" started 'em off) LOVED this reaction!! I'm just sorry you were promised that it would "all make sense". It definitely is about something (Hollywood, quest for stardom, etc), but most of Lynch's movies are expressionistic and dream like and abstract, not to be taken literally.
One of my favorite movies and one of those movies that gets better with every rewatch. I really liked it when I was 15 and watched for the first time and had no idea how to interpret what I was looking at. It’s entrancing, off-putting, funny, tragic even before understanding the plot. I’d suggest simply watching a couple of theory videos about the movie from a couple RUclips channels. The film is “weird”, but it’s also a puzzle where everything does indeed fit. However, what makes the movie great is it’s sadness and sense of mystery and not the mystery itself.
One of my favorite reactions of yours ever, Sam. It’s a pretty humorless movie, in a conventional sense, but you had me laughing throughout, in a good way. “Dumbfoundedness” is to be expected in David Lynch films. Rarely reacted to, you can’t go wrong with any: Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, Lost Highway, and the Twin Peaks TV series. I even prefer his Dune to the franchise currently in theaters, and even his more “normal” films, Elephant Man and Straight Story are terrific. A great, odd rabbit hole to explore.
You actually kept up really well! With all the characters and name switching, I was more confused my first time than you were. And yeah, I've never found an "explanation" that really works, but it's one of my favorite movies and I'll gladly be confused forever. Try some other David Lynch, like The Straight Story and The Elephant Man for "normal" (but so deep and emotional) and Blue Velvet or Lost Highway for more like this. And I kinda think you'd love the tv show Twin Peaks. Lynch is one of a kind.
Well done on making it all the way through with a smile on your face. It's a trippy, confusing movie. I was impressed with how it kept my attention even when I had no idea what was going on.
I saw this twice in the theaters at the time in the same week. And the first time I saw it, when Diane wakes up (Naomi Watts), I did NOT recognize the actress and thought it was a different character. Her demeanor is that different.
I saw it twice too in the theaters at the time. The first time I was under a spell for days, and under a shock when I came out of the theater. Seeing this movie for the first time was one of the most mezmerizing expericence of my life.
I've said this before on other Lynch reactions, but I think the best way to approach his films is to think of them of actual recordings of a dream that David had.
This may be my favorite film of all time. Certainly my favorite modern film. Also, you are one of my favorite movie reaction channels. I find you to be even keeled, not dramatic or egotistical or call too much attention to yourself. You are just yourself, which is refreshing! 💓
@@VictorLugosiI mean there’s certainly more stages to it, but if one tries to pin it down at surface level, that’s not an unfitting description. You are welcome to display your own half-sentence-theme-description.
Like to me it’s mostly about taking the depressing reality and recreating Hollywood and yourself into what you think should be and what you originally thought would be.
I've heard people suggest that the old couple were actually her parents? Imo maybe, but definitely her original, optimistic dream of Hollywood fame coming back to haunt her
I'm super simple. I've always considered the first half Betty lying to herself and her family back-home about how great and perfect her life is. Then the reality kicks in.
I don’t think David Lynch’s œuvre is easy to summarize, but I think good first approximation would be: “normal” is a façade we use to paper over something unnerving; and the more normal the façade, the more unnerving the thing underneath.
queen your reaction to this film was everything 😭🩷 i loved it. hopefully you do some more lynch film reactions in the future. blue velvet by him is a little more straight forward but still very lynchian i think you might like. i love your energy and ability to go with the flow
In 2001 I was 26 years old.I'd been watching horror films since I was about 7 or 8.The only one that really scared me was"American Werewolf In London."Then I saw"Mulholland Drive."Much like yourself I nearly soiled myself when the burnt tramp popped round the corner!Thank you for making me laugh with"Yeah get back around that corner!Damn!"I've said it before but yes another brilliant reaction Sam!😁😉
Welcome to the wacky world of David Lynch. He loves to take his viewers on a crazy ride, I like to describe this one as a fever dream. Check out Blue Velvet and his series, Twin Peaks, both very cool and slightly less confusing lol.
This movie is the weirdness of the weird, there's a lot a questions to be said and it's crazy that I have this movie on DVD, cool reaction as always Sam, you take care and have a great weekend sweetie 🥰❤️
Ha! I honestly wasn't that in to watching this one, but than figured I had to see your reaction to it, and it was worth it! Don't try too hard to figure this out. Welcome to the mind of David Lynch! This is just how it goes with him. He's an oddly fascinating guy, and it's always an experience, but I'll be damned if I could explain to you what the hell is going on most of the time, and this isn't necessarily even his wildest one. That's just what he does. Take it or leave it. Don't try too hard to make sense of it, less you lose your own mind!
The hit man scene never fails to crack me up. I've always seen it as, in Diane's mind as she struggles to keep her perfect world, the man she hired is so completely and utterly inept that he would have screwed up the assassination for sure. Nice job diving into this one. With enough viewings and enough contemplation it actually becomes one of Lynch's easier to understand films. Now, Inland Empire? Thaaaaaaaat's a whole different ballgame. Naomi Watts in this movie really blows my mind. I can see why this launched her career the way it did. She has to play such a wide range of emotions and conflicting personality types, from the intentionally fake, dreamlike naivete of Betty to the eventual cynical, bitter reality of Diane.
All David Lynch movies, even the ones that have more straightforward stories (Blue Velvet, Straight Story) are designed to drive you up the walls interpreting and reinterpreting and rewatching and arguing with other people about what it means. The incredible thing about David Lynch is that he can actually make you do it.
The scene you gave the "red flag" to is what made Naomi Watts a star. That was her big break and Hollywood execs took notice of how good an actress she was. Naomi was in an early Australian movie of hers called Flirting a decade earlier with Nicole Kidman who she had known since they were teenagers.
So now that I've watched the reaction, I think the hint to just enjoy the trip and don't try to make sense out of it was great. To indicate it will all make sense at some point not so much... :D That said, there are a lot of analysis and explanations. And I'm on the same page with you. Some I get, some not so much. And I'm sure Lynch himself leave a lot of stuff open to interpretation on purpose - he's not sitting at home with a evil "hahaha, I outsmarted my audience"-smile on his face. And that's what I like about Lynch movies - or in general this kind of movies. I stopped trying to make sense out of David Lynch movies, I just enjoy the wild rides he offers you. He is so great creating strange and weird atmospheres you can lose yourself in. You don't have get a simple story with a clear resolution all the time.
Sam you're a really good reactor, and I have two of many good movies that you would be great reacting to: [1) "LIFE", starring both Eddie Murphy & Martin Lawrence, funny & touching..........2) "Driving Miss Daisy", interesting & touching]. You would do great with both these movies. 👌🏾
I had to look at a video to get the last hour, but that's only because I hadn't seen enough Lynch movies to understand his cinematic language. When he zooms into and out of stuff, that's entering or exiting a dream state. It happens in Blue Velvet with the ear, and arguably in Twin Peaks The Return with the atomic bomb. In there it might not be a literal dream but it seems to be kind of a hypnagogic state that leads to the creation of the Black Lodge, which is a dream-like plane of existence
Everything that occurs before the cube is opened is a dream, a "denial" fantasy. After the cube is opened, the film becomes real, up until the point where a final paranoid fantasy of guilt (the creepy old people) takes over and leads to suicide.
One of thé bizarre films of all Times.....lynch IS a bizarre director..i couldnt understand anything ..After an hour make little sence....weird one❤🎉but....i will salute you for choosing this....🎉nice réaction as always
Sam in the intro: "I have no idea what it's about, I don't know the plot, I don't know anything" Everyone after the film: "yeah kinda the same tbf lol" Brilliant stuff. I love David Lynch so much. I feel with a lot of his stuff you can "get" it but not explain it - like it's art and it makes you feel a way, and that means it's working. Would love for you to check out LOST HIGHWAY (1997), another one of his full of unease, identity questions, and general weirdness
Absolutely one of my favourite movies of all time. Really helped me in a difficult time. The cut as Diane turns from the dinner to the diner, with the dropped plate, might be my favourite cut in any movie Now you have to watch Inland Empire! which is like AP Mulholland Drive
This is a top 5 film for me, saw it in the theater twice. Director David Lynch is of the opinion that your mind can understand things subconsciously that don't make linear sense. He's a big believer in Transcendental Meditation. Note at the beginning of the film the camera zooming in on the pillow at Diane's bungalow, that might indicate it's a dream we're about to see or the last fleeting experience after she shoots herself and falls on the bed. My own interpretation is the last portion of the film is real, Diane has Camilla killed and feels guilt and remorse. Her demons (the old couple) haunt her and the police are hunting her so she takes the only way out. The first part of the film is her interpretation of events as she's in purgatory, forced to relive her crime. She has an idyllic view of her arrival in L.A. as a talented actress, has the love affair. It's all undone when she faces the reality after opening the blue box.
This (without having watched it yet) already falls into my “At least they didn’t start with Eraserhead” category for David Lynch reactions. Just from the thumbnail I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be a hoot.
It takes two viewings to get this film. Basically everything BEFORE Betty opens the blue box is a dream. After she opens the box, she wakes from her dream. In reality she wasn't an actress but just a chick who lived in a run down apartment. She at one time tried to break into acting, but her career went nowhere. Camilla was able to secure her a couple of bit parts but she never made lead roles. The film implies that Camilla only made it because she was a "casting couch" girl sleeping with the director, which seems to be something Diane wouldn't do. Diane had enough of Camilla humiliating her and put out a hit. After the hit was done, the weird guy from the Diner went to the Cops because he overheard Diane and the hitman plotting it. This is why Diane's neighbor said "Detectives came by here again." Diane knew the gig was up, began losing her mind, and killed herself.
I'm not sure that it's that simple. I don't think she put a hit out on Camilla. The reason being, if the cops were looking for her regarding a murder, no way would she have been able to hide out in her apartment for three weeks. I am also not sure which parts of this are a dream and which parts aren't. I think Betty/Diane and Rita/Camilla might be the same person. I also think that the real Camilla is the blonde who kissed Rita/Camilla at the party. I'm also thinking that different sequences are actually different people's dream or maybe nightmare. I think part of it is Diane dreaming and part of it is Adam dreaming. I don't know. This movie messed with my head.
Mulholland Drive is a murder mystery told through a drug-addled dream. Diane's dream scrambles the names and faces. In the dream, Betty and Rita are really the same person. They realize they're somehow the same after seeing the corpse, which is why you get that "smearing" effect after they run out, and why Rita makes herself look like Betty. The Club Silencio performance tells them that they are characters in a dream, nothing is real. The blue box appears there because, well, that was Betty's purpose all along. So, she disappears after she provides it. Camilla disappears after she performs her purpose: supply the key and open the box. What's the box? Well, one interpretation is that it represents love. The key is triangular, like a love triangle. Another thing it could be is the promise of Hollywood. Either way, it's opened and is empty, and that ends the dream. Everything after that point on is real but told out of order.
If you want 18 hours of this kind of thing, there's the Twin Peaks return series. Actually it's even weirder, darker and funnier. Greatest thing ever made for tv. But in smaller two hour doses, there's Blue Velvet, Wild At Heart and Lost Highway, that are the best Lynch films besides this one.
When I first tried to figure out this film, I think I didn't even consider the possibility that the first 80% or so was all Diane's dream, maybe because it felt too obvious and easy as an explanation. I tend not to be crazy about the "it was all a dream" ending, as it sometimes feels like a copout to me. Instead, my mind went to thoughts of alternate realities, etc. However, while there's no definitive answer, I admit that the dream interpretation makes the most sense. In any case, Mulholland Drive is so entertainingly weird, I can't help being a fan of it.
Another awesome David Lynch mind freak movie I would love to see your reaction to is "Lost Highway". Actually, I would love to see your reaction to most of David Lynch's films: "Eraserhead", "Blue Velvet", "Wild at Heart", "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me", and "Lost Highway".
I wonder how the woman got the box. I think that might be Camilla, the woman in the alley. After she didn't get the part in the film. She wound up in that guy's dream.
Approach David Lynch fulms like you go about interpreting a dream. A lot od nonsense, but with themes being hit on. It's more about creating a feeling than trying to get across something concrete.
Its like the old people - who had the same high expectations of her as she had of herself at the beginning when she first arrives - haunt her in the abject failure that she eventually becomes.
Possibly representing her family, parents, grandparents, something along those lines back home, so pleased with her success, and their disappointment coming back to further drive her into despair and regret.
GIANT hint: one of the first shots is a POV of someone falling into a pillow. Then think about what happens about halfway through the movie after they disappear into the box 😉
David Lynch tends to make brain melters 🤪 I'm not his biggest fan (aside from the grotesquely wonderful Dune 84) but I cannot deny his artistry. For some non-Lynch artistic weirdness - The Show (2021), written and directed by Alan Moore (writer of the comics Watchmen and V For Vendetta) Six-String Samurai (a post-apocalyptic rock&roll samurai western) Motorama (a fever dream of a roadtrip) Meet The Hollowheads, with Juliette Lewis and John Glover (a dark, weird alternate universe Jetsons😅)
Welcome to the world of David Lynch. Don't bother looking up what lynch says the movies are about. He won't ever say. He wants you to decide for yourself what they mean to you. That said, this is probably one of the more straight-forward of Lynch's films, but it has many layers in its themes and symbolism. On the small-scale side of things, it's about the mental decline of a failed aspiring actress whose prospects and relationships went south in the Hollywood system. And on the larger-scale side of things, it's about that system that tore her dreams down and left her broken. And then there's the thematic and symbolic elements that come from her desire to escape from her situation, and creates her fantasy version of her life where she's successful in both life and love, and when the fantasy is over and she's left with the reality of what she's done, how her life ends. Lynch's films tend to have a presentation and atmosphere like that of surreal nightmares. It's one of the most interesting and captivating parts of his style of filmmaking. This and Lost Highway are two of my favorites of his. His most iconic film is Eraserhead, and is a trip and a half. But he's probably best known (arguably) for his adaptation of Dune.
Isn't it? He's such a fantastic movie composer, and his style matches and mirrors what Lynch is doing perfectly. He's a master of creating atmosphere. There are some great director/composer duos that are just "made for each other", like Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Hermann or Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone. Lynch and Bandalamenti are absolutely up there too.
I imagine just about everyone has the same reaction on the first watch. Each successive watch peels more layers of the onion, or shows more depth of this work of cinematic art. Ultimately this movie is about the exploitation of women.
I hated this movie the first time I watched it. It was so frustrating. Many years later and a couple dozen rewatches after, It's in my top 5 movies. Truly a movie that grows and expands the more you watch it. Anyways, excellent reaction!
Lynch loves the feeling of a mystery, but not the explanation of one, so just live in your "thinking" phase and enjoy that. That's what I love about his work.
Well, I thought this was another movie entirely so I started to watch it with you, but then I knew right away it wasn’t the one I thought it was but then I was sucked into watching all of it with you and it made no sense to me either, which is par for the course with David Lynch movies, with the exception of Twin Peaks (was that even him?), so I’m all confused … I thought it was going to be LA Confidential which I see you’ve reacted to already two years ago so I’m going to go watch that one. Maybe that will help? Peace … Okay, that helped. Have you checked out Chinatown? It’s also moody LA, really good.
Did you find the explanation? A good, complete one?😅 when I finished watching this movie years ago, I said out loud to myself “no clue what just happened” 😂
There are better movies in this genre. When I was in high school, I probably liked it for the same reason as you. Show Me Love (F***ing Amal) is a Swedish film from 1998 that reminds me so much of high school. It’s a really well done teen romance that takes its characters seriously. It’s about 2 high school girls who fall in love. I won’t spoil it. It’s that good.
People like to say it is all Diane's dream. But doesn't Betty dream to? Are we the reality or are our dreams dreaming us instead? And Rita, does she not dream or try to make sense of a world she does not understand? The only one who seems to know lives behind Winkie's.
I don't know who told you this would "all come together"! LOL When the director says it's up to the viewer's interpretation, you know even he doesn't know what's going on.
The whole last hour of this movie makes a lot more sense when you know David Lynch wanted to make a whole TV show about these people, and when it wasn't picked up he simply took the pilot script he'd written and added a bunch of weird stuff to the end so it could stand as a feature film (it's not like anything here is any weirder than the kind of stuff Lynch usually does, which became a real asset).
He didn’t just “add a bunch of weird stuff”. The whole movie is “weird stuff.” He was forced to try to make something less weird than he wanted for broadcast TV consumption. Once it became a film, he had free range. He completely changed the general plot and meaning of the movie’s first hour and a half. He turned the movie into a puzzle. And yes, everything fits perfectly together. If anything, Mulholland Dr probably represents Lynch being at his peak of blending the “weird” with conventional Hollywood movie appeal and trappings. It’s one of the more easy to digest Lynch movies even you don’t get what the hell is going on on first watch.
@@Rmlohner No one said “you don’t it get” 😂. But if you sum up the final 45 minutes as just “a bunch of weird stuff” then yeah, you don’t get it. The arc/story of the movie isn’t even that different from Lynch’s Lost Highway: fantasy and dreams deflecting from ugly realities, but the fantasy is tainted by trauma and the protagonist making some horrible mistakes. Both movies just have different moods and ways of execution. I think Mulholland Dr is quite a bit better than Lost Highway though. Hell, this movie is probably less weird than Lost Highway and several Lynch projects.
It take at least 3 watchings .... Good tips on here on the basics ..... The first part is not real it what she wants her life to be ... the 2nd part is what happened
Lets goooo. Not enough people react to this!
Lynch has stated that his favorite film is the wizard of oz and it has influenced him the most.
It makes a lot of sense when you look at the plot of both films and see the dream versions of Dorothy's family and society vs the real.
Lynch is just much more coy about where the dream begins and ends.
For me, Lynch is much more about atmosphere than the actual plot. His movies kind of capture what a dream feels like. Like you said, he does a very good job at giving everything this kind of unsettling, anxiety-inducing vibe. Especially Mulholland Drive has this surreal atmosphere built up throughout the entire film that puts you in this uneasy mindset, making some of the scenes almost feel like a nightmare, like the Winkie’s diner scene. His humor really gets me as well, though, especially on a re-watch when you’re not too preoccupied with the mystery of it all. There are so many scenes that had me in stitches (and your reaction made it even better lol).
Mulholland Drive is a brave choice, though, for a first Lynch film. I always recommend Blue Velvet for anyone unfamiliar with his work; it's much more straightforward plot-wise and easier to understand, though still packed with Lynch's trademark eccentricity.
No. It’s not a dream.
The basic explanation is; most of the movie, everything you've seen before the blue box opened is the dream/nightmare of Diane. The last half an hour or so (after the blue bok opened) is the non-linear depiction of reality. The short story is; Diane wanted to be an actress and moved to LA, didn't succeed. she met Camilia, a more succesful actress who helped her get some minor jobs, they also had a romantic/sexual relationship which Diane took seriously but Camilia didn't. Camilia fall in love with a famous rich director, dumped Diane, rubbed their "happiness" on Diane's face. Diane got jelaous and angry and hired a hitman. After she realized the job is done, she feared the consequences and also regretted kililng her loved one. Her guilt and fears got stronger and stronger and as a result she experienced that nightmare we've watched at length, and after waking up from the dream, she was overwhelmed with the guilt and all that fear, and in the end, she killed herself.
The dream/nightmare part begins as her alternative "happy" reality but slowly hunted and conquered by her real guilt and fears. Every scene is a depiction of either her dreams coming true or her fears and guilt coming to hunt her, pulling her back to reality.
^ this ^
Brilliant analysis.
What does the audition scene represent?
Why do we see the blurring of the image in the ´reality´ sequence 3 times?
Why do we see the elderly couple coming out of the Blue Box and haunting Diane?
Just some questions that do not get answered satisfactory by the classical interpretation.
@@praapje Yes. The analysis isn’t wrong, but it’s incomplete because it doesn’t account for all the elements, and Lynch is unconcerned with tying together all the loose ends. The mind might want everything tied up and neat, but the mind itself is not.
The elements that don’t fit neatly into the above analysis are not disconnected. There is another solution to the puzzle that incorporates them, but in that solution, maybe other pieces don’t fit. I’m not saying I have an alternate solution, I’m saying that the movie itself suggests that there are multiple answers, none of which account for everything.
Leaving the film itself, and looking at the history of the project and Lynch’s creative process, there is strong extra-textual support for the theory that there is no single correct decoding of this movie.
@@MarcosElMalo2 Not all explanations are equal. Some are better than others depending on the internal logic of the analysis. Even the judgment of the different interpretations is tricky since we all have our biases in what we want to take out of it.
Back in the day I went to see this with a friend of mine, both of us huge Lynch fans. The movie he did before this was called The Straight Story, and it is literally that, a story that goes from A to B without any shenanigans. Reviewers said of MD, that Lynch was weird again.
When the movie ended my friend and I looked at each other and said, at the exact same time "That wasn't weird".
After, we went to get a few beers and while she was doing something I went to buy a drink and, while standing at the bar, I looked out into the dancefloor, and I felt, with every fibre of my being, that I somehow had jumped from reality into a dream scenario. It was the weirdest feeling, not like anyhting I'd ever felt after a movie before or since,
I hope you do more Lynch, don't just watch Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, unless you plan on also watching the two first seasons of Twin Peaks first.
The audition scene is crucial to understand Diane as a character. Just moments before she rehearses her lines with Rita/Camilla in a completely different way, in a very traditional/soap opera-esque tone that has nothing to do with the intensity and context of the scene in the actual audition. That not only tells the viewer that stories and characters may not be what they appear to be, but more importantly, that Betty is not the person we think she is. She hides the true nature of the scene while reading the lines with Rita, only to reveal moments later the real character in the scene, which basically is what the movie is all about.
Partly. At the audition, she took the scene in a different direction than was expected-which was soap opera-esque as you aptly put it. It was written to be typical melodramatic schmalz, but she gave it the sexy dangerous interpretation that blew everyone away. She turned the tables on the scene.
But as you said, it revealed a hidden depth we didn’t know was there, something in contrast to “innocent Betty”. I agree with you 100% that it’s a key reveal.
I see the rehearsal with Rita/Camila and the audition in a different light. Diane (as revealed later at the dinner party) was not a successful actress, who only got small parts with the help of Camilla, who actually was successful. In the rehearsal Rita/Camila has no acting skills at all and at the audition Betty/Diane appears as an award winning actress. This is the way Diane's reality appears distorted in her dream.
There is a consensus among critics, film journalists, film makers etc. that this one of the best movies of this century, if not the best among them. It is defiantly worth multiple viewing, especially after reading different interpretations as to the meaning of this film. What I like about this movie is that, at least for me, this is a puzzle with a solution.
We first see the reality, the Jitterbug contest that Diane (the blonde) won. Then we see her going to sleep. This happens after the hit on Camilla, Diane's lover that left her for Adam. The dream mirrors reality, but mostly in the way Diane wished it would be. All of the people in the dream are projections of her fears and desires. She is a promising actress, Camilla is in love with her and dependent on her, the hitman is clumsy (so he could have failed to kill Camilla in reality), Adam is having the worst time, etc.
But the dream is unraveling. Reality is creeping in. It starts in the beginning. Aunt Ruth = untruth. Later Louise says to "Betty": "Someone is in trouble. Who are you?" Betty answers "My name's Betty" and Louise says "No it's not". The bum, dreamt by "Rita" in Diane's dream, may represent the place where the hitman left Diane the blue key, which means that Camilla is dead, behind Winkie's. And in the end of the dream, in the club, it is said and shown, that this is all an illusion. This is a dream.
Diane wakes up. We see flashbacks, to the movie being filmed where Diane is a minor character, her relationship with Camilla, the party, the hiring of the hitman. At the end Diane is ridden with guilt about what she did. She hears the police knocking on her door. She hallucinates the elderly couple. Perhaps they are her grandparents, or the judges of the dance contest, those that represent the hopes and dreams she had before coming to Hollywood. She kills herself and all that is left is silence. Silencio.
But what is so great about this movie is not only that it is a solvable puzzle, but that it has even more layers. I especially like the theory that the movie alluded to the Hollywood habit of the "casting couch" - A woman needs to sleep her way to the top, or she won't succeed as an actress. I also see the connections between this movie and the 1950's film "Sunset Boulevard", starting with the name of this film. And all of this is just the tip of the iceberg.
This is truly one of the greatest films ever created.
Quite good! I also think there is a bit of Wizard Of Oz in there, as just about all his movies, and enough ambiguity that there will always be valid multiple interpretations, but I really like what you've come up with here.
It was amazing to see your reaction to this film. When I watched it for the first time, I had the same reaction. Then I showed it to my friends and they reacted the same way.
This is one of my favorite films and Lynch's favorite. It is deeply tragic, dramatic, it talks about the psyche, the unconscious, love and hate... and there are many layers there. And although there is a “generally accepted” version on the Internet about what happened here, I like that, in general, as in dreams in general, there are many different interpretations.
Interestingly, when Lynch himself was asked what the box and key symbolized, he replied that he had no idea what they meant.
Winner of the Best Director prize at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival
In the most basic of terms, the film is about the destructive power of the “Hollywood dream” and most specifically about how that fabricated dream chews up and spits women out.
As to everything that happens and how it all connects and functions in service of that theme, it’s all up for interpretation. And that interpretation is part of the fun.
And how it is all kept silent
Spot on. I would describe this movie as a dream vs a nightmare and idealism vs reality. A lot of the other parts, I'm still very confused about.
Wow, one of my alltime favourite movies, and my favourite from the great David Lynch. I'm hyped for the reaction.
Well done, you made a great attempt to get into this. Here's my bare bones explanation. Diane/Betty is a bad actress trying her luck in Hollywood. Rita/Camilla has a brief affair with her and gives her some small parts in her films. They break up when Camilla hooks up with the director Adam Kesher. Betty/Diane hires a hitman to kill her. Then there's a ton of stuff about perspective. For example, through Betty's eyes, she's a great actress and a kind positive person. In reality she's a terrible mess. The comical hitman scene is Betty/Diane regretting her decision and so she paints a picture of the hitman as incompetent in her mind. The blue key is just a symbol to show the hit has happened. Betty/Diane invents theories as to why she isn't being cast in roles and suggests the directors are being influenced by the mob or whoever. You have one woman with concussion and another sleeping or in a coma. Much of this is dreams. Think about your own dreams where people or faces you know do weird things or even represent different people to reality. I have a detailed attempt at explaining this on my blog from years ago if anyone cares. Reality is basically the party at the end. And I don't claim to really have the answers and I'm not certain of anything. I like how Lynch makes us feel though.
Here is the link to my blog post if it allows links: intheframefilmreviews.blogspot.com/2012/03/100-movies-no-64-mulholland-dr.html
Now think that all through again with the understanding that Rita IS the casting couch. Pretty brilliant movie. It all totally clicks.
@@redatlitwhat do you mean? Rita seems more like a representative of someone who becomes cold and callous and comfortable with something like the casting couch because it worked for her, and the fame was worth it. At least, that’s how Diane imagines Camilla feels about her career and her sleeping around.
Pretty much nailed it.
I enjoyed that you tried to experience the film rather than sit on the fence being analytical. Rather than figuring out the “meaning” of the film, how you felt while watching it is what counts. Great stuff!
Fun fact: this first part of this movie was mostly shot for the tv pilot. But THAT scene, the love scene. is exactly when the movie leaves the pilot behind. tells a new story, and never looks back ❤
When it earns the R rating lol
So, this is my favorite film of all time. Like, by a lot. My reaction the first time (in the theatre) was similar to yours. LOTS of laughter. Not really getting it, but I was so affected by it. The third time is when I figured it out. People will say it's not supposed to be figured out, but it's all very clear once you piece it together - if you wish to. The magic is, you don't HAVE to.
Great reaction!
Great, great reaction! I think it's about the closest to my first reaction to this masterpiece. I hope you get as much enjoyment in rewatching this terriffic movie and finding out about different interpretations and perspectives to it as I did. In the end it made me appreciate the completely different way a story is told and (overt and implicit) criticism it has of Hollywood and the rather simple and standardized way of most moviemaking in general. It is definitely in my top five all time and happy there is a David Lynch, a true artist showing that movies can be art. If you become a true fan, try Inland Empire, though it is not for the faint hearted.
Lynch has insinuated that Rita is the personification of the “casting couch”.
Yup...I look at the man in the wheel chair as a representation of Weinstein
Where can I read/watch him insinuate this?
No he didn't. He'd never say that. He famously refuses to insinuate or explain. This theory came from another youtuber who came up with that theory and then the telephone game took over.
@@JamiHeart there is an interview here on RUclips where David Lynch is talking about the casting couch and that whole part of Hollywood. I’m not sure if they are discussing, or if it is in relation to MD or not. I don’t recall. It may actually be in that RUclipsrs video on the MD explanation. I did enjoy his interpretation, and it does kind of make sense when you think about it.
The director offers an interpretive helping hand as to why the film seems strange: The title sequence includes a POV shot looking at a pillow and fading to black. This suggests going to bed and going to sleep. During sleep, we dream. Dreams have their own proprietary logic that doesn’t necessarily make sense. Once saw James Karen (Wally Brown) at a Q&A. Also, I cite this film in my writings, but not for the expected reason.
When I saw this the first time, I had to see it again right away because the main thing I took from the first viewing was that Naomi Watts is a really good actress.
I've seen it many times since, but that original opinion hasn't changed.
The fact OGB literally thought she was a different person after the switch from Betty to Diane...proof positive.
Lynch does it every single time. Mystery sprinkled with a terrible sense of unease. Classic Lynch.
fun fact: the mobster who didn't like the espresso is Angelo Badalamente, the guy who composed all the music (for this and most other David Lynch projects)
best ost
best directing
best movie
to get lost in this movie for the first time is the best movie experience
that thumbnail image perfectly encapsulates my reaction the first (and only) time I saw this as well
First off, this was so much fun to watch with you! I would NEVER have told you "it all makes sense" in the end. All of his movies are super weird, it's all just a matter of degree. I've seen this movie a hundred times and I was just noticing and understanding things when I was watching your edit. With Lynch, you just go and get the general idea and the feelings (which are usually weird!) and the incredible imagery and the imagination of it all. I was noticing how much Tarantino owes to Lynch, although he'd never give him credit. You can totally see it in (pre-Tarantino) Blue Velvet and Wild At Heart (which is basically what a Tarantino movie directed by Lynch would look like). And you can totally see it in this one, stuff like the incompetent hit man scene, the diner stuff. Also was noticing the Hitchcockian influence on the audition scene (specifically the way she's kissing him), and one homage to Bergman (whose "Persona" is a total precursor to "Mullholland Drive". Other films in that "identity" lineage include Altman's "Images" and Bunuel's "That Discreet Object Of Desire", as well as Lynch's own "Lost Highway". (And of course "Vertigo" started 'em off) LOVED this reaction!! I'm just sorry you were promised that it would "all make sense". It definitely is about something (Hollywood, quest for stardom, etc), but most of Lynch's movies are expressionistic and dream like and abstract, not to be taken literally.
One of my favorite movies and one of those movies that gets better with every rewatch. I really liked it when I was 15 and watched for the first time and had no idea how to interpret what I was looking at. It’s entrancing, off-putting, funny, tragic even before understanding the plot. I’d suggest simply watching a couple of theory videos about the movie from a couple RUclips channels. The film is “weird”, but it’s also a puzzle where everything does indeed fit. However, what makes the movie great is it’s sadness and sense of mystery and not the mystery itself.
One of my favorite reactions of yours ever, Sam. It’s a pretty humorless movie, in a conventional sense, but you had me laughing throughout, in a good way. “Dumbfoundedness” is to be expected in David Lynch films. Rarely reacted to, you can’t go wrong with any: Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, Lost Highway, and the Twin Peaks TV series. I even prefer his Dune to the franchise currently in theaters, and even his more “normal” films, Elephant Man and Straight Story are terrific. A great, odd rabbit hole to explore.
You actually kept up really well! With all the characters and name switching, I was more confused my first time than you were. And yeah, I've never found an "explanation" that really works, but it's one of my favorite movies and I'll gladly be confused forever. Try some other David Lynch, like The Straight Story and The Elephant Man for "normal" (but so deep and emotional) and Blue Velvet or Lost Highway for more like this. And I kinda think you'd love the tv show Twin Peaks. Lynch is one of a kind.
Well done on making it all the way through with a smile on your face. It's a trippy, confusing movie. I was impressed with how it kept my attention even when I had no idea what was going on.
I saw this twice in the theaters at the time in the same week. And the first time I saw it, when Diane wakes up (Naomi Watts), I did NOT recognize the actress and thought it was a different character. Her demeanor is that different.
I saw it twice too in the theaters at the time. The first time I was under a spell for days, and under a shock when I came out of the theater. Seeing this movie for the first time was one of the most mezmerizing expericence of my life.
I've said this before on other Lynch reactions, but I think the best way to approach his films is to think of them of actual recordings of a dream that David had.
I love this movie so much. The moment two thirds through where the bottom falls out of the story is wild. Just gotta vibe with it😂
This may be my favorite film of all time. Certainly my favorite modern film. Also, you are one of my favorite movie reaction channels. I find you to be even keeled, not dramatic or egotistical or call too much attention to yourself. You are just yourself, which is refreshing! 💓
This was a very confusing movie when I first watched it years, but then later on, I realized it's a revenge fantasy gone wrong.
@@VictorLugosiI mean there’s certainly more stages to it, but if one tries to pin it down at surface level, that’s not an unfitting description. You are welcome to display your own half-sentence-theme-description.
@@VictorLugosithere does seem to be some of that in there, but it’s not entirely just about revenge
Like to me it’s mostly about taking the depressing reality and recreating Hollywood and yourself into what you think should be and what you originally thought would be.
I've heard people suggest that the old couple were actually her parents? Imo maybe, but definitely her original, optimistic dream of Hollywood fame coming back to haunt her
I'm super simple. I've always considered the first half Betty lying to herself and her family back-home about how great and perfect her life is. Then the reality kicks in.
I don’t think David Lynch’s œuvre is easy to summarize, but I think good first approximation would be: “normal” is a façade we use to paper over something unnerving; and the more normal the façade, the more unnerving the thing underneath.
queen your reaction to this film was everything 😭🩷 i loved it. hopefully you do some more lynch film reactions in the future. blue velvet by him is a little more straight forward but still very lynchian i think you might like. i love your energy and ability to go with the flow
In 2001 I was 26 years old.I'd been watching horror films since I was about 7 or 8.The only one that really scared me was"American Werewolf In London."Then I saw"Mulholland Drive."Much like yourself I nearly soiled myself when the burnt tramp popped round the corner!Thank you for making me laugh with"Yeah get back around that corner!Damn!"I've said it before but yes another brilliant reaction Sam!😁😉
Welcome to the wacky world of David Lynch. He loves to take his viewers on a crazy ride, I like to describe this one as a fever dream. Check out Blue Velvet and his series, Twin Peaks, both very cool and slightly less confusing lol.
This movie is the weirdness of the weird, there's a lot a questions to be said and it's crazy that I have this movie on DVD, cool reaction as always Sam, you take care and have a great weekend sweetie 🥰❤️
Ha! I honestly wasn't that in to watching this one, but than figured I had to see your reaction to it, and it was worth it! Don't try too hard to figure this out. Welcome to the mind of David Lynch! This is just how it goes with him. He's an oddly fascinating guy, and it's always an experience, but I'll be damned if I could explain to you what the hell is going on most of the time, and this isn't necessarily even his wildest one. That's just what he does. Take it or leave it. Don't try too hard to make sense of it, less you lose your own mind!
I love Mark Pellegrino as the world’s most hapless hitman.
Well the woman at the very end said it all: SILENCIO.
9:41 “everything’s going to make sense” 😂😂😂😂 keep telling yourself that
The hit man scene never fails to crack me up. I've always seen it as, in Diane's mind as she struggles to keep her perfect world, the man she hired is so completely and utterly inept that he would have screwed up the assassination for sure. Nice job diving into this one. With enough viewings and enough contemplation it actually becomes one of Lynch's easier to understand films. Now, Inland Empire? Thaaaaaaaat's a whole different ballgame. Naomi Watts in this movie really blows my mind. I can see why this launched her career the way it did. She has to play such a wide range of emotions and conflicting personality types, from the intentionally fake, dreamlike naivete of Betty to the eventual cynical, bitter reality of Diane.
All David Lynch movies, even the ones that have more straightforward stories (Blue Velvet, Straight Story) are designed to drive you up the walls interpreting and reinterpreting and rewatching and arguing with other people about what it means. The incredible thing about David Lynch is that he can actually make you do it.
The scene you gave the "red flag" to is what made Naomi Watts a star. That was her big break and Hollywood execs took notice of how good an actress she was. Naomi was in an early Australian movie of hers called Flirting a decade earlier with Nicole Kidman who she had known since they were teenagers.
So now that I've watched the reaction, I think the hint to just enjoy the trip and don't try to make sense out of it was great. To indicate it will all make sense at some point not so much... :D
That said, there are a lot of analysis and explanations. And I'm on the same page with you. Some I get, some not so much. And I'm sure Lynch himself leave a lot of stuff open to interpretation on purpose - he's not sitting at home with a evil "hahaha, I outsmarted my audience"-smile on his face. And that's what I like about Lynch movies - or in general this kind of movies. I stopped trying to make sense out of David Lynch movies, I just enjoy the wild rides he offers you. He is so great creating strange and weird atmospheres you can lose yourself in. You don't have get a simple story with a clear resolution all the time.
Sam you're a really good reactor, and I have two of many good movies that you would be great reacting to: [1) "LIFE", starring both Eddie Murphy & Martin Lawrence, funny & touching..........2) "Driving Miss Daisy", interesting & touching]. You would do great with both these movies. 👌🏾
I had to look at a video to get the last hour, but that's only because I hadn't seen enough Lynch movies to understand his cinematic language. When he zooms into and out of stuff, that's entering or exiting a dream state. It happens in Blue Velvet with the ear, and arguably in Twin Peaks The Return with the atomic bomb. In there it might not be a literal dream but it seems to be kind of a hypnagogic state that leads to the creation of the Black Lodge, which is a dream-like plane of existence
Everything that occurs before the cube is opened is a dream, a "denial" fantasy. After the cube is opened, the film becomes real, up until the point where a final paranoid fantasy of guilt (the creepy old people) takes over and leads to suicide.
This is the perfect David Lynch film. It's all here in perfect proportions.
One of thé bizarre films of all Times.....lynch IS a bizarre director..i couldnt understand anything ..After an hour make little sence....weird one❤🎉but....i will salute you for choosing this....🎉nice réaction as always
Sam in the intro: "I have no idea what it's about, I don't know the plot, I don't know anything"
Everyone after the film: "yeah kinda the same tbf lol"
Brilliant stuff. I love David Lynch so much. I feel with a lot of his stuff you can "get" it but not explain it -
like it's art and it makes you feel a way, and that means it's working.
Would love for you to check out LOST HIGHWAY (1997), another one of his full of unease, identity questions, and general weirdness
Never saw this film. But the name reminded me of a thriller movie u should watch. With Tim Robbin’s and Jeff bridges. It’s called Arlington road.
one helluva movie!the ending is darn near perfect!
Absolutely one of my favourite movies of all time. Really helped me in a difficult time. The cut as Diane turns from the dinner to the diner, with the dropped plate, might be my favourite cut in any movie
Now you have to watch Inland Empire! which is like AP Mulholland Drive
You should totally react to Twin Peaks. It’s brilliant and not a big time commitment, relatively speaking. Just 3 seasons and a feature film.
My 2nd favorite movie of all time (The Shining has it beat but just barely)
This is a top 5 film for me, saw it in the theater twice. Director David Lynch is of the opinion that your mind can understand things subconsciously that don't make linear sense. He's a big believer in Transcendental Meditation.
Note at the beginning of the film the camera zooming in on the pillow at Diane's bungalow, that might indicate it's a dream we're about to see or the last fleeting experience after she shoots herself and falls on the bed.
My own interpretation is the last portion of the film is real, Diane has Camilla killed and feels guilt and remorse. Her demons (the old couple) haunt her and the police are hunting her so she takes the only way out.
The first part of the film is her interpretation of events as she's in purgatory, forced to relive her crime. She has an idyllic view of her arrival in L.A. as a talented actress, has the love affair. It's all undone when she faces the reality after opening the blue box.
This (without having watched it yet) already falls into my “At least they didn’t start with Eraserhead” category for David Lynch reactions. Just from the thumbnail I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be a hoot.
I'm going to allow you to process this on your own but a cool little fact is the guy who spit out the coffee is the composer of the film.
It takes two viewings to get this film. Basically everything BEFORE Betty opens the blue box is a dream. After she opens the box, she wakes from her dream. In reality she wasn't an actress but just a chick who lived in a run down apartment. She at one time tried to break into acting, but her career went nowhere. Camilla was able to secure her a couple of bit parts but she never made lead roles. The film implies that Camilla only made it because she was a "casting couch" girl sleeping with the director, which seems to be something Diane wouldn't do. Diane had enough of Camilla humiliating her and put out a hit. After the hit was done, the weird guy from the Diner went to the Cops because he overheard Diane and the hitman plotting it. This is why Diane's neighbor said "Detectives came by here again." Diane knew the gig was up, began losing her mind, and killed herself.
I'm not sure that it's that simple. I don't think she put a hit out on Camilla. The reason being, if the cops were looking for her regarding a murder, no way would she have been able to hide out in her apartment for three weeks. I am also not sure which parts of this are a dream and which parts aren't. I think Betty/Diane and Rita/Camilla might be the same person. I also think that the real Camilla is the blonde who kissed Rita/Camilla at the party. I'm also thinking that different sequences are actually different people's dream or maybe nightmare. I think part of it is Diane dreaming and part of it is Adam dreaming. I don't know. This movie messed with my head.
Mulholland Drive is a murder mystery told through a drug-addled dream. Diane's dream scrambles the names and faces. In the dream, Betty and Rita are really the same person. They realize they're somehow the same after seeing the corpse, which is why you get that "smearing" effect after they run out, and why Rita makes herself look like Betty. The Club Silencio performance tells them that they are characters in a dream, nothing is real. The blue box appears there because, well, that was Betty's purpose all along. So, she disappears after she provides it. Camilla disappears after she performs her purpose: supply the key and open the box.
What's the box? Well, one interpretation is that it represents love. The key is triangular, like a love triangle. Another thing it could be is the promise of Hollywood. Either way, it's opened and is empty, and that ends the dream. Everything after that point on is real but told out of order.
This was great. I hope you start watching all the Twin Peaks stuff. It's really cool and funny and weird.
If you want 18 hours of this kind of thing, there's the Twin Peaks return series. Actually it's even weirder, darker and funnier. Greatest thing ever made for tv. But in smaller two hour doses, there's Blue Velvet, Wild At Heart and Lost Highway, that are the best Lynch films besides this one.
Hey thats my opinion. Still think that drive is best thing he did
Elephant Man is great too.
When I first tried to figure out this film, I think I didn't even consider the possibility that the first 80% or so was all Diane's dream, maybe because it felt too obvious and easy as an explanation. I tend not to be crazy about the "it was all a dream" ending, as it sometimes feels like a copout to me. Instead, my mind went to thoughts of alternate realities, etc. However, while there's no definitive answer, I admit that the dream interpretation makes the most sense. In any case, Mulholland Drive is so entertainingly weird, I can't help being a fan of it.
Even David Lynch, himself, has said several times in interviews, that he doesn't know the meaning of some of his films.
You are so real for reacting to this haha. Please do more weird stuff!
Another awesome David Lynch mind freak movie I would love to see your reaction to is "Lost Highway". Actually, I would love to see your reaction to most of David Lynch's films: "Eraserhead", "Blue Velvet", "Wild at Heart", "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me", and "Lost Highway".
I wonder how the woman got the box. I think that might be Camilla, the woman in the alley. After she didn't get the part in the film. She wound up in that guy's dream.
Approach David Lynch fulms like you go about interpreting a dream. A lot od nonsense, but with themes being hit on. It's more about creating a feeling than trying to get across something concrete.
Its like the old people - who had the same high expectations of her as she had of herself at the beginning when she first arrives - haunt her in the abject failure that she eventually becomes.
Possibly representing her family, parents, grandparents, something along those lines back home, so pleased with her success, and their disappointment coming back to further drive her into despair and regret.
GIANT hint: one of the first shots is a POV of someone falling into a pillow. Then think about what happens about halfway through the movie after they disappear into the box 😉
Lynch is hard to clock. It's worth seeking answers. There's great material out there.
David Lynch tends to make brain melters 🤪 I'm not his biggest fan (aside from the grotesquely wonderful Dune 84) but I cannot deny his artistry.
For some non-Lynch artistic weirdness -
The Show (2021), written and directed by Alan Moore (writer of the comics Watchmen and V For Vendetta)
Six-String Samurai (a post-apocalyptic rock&roll samurai western)
Motorama (a fever dream of a roadtrip)
Meet The Hollowheads, with Juliette Lewis and John Glover (a dark, weird alternate universe Jetsons😅)
Apparently the whole film is a dream!
Makes sense!
Whoever told you it would all come together was pulling your leg.
😩
Lynch is quite accomplished when it comes to making folks uneasy. Well and good, but if you want to go deeper, try Peter Greenaway's stuff.
Okay, I'm making this comment at 1:56. But somebody told you this would all connect at some point? Lol. They were pranking you.
Welcome to the world of David Lynch. Don't bother looking up what lynch says the movies are about. He won't ever say. He wants you to decide for yourself what they mean to you.
That said, this is probably one of the more straight-forward of Lynch's films, but it has many layers in its themes and symbolism. On the small-scale side of things, it's about the mental decline of a failed aspiring actress whose prospects and relationships went south in the Hollywood system. And on the larger-scale side of things, it's about that system that tore her dreams down and left her broken. And then there's the thematic and symbolic elements that come from her desire to escape from her situation, and creates her fantasy version of her life where she's successful in both life and love, and when the fantasy is over and she's left with the reality of what she's done, how her life ends.
Lynch's films tend to have a presentation and atmosphere like that of surreal nightmares. It's one of the most interesting and captivating parts of his style of filmmaking. This and Lost Highway are two of my favorites of his. His most iconic film is Eraserhead, and is a trip and a half. But he's probably best known (arguably) for his adaptation of Dune.
Angelo Badalamenti's soundtrack is incredible.
Isn't it? He's such a fantastic movie composer, and his style matches and mirrors what Lynch is doing perfectly. He's a master of creating atmosphere.
There are some great director/composer duos that are just "made for each other", like Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Hermann or Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone. Lynch and Bandalamenti are absolutely up there too.
R.I.P.
Yes Betty and Diane and Camilla are all the same person. This movie is a love/hate letter to the Hollywood dream and the movie making business.
I imagine just about everyone has the same reaction on the first watch. Each successive watch peels more layers of the onion, or shows more depth of this work of cinematic art. Ultimately this movie is about the exploitation of women.
I hated this movie the first time I watched it. It was so frustrating. Many years later and a couple dozen rewatches after, It's in my top 5 movies. Truly a movie that grows and expands the more you watch it. Anyways, excellent reaction!
Wonderful reaction!!
Next stop, Twin Peaks season three! Enjoy the trip into another dimension.
Lynch loves the feeling of a mystery, but not the explanation of one, so just live in your "thinking" phase and enjoy that. That's what I love about his work.
Well, I thought this was another movie entirely so I started to watch it with you, but then I knew right away it wasn’t the one I thought it was but then I was sucked into watching all of it with you and it made no sense to me either, which is par for the course with David Lynch movies, with the exception of Twin Peaks (was that even him?), so I’m all confused … I thought it was going to be LA Confidential which I see you’ve reacted to already two years ago so I’m going to go watch that one. Maybe that will help? Peace … Okay, that helped. Have you checked out Chinatown? It’s also moody LA, really good.
Did you find the explanation? A good, complete one?😅 when I finished watching this movie years ago, I said out loud to myself “no clue what just happened” 😂
There are better movies in this genre. When I was in high school, I probably liked it for the same reason as you. Show Me Love (F***ing Amal) is a Swedish film from 1998 that reminds me so much of high school. It’s a really well done teen romance that takes its characters seriously. It’s about 2 high school girls who fall in love. I won’t spoil it. It’s that good.
People like to say it is all Diane's dream. But doesn't Betty dream to? Are we the reality or are our dreams dreaming us instead? And Rita, does she not dream or try to make sense of a world she does not understand? The only one who seems to know lives behind Winkie's.
Wait a week or so and watch it again
This is my favourite movie 😅
Please continue with David Lynchs other films in the same vane; Wild At Heart, Lost Horizon, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and Inland Empire. 😊😮
Two words...
TWIN.... PEAKS....
Watch it on your own tho.
Now you're ready for INLAND EMPIRE 😁
In my opinion this is the best movie ever made. The complexity is unreal.
I don't know who told you this would "all come together"! LOL
When the director says it's up to the viewer's interpretation, you know even he doesn't know what's going on.
Red flag, red flag, red flag! 🚩 ha ha ha
Now we need a reaction to the explanation.
The whole last hour of this movie makes a lot more sense when you know David Lynch wanted to make a whole TV show about these people, and when it wasn't picked up he simply took the pilot script he'd written and added a bunch of weird stuff to the end so it could stand as a feature film (it's not like anything here is any weirder than the kind of stuff Lynch usually does, which became a real asset).
He didn’t just “add a bunch of weird stuff”. The whole movie is “weird stuff.” He was forced to try to make something less weird than he wanted for broadcast TV consumption. Once it became a film, he had free range. He completely changed the general plot and meaning of the movie’s first hour and a half. He turned the movie into a puzzle. And yes, everything fits perfectly together.
If anything, Mulholland Dr probably represents Lynch being at his peak of blending the “weird” with conventional Hollywood movie appeal and trappings. It’s one of the more easy to digest Lynch movies even you don’t get what the hell is going on on first watch.
@@liteflightify "You just don't get it." Always a convincing argument.
@@Rmlohner No one said “you don’t it get” 😂. But if you sum up the final 45 minutes as just “a bunch of weird stuff” then yeah, you don’t get it. The arc/story of the movie isn’t even that different from Lynch’s Lost Highway: fantasy and dreams deflecting from ugly realities, but the fantasy is tainted by trauma and the protagonist making some horrible mistakes. Both movies just have different moods and ways of execution. I think Mulholland Dr is quite a bit better than Lost Highway though. Hell, this movie is probably less weird than Lost Highway and several Lynch projects.
I'm a huge David Lynch fan my first introduction to him was twin peaks
It take at least 3 watchings .... Good tips on here on the basics ..... The first part is not real it what she wants her life to be ... the 2nd part is what happened