Film Crit Hulk over at Badass Digest wrote an extremely in depth breakdown of David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive back in March. I finally caught up and read the whole thing last weekend, and it’s incredible. Mulholland Drive is one of those films that started out completely indecipherable on my first viewing. I’ve seen it at least twice since then, and it’s grown to be one of my favorite films of the past decade. As always, Hulk can be distracting with his ALL CAPS style, but he nails a lot of what makes this film so good. I love his break down of Naomi Watt’s audition scene:
HULK THINKS THIS ENTIRE SEQUENCE IS ONE OF THE GREATEST SCENES IN MOVIE HISTORY FOR A SHIT LOAD OF REASONS. THE FIRST IS THE WAY LYNCH ORCHESTRATES THE FUCKING THING. WE’RE SO READY FOR SOME SORT OF COMEDIC REHASHING OF BETTY’S HAM PERFORMANCE EARLIER, BUT THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN. WE JUST ENTER THEIR LITTLE SCENE SO BEAUTIFULLY THAT ALL THOSE THOUGHTS DROP FROM OUR MIND. WE JUST FALL INTO THE SCENE THEY’RE DOING. LYNCH NEVER CUTS AWAY, STAYING CLOSE ON THE TWO ACTORS’ HEADS, BUT LOOSE ENOUGH FOR IT TO FEEL EASY. LOOSE ENOUGH TO FEEL THEIR PASSION AND QUIET MOVEMENT. EMOTIONALLY WE SEEP RIGHT IN. BUT WE ALSO GET INVOLVED. WE KNOW THE SENSE OF THE STORY. WE FEEL THE CHARACTERS’ HISTORY.
WE FORGET EVERYTHING. WE FORGET WHO BETTY IS. WE FORGET WHO THIS GUY IS. WE EVEN FORGET WE’RE IN A FUCKING AUDITION ROOM. AND WHEN IT PULLS BACK WE REMEMBER WHERE WE ARE AND WE FEEL THE SAME EXACT WAY EVERYONE IN THE ROOM DOES… JUST THIS HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT.
… AND HULK THINKS IT’S PERFECT CINEMA.