Well that was longer than expected. I’ve come to the point
where not writing about movies is worse than me than doing nothing, as films
easily populate space in my mind instead of things I’d rather never have to
think about. And during my long hiatus, I took in quite a few films (I hope to
have reviews of Elena, Men in Black 3, and The Color Wheel up soon). I’m breaking up my usual style this time
around, as I’ve annotated most of the films I’ve watched, though in much
briefer notes. I also have a call for comments and discussion about thoughts on
a few of these, so please respond below!
-The Tiger of
Eschhnapur, 1959. Directed by Fritz Lang. 35mm projection at Anthology Film
Archives.
-The Indian Tomb,
1959. Directed by Fritz Lang. 35mm projection at Anthology Film Archives.
-The Grand Illusion,
1937. Directed by Jean Renoir. 35mm projection at Film Forum.
-On Top of the Whale,
1982. Directed by Raúl Ruiz. 35mm projection at Anthology Film Archives.
-Mulholland Dr., 2001.
Directed by David Lynch. DVD.
Perhaps the
closest that a “mainstream” American film has come to the avant-garde moment.
What makes Lynch so accessible compared to other artists working in the same
sort of vein is that Lynch’s starting points—glamor of Hollywood, film noir—are
so familiar and accessible to cinephiles. Lynch relishes in these classic
tropes and drowns us in their illusion. The other big thing I noted is that
while the narrative is much more disjointed, I felt a much more tonal and
thematic balance in this film when compared to Blue Velvet, that felt a bit unfocused when I last watched it
(mainly in the latter Frank sequences). There’s more control and the feel of an
assured director in Mulholland, so when
it heads into the bizarre, I never flinch, but instead let it suck me into the
world. “Silencio” becomes the ultimate metaphor for the film—the most beautiful
performance you’ve ever seen with disturbing emotion, though it is of course,
all an illusion.
