#54 Mulholland Drive (2001, David Lynch) (5th viewing) (dvd played on computer projected in lecture theatre) 10
it’s beautiful a secret path, here’s to love, what does it open, [laugh]
Of course, despite me saying out loud to not do that, they turned the film off as soon as the beautiful disjointed credits appeared on screen with accompanying music to continue letting one sink into the deep atmosphere and reflect on the viscerally overwhelming and thought-provoking Absolute. I don’t know how people can’t get that they shouldn’t begin to rustle all the wrappings from the disgusting stuff they’ve eaten and begin to talk loudly, when the last word in the film is the fourth-wall breaking “Silencio.”. How disappointing, and I was so happy when I learned half an hour before the event started that they’ll screen it.
For Diane to wake up, Betty and Rita needed to distinctly hear “It’s all an illusion”, so that they can vaguelly, subconsciously realise that it’s actually an ontologically true statement - existence is a dream, they’re an illusion, and they can vanish in plain air connected to another, layered realm - creation interwoven with destruction. This is not to say that “life isn’t happening” or “life is nothing”, “it’s all a recording” could mean that the world is a fainter, weaker version, impression, dream-like transformation of parallel events that once happened in the past. And as the Lynchian web of powerful aesthetics, music, parallel worlds, meaningful objects, sensory perception, insight of strange places, symbolic intricacy, congruence of film and dream, strong characters and light, cringe-worthy moments demonstrate - it certainly isn’t nothing. Along that there’s this idea that love is driving the universe - Camilla and the director of course embrace that universal force - “Here’s to love.” Diane obviously cannot anymore (make Camilla feel wild), she’s left heartbroken, jealous, afraid, self-destructive, alone, cut off from the world for so many weeks inside her own, lost mind. Out of the decaying remnants of her love for Camilla, a contrary reactive feeling arises - she wants the death of Camilla “more than anything in the world”. Complexly, it’s agonising her, the key opens something The Man Who’s Doing It has, which stems worms of guilt and laughter that lead Diane to nihilistically suicide. Silencio.
Anyway, I wanted to get that out of the way; as always everything I'm going to write sounds stupid; but that’s at least my primary interpretation of the ending, which probably many would agree with. Some would say that it doesn’t make much sense retroactively - why would Betty and Rita pursue this exploratory path that will only lead them to disappear and Diane* to kill herself? This might be resolved with this idea that entropy is proportional to time, things like a child’s innocence or wonder and Betty’s bursting optimism & ambition as she arrives, diminish as one falls deeper into the Dark Rabbit Hole and complex network that is the city. On the way one does of course catch ephemeral longing eye contacts (with the director), or passionate nights, but the end result is always Llorando and Silencio, but the nice point is to make it beautiful too and see that after the foggy blast, faint fleeting images pertain, creation again being intertwined with destruction, life with death, beauty with ugliness, love with hatred, such that the paradigm relies primarily on the mysterious. Like ‘Wild at Heart’, this is also a life-affirming film, even if the ending is profoundly depressing. But that feeling allows to catch new details, Lynch draws attention to fathomless things and possibilities.
*who is hinted as being the dreamer of their universe, the first section having characters plunged into the unconscious machinations of her fantasising mind, though this obviously isn’t the only possibility, for example considering that perhaps the decaying/decayed body Betty and Rita find is actually Diane
after she commits suicide, the world is then perhaps impossibly looping back within itself and so on, reaching paradoxical dream structures and complex realms beyond the infinite.
„Czy czujecie tajemny, głęboki sens tej przygody, gdy wątły i blady maturzysta wychodzi przez szklane drzwi z bezpiecznej przystani sam jeden w bezmiar nocy lipcowej? Czy przebrnie kiedyś te czarne moczary, trzęsawiska i przepaście nieskończonej nocy, czy wyląduje jakiegoś poranku w bezpiecznym porcie? Ile dziesiątek lat trwać będzie ta czarna odyseja?
Nikt jeszcze nie napisał topografii nocy lipcowej. W geografii wewnętrznego kosmosu te karty są nie zapisane.
Noc lipcowa! Z czym by ją porównać, jak opisać? Czy porównam ją do wnętrza ogromnej czarnej róży nakrywającej nas snem stokrotnym tysiąca aksamitnych płatków? Wiatr nocny rozdmuchuje do głębi jej puszystość i na dnie wonnym dosięga nas spojrzenie gwiazd.
Czy porównam ją do czarnego firmamentu naszych przymkniętych powiek, pełnego wędrujących pyłów, białego maku gwiazd, rakiet i meteorów?
A może porównać ją do długiego jak świat, nocnego pociągu, jadącego nieskończonym czarnym tunelem? Iść przez noc lipcową, to przedzierać się z trudem z wagonu do wagonu, pomiędzy sennymi pasażerami, wśród ciasnych korytarzy, dusznych przedziałów i krzyżujących się przeciągów.
Noc lipcowa! Tajemny fluid mroku, żywa, czujna i ruchliwa materia ciemności, nieustannie kształtująca coś z chaosu i każdy kształt natychmiast zarzucająca! Budulec czarny piętrzący dookoła sennego wędrowca pieczary, sklepienia, wnęki i nyże! Jak natrętny gaduła towarzyszy ona samotnemu wędrowcowi, zamykając go w kręgu swych widziadeł, niezmordowana w wymyślaniu, bredzeniu, fantazjowaniu — halucynując przed nim gwiezdne dale, białe drogi mleczne, labirynty nieskończonych koloseów i forów. (…)”
Anyway, there are many appropriate passages to quote. This weekend there’s ‘Blue Velvet’ screened twice, this time in a proper theater, so I’m obviously going to be looking forward to those two viewings
#1 The Ghost Writer (2010, Roman Polański) (2nd viewing) 10
#2 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011, Tomas Alfredson) (3rd viewing) 10
#3 Good Will Hunting (1997, Gus Van Sant) (2nd+ viewing) 9 (from 8)
#4 Persona (1966, Ingmar Bergman) (2nd viewing) 10
#5 Amator (1979, Krzysztof Kieślowski) (2nd viewing) 8 (from 9)
#6 Przypadek (1981/87, Krzysztof Kieślowski) (2nd or 3rd viewing) 9
#7-#16 Dekalog (1989, Krzysztof Kieślowski) (2nd viewing) 9 (from 10)
Dekalog, jeden - 9+
Dekalog, dwa - 7+
Dekalog, trzy - 7
Dekalog, cztery - 8
Dekalog, pięć - 9+
Dekalog, sześć - 9+
Dekalog, siedem - 7+
Dekalog, osiem - 7+
Dekalog, dziewięć - 8
Dekalog, dziesięć - 9+
#17 La Double Vie De Véronique (1991, Krzysztof Kieślowski) (2nd viewing) 10
#18 Trois Couleurs: Bleu (1993, Krzysztof Kieślowski) (3rd or 4th viewing) ∞
#19 Trois Couleurs: Blanc (1994, Krzysztof Kieślowski) (3rd viewing) 10
#20 Trois Couleurs: Rouge (1994, Krzysztof Kieślowski) (3rd viewing) 10
#21 American Beauty (1999, Sam Mendes) (5th+ viewing) 9
#22 Burn After Reading (2008, Coen brothers) (3rd viewing) 9 (from 8)
#23 Spring Breakers (2012, Harmony Korine) (2nd viewing) 9 (from 8)
#24 Upstream Color (2013, Shane Carruth) (3rd viewing) 9
#25 Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001, Jean-Pierre Jeunet) (2nd viewing) 9 (from 8)
#26 Boogie Nights (1997, Paul Thomas Anderson) (2nd viewing) 8 (from 9)
#27 Magnolia (1999, Paul Thomas Anderson) (4th viewing) 10
#28 Punch-Drunk Love (2002, Paul Thomas Anderson) (2nd viewing) 8 (from 9)
#29 The Room (2003, Tommy Wiseau) (3rd viewing) do you understand life?/10
#30 羅生門/Rashomon/(Some Gate) (1950, Akira Kurosawa) (2nd viewing) 9 (from 10)
#31 Blade Runner (1982, Ridley Scott) (Director's Cut) (3rd viewing overall, 1st viewing of this version), theatrically, 10 (from 9)
#32 Lost in Translation (2003, Sofia Coppola) (3rd+ viewing) 9
#33 Shaun of the Dead (2004, Edgar Wright) (3rd viewing) 9+ (from 8)
#34 The Matrix (1999, the Wachowskis) (6th+ viewing) 10 (from 9)
#35 The Matrix Reloaded (2003, the Wachowskis) (6th+ viewing) 8
#36 The Matrix Revolutions (2003, the Wachowskis) (5th+ viewing) 8
#37 Art School Confidential (2006, Terry Zwigoff) (2nd viewing) 8 (from 7)
#38 The World’s End (2013, Edgar Wright) (2nd+ viewing) 8+ (from 7)
#39 A Clockwork Orange (1971, Stanley Kubrick) (3rd viewing) 10 (theatrically)
#40 Louis C.K.: Hilarious (2010) (3rd viewing) 8+
#41 Bill Hicks: Revelations (1993) (2nd viewing) 8
#42 Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock) (2nd viewing) (theatrically, 35mm) 10
#43 Horace and Pete (2016, Louis C.K.) (2nd viewing) 8
#44 Wise Blood (1979, Jhon Huston) (2nd viewing) 9 (from 7+)
#45 The Rules of Attraction (2002, Roger Avary) (2nd viewing) 9
#46 Inglourious Basterds (2009, Quentin Tarantino) (4th viewing) 9
#47 ヒミズ/Himizu/Mole (2011, Sion Sono) (2nd viewing) 10
#48 No Country for Old Men (2007, Coen brothers) (4th viewing) 9
#49 Nothing (2003, Vincenzo Natali) (2nd viewing) 8
#50 Wild at Heart (1990, David Lynch) (3rd viewing) 9+
#51 The Elephant Man (1980, David Lynch) (2nd viewing) 8
#52 The Silence of the Lambs (1991, Jonathan Demme) (2nd viewing) 9
#53 Inception (2010, Christopher Nolan) (7th+ viewing) 10