Mulholland Drive review

*Spoilers ahead* 

Number 354 on the top 1000 films of all time is David Lynch's surrealist neo-noir mystery horror film Mulholland Drive.

Betty Elms (Naomi Watts) is an actress arriving in Hollywood to start her career. She befriends amnesiac Rita (Laura Harring) who is the only survivor of a terrible car crash. Betty resolves to help her new friend regain her lost memory to horrifying consequences. A separate storyline sees director Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) struggle to maintain control of his latest film project, as both studio executives and mobsters try to interfere.

David Lynch regarded this film as his magnus opus. It takes surrealism to a whole new level - far more so than previous efforts like Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks. This isn't any understatement. Mulholland Drive is one of the weirdest films I have seen since Dark City or even Blue Velvet. I'm not sure it's worth trying to figure out the meaning behind Mulholland Drive - considering there is any meaning at all. Perhaps it's weird for purely the sake of being weird. Justin Theroux said that Lynch was happy for viewers to arrive at any interpretation they wished. As for Lynch, he has never elaborated on the deeper meanings behind the weirdness of Mulholland Drive. 

There is a lot of weirdness from the strange opening scene that looked to be from another film to Kesher meeting a mysterious cowboy to everything that happened at Club Silencio. And who can forget that awful decaying corpse believed to be Diane Selwyn. I was with the film until the final act where Rita unlocks a mysterious box leading to both her and Betty disappearing. Betty then reawakens as struggling actress Diane Selwyn. Rita is now Camilla who is playing the lead in Adam Kesher's new film. Oh and there's a weird old crone character uttering abstract prophecies. At this point it all became incomprehensible to me. I'm not even going to try and decipher the various oddities.

Instead, I will say this is one of the scariest, most unsettling films I have seen. The final scene where Diana, being terrorised by hallucinations, runs into her bedroom and shoots herself, was terrifying to watch. But it was also masterfully shot. The lighting and camerawork were brilliant. Watts and Harring were also great as the two leads. Mulholland Drive was very much Watts' breakout role and she really acted her socks off. Her terror in the above scene was palpable. Harring was also very good - playing her role as the amnesiac Rita with all the confusion, panic and fear that you would expect.

Yes, Mulholland Drive is a WEIRD film. It is surreal, abstract and confusing, but that's exactly what David Lynch intended. And he wouldn't want it any other way. It was also gripping, terrifying and thrilling. A good film all around. 

Drive review

 Number 442 on the top 1000 films of all time is the action drama film 'Drive.'

Ryan Gosling plays an unnamed character only referred to as the Driver. By day he is a stuntman and a mechanic for a man named Shannon (Bryan Cranston.) By night he moonlights as a getaway driver for heists. He becomes attracted to his neighbour Irene  (Carey Mulligan.) However, her husband Standard (Oscar Isaac) has just been released from prison and owes a lot of money to the wrong people. Standard decides to rob a pawn shop to get the money. Upon learning this, the Driver becomes his wheelman. But things quickly go south.

There is no denying that this is a stylish thriller. It has a great neon aesthetic that gives it a very synthetic, timeless look. It could be in the eighties or the modern-day or the not so distant future. However, I didn't particularly like this film and that was for one simple reason: tone.

Tone is important for any film and this film's tone was overly-dark. I get it. It's a thriller. It's not a comedy. I wasn't expecting laugh-a-minute, but I was hoping for one or two jokes. All throughout the film there was a foreboding sense of doom and at times this fog became too much. It needed some comic relief to help disperse it. This could be some black humour for the audience or maybe some jokes between the characters. It would have been nice to have at least seen them smile. Everybody was so serious all the time.

And Ryan Gosling encapsulated this seriousness. The Driver is the strong, silent type. An emotionless man who finds a cause to fight for. But the Driver felt more like a robot than an actual human being. It was like the evil terminator from T2 had decided to pack in killing John Connor and start robbing banks instead. It was a difficult character to get behind. And I don't think this is Ryan Gosling's fault. Having starred in rom-coms like the Notebook or La-La land, he is obviously capable of playing lighter roles, but he didn't even get the chance here. The gratuitous violence did nothing to help the overly-dark tone either.

Earlier on, I referenced the eighties. And that was very intentional. The musical score contains a lot of synth-wave - a genre reminiscent of the eighties. But I don't think it was employed well. There were these long scenes accompanied by synth-wave music. Except for the music playing there was very little else happening within these scenes. It became very tedious after a while.

Aesthetically the film looked great. But the overly-black tone coupled with the extended instrumental sequences made it all more style over substance.