>Michael, how can you "enjoy" it if you didn't "GET" it? Lynch is NOT >high-minded. Lynch is NOT a magician. Lynch is the biggest >one-note-rip-off ever given a blank check. You were TAKEN, Michael! Wake >up!
Thank you Lama!!!!! As im on digest, i hope i'm not retreading here; What the hell is that movie about? Lynch spends the first two thirds of the movie building up a fabulous tense, menacing atmosphere, even if the plot **seemed** a little "by numbers" on a superficial level. I was enjoying it immensely (ok, so i had ignored a few bits and peices that i couldn't make sense of, but only a few). Then all of a sudden it seemed to go haywire! I've heard the term "rollercoaster ride" used to describe films, but this was ridiculous. At the end of the movie the everyone was saying "eh, where did you get lost?" and "what the fuck was that about?". Yea, that spanish singer was superb.....but what had it got to do with anything??? Why did the charcters/actors change? Did they change??? For teh last portion of the movie i was working frantically in an attempt to keep track of who was who. And why did the old couple become these stupid tiny laughing things?? eh??? what is the significance of the blue box? and didn't that little old psychic woman remind you of Joni?? and why would you introduce such an odd and interesting character at a seemingly crucial point in a movie, not to use her again?? The cowboy?? The dwarf in the wheelchair?? And that lesbian sex scene (although my friend appreciated it for obvious titilation reasons)....well, what did i have to do with the story? anything?? is that the point?? Ok., i was confused, as you may have gathered. So i decided to see what the critics were saying. THEY LOVED IT!!!!! Well feck that. Just because they didn't understand it they pretended it was genius (Oh god, Toni Morrisons Paradise all over again!!!). I think it was described as "dream like" and "hypnotic". It was originally intended as a pilot for a tv show. It has something to do with problems of personal identity (more like problems writing a coherent script with a coherent storyline) and unrealised ambitions and dreams. The trick, according to the critics,with David Lynch is to surrender yourself to the mood, and not the plot or charatcers (???). I remember reading one review which told of the genius of David Lynch, and how this film was a risque expose of the hollywood myth! On the "deeper level", this movie has to with the way in which hollywood is all about being someone else; becoming someone else (AAHAAAA!) So, normal people become actors, actors become characters, actors change characters.....audiences empathise with characters and project their dreams and ambitions onto the silver screen (hell, isn't that why it can be so hard to find the kind of romance we desire...not all romantic situations are Notting Hill/ this is reminding me of something Barbara Streisand says in The Mirror Has Two Faces....i digress), and audiences project identities onto the actors they can never *really* know. Mmmmm, now i see! Give me The Thirty Nine Steps any day!!! At about the same time a fantastic movie was released here called The Believer, with teh great Ryan Gosling (Remember teh Titans; Murder By Numbers; Young Hercules) turning in a powerful performance that would shame many of our oscar winners. He really acts rings around the script. If you havn't seen it; do! If you want a feel good movie; don't!! It is disturbing after a fashion. GARRET NP- Counting Crows, Rain King
