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[–]Innisfree 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

Back in 2001. Yeah it was a while ago. Sorry, I cling to dates, to remind myself how far we are from the 90s :)

I remember sitting around for hours (days?) afterwards discussing it with other people online trying to figure it out.

What's the German word for nostalgia for things one did not experience :)

It does take away from the joy of cinema going - all this abundance of takes online. I went into the film only knowing it's about an actress and dreams. Spent a day of trying to puzzle it out. Then went online and read the one sentence that it's about Diane's dream. Was disappointed and decided not to read further, because I want the experience of puzzling out how it all connects.

As to my interpretation that it could be Bettys' dream - I don't think it works because then Lynch's critique of the myth of Hollywood is not as sharp. So, it's just my optimistic indulgence/amusement.

Right now I am thinking of the blue box. Pandora's box of dreams and fears. I think the 'tramp' and the box together represent fear. Or the dark side of human nature. Sometimes, it is fun to be wrong :D

So yeah, cheers for sharing your slice of the experience. I wonder if you watched anything else by Lynch and if so what would you recommend - closer to Mulholland Drive?

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Yeah, at this point any original interpretations of my own are long gone, and replaced or reinforced with all the takes and blog posts I've read throughout the years. I think the old couple was the one I never quite felt like anyone nailed completely, so I guess there's still some mystery there.

I don't know if you'll like my answer, but Twin Peaks Season 1-3 would be my recommendation. So there's 40 hours of Lynch for you. A few extra hours more if you count Fire Walk with Me, which I didn't like but I need to watch it again. Season 1 is fantastic. Season 2 starts off strong then takes a major dive that you just have to get through like flossing your teeth and then it ends on an OK note. And then Season 3 is not only the best, most ambitious thing Lynch has ever done, but I think it is the running for the best thing anyone has ever done. Hopefully I am not overhyping it with that.

But like watching Mulholland Drive now, I also don't know what it would be like to watch them in a relatively short amount of time. There was 25 years between Twin Peaks S1/2 being aired and season 3 (15 years for me since i watched TP 10 years later). I guess people can now binge watch S1/2 and then go straight to binge watching season 3, which just seems really weird.

The only major works of his I haven't seen are Inland Empire (never got around to it) and Dune (though I'm not sure Dune counts and I don't plan on watching it). The only two Lynch movies I absolutely love are Mulholland Drive and Wild at Heart. The others are all worth watching and have great moments, but those are the only two that fully work for me. Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, and Eraserhead all seem to take turns getting cited as people's favorite Lynch movies, with Elephant Man and Straight Story usually getting sidelined for being more traditional movies.

[–]Innisfree 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

Really appreciate your reply. I suppose I'll dive in with Wild at Heart. Nic Cage and Laura Dern in it is another win :).

Because of time constraints, I suppose Twin Peaks will be perfect for when I'm confined to bed with a terrible cold (October usually does it), or please God No - coronavirus. Although I confess I'm tempted, particularly because you gave an outline and it's nice to know what one is getting into.

I've seen Elephant Man as a kid. That ending is just heart-rending. The fact that Lynch chose that particular story to tell and that he once said that Kafka is the only artist worth bothering with, points to what is great about his work. He's trying to reach the human, the universal, through the marginal, the bizarre and yes, at times the grotesque. Because we in some ways live marginal lives (all with being homos :)) his work can make an individual's weirdness seem part and parcel of the fabric of humanity, or at least the blue key (couldn't resist :) ) to that humanity.