¶ … Mulholland Dr., directed by David Lynch. Specifically, it will compare the film with the essay "Babes in Babylon," by Graham Fuller.
MULHOLLAND DR.
The film "Mulholland Dr." is everything Fuller says, and more. Viewed only as an art film, the scenes are lush, dramatic, dark, and classic film noir. Just like its Los Angeles setting, it is sensual, quirky, weird, and difficult to comprehend in the end. As Fuller concedes, "Given its unpromising beginnings, this lethally perfumed neo-noir may be even more remarkable as a successful marriage of form and subject" (Fuller). In other words, for some unknown reason, the movie works, perhaps because of Lynch's dedication to eccentricity and mystery. It is difficult to discern when the characters are awake or dreaming, or why some of the characters even exist, such as the odd couple who bid Betty adieu at LAX, and hoot merrily after she leaves. Lynch's projects seem to be full of these odd ducks, who do not seem to move the plot along, but turn up later and leave lasting impressions with the viewer.
While the script is not as strong as it could be - with so many twists and turns, how could it be - the filmmaking more than makes up for the lack of coherence in the script. The photography is almost as lush as the bright red lipstick so prevalent throughout the film. "Mulholland Dr." succeeds as an art film not because of the characters, who keep repeating themselves, or even the photography. It succeeds because it dares to be different, and dares to push the viewer to the limit. If you do not pay attention in this film, you will be lost early on, and none of the character shifts will make sense (not that they do anyway). Looking at each individual piece of the film, it is difficult to say just why it is a success, and yet, in some strange way, at the end, the viewer is saying "what the heck?" And wanting more. The film may be weird, and difficult to decipher, but it leaves you wanting more, and that is always a plus in a film about the art of film.
Works Cited
Fuller, Graham. "Babes in Babylon." Sight and Sound. December, 2001.
Film plays an important role in all of our lives; it would be nearly impossible to find a person who has not been affected in some way by a movie. From the films we watch in our childhood, to the classics, and the more challenging cinema we see later as we study the art of filmmaking, the movies offer so much opportunity to consider the principles of art (Janaro &
The way that the director deals with the response of the various characters to the disaster is also filled with psychological depth and intrigue. The film also deals with the way that people respond to situations of life and death. Others would argue that the depth and intellectual range of a film like Titanic is not nearly as intensively "artistic" as Wild Strawberries. In other words, the suggestion is
Godard believed that cinema should be an extension of criticism, a concept that he is able to achieve in Le Mepris through his criticism of traditional Hollywood cinema and the restrictions imposed on directors who were struggling to define their style and voice their interpretation of stories set before them. Godard is able to inject his personal interpretation of Moravia's novel by writing the script of the film and
Art Cinema and Theatre of Absurd In "The Art of Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice," David Bordwell provides a definition of what he believes constitutes art cinema in order to define the style as an artistic movement. In "The Theatre of the Absurd," Martin Esslin provides similar arguments about theatre as Bordwell does about film. Bordwell and Esslin both provide an analysis of the elements that distinguish art cinema
Tree of Life: New Age Seminal Film Well into the second century of the fictionalized, narrative films, groundbreaking ideas materialized in seminal masterpieces of the film genre are not easy to come by. A list of these usually ends up with 2009, when Avatar was released. "The Tree of Life" is an out of the ordinary film that exceeds the category of "pretentious" artsy, intellectual films that nobody understand, but many
East/West An Analysis of Eastern Influence in Western Art The American/English poet T.S. Eliot references the Upanishad in his most famous poem "The Wasteland," a work that essentially chronicles the break-up of Western civilization and looks to Eastern philosophy for a kind of crutch in the wake of the abandonment of Western philosophy. Since then, Westerners, whether in literature or in film, have continued to look to the East for inspiration and