4 March 2008


"I had a dream about this place."

Remember that scene from Mulholland Dr.? It's one of the scariest things I've ever watched on film. Recollection, foreboding and dread. Two men sit in a café and one of them talks about a dream he's had. In the dream, he is at Winkie's, it's half day, half night. He looks at his friend across the room. He goes on talking about something terrible he saw in the dream. It's something in the back yard. The two men walk out to see if it's still there. They walk slowly round the corner. It feels like an endless walk. The spooky sunlight. And there it is...

3 comments:

Marcus said...
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Anonymous said...

i agree - it is one of the most disturbing moments in any film i've ever seen - it is something lynch does with the camera (and a 1000 other things, most likely) - the way the camera hints at something - sets your imagination to work and you (i) have no idea what's coming, it's just terribly disturbing - the world is somehow shown to be something else completely. but i have no idea what it is. or what is going on.

in one of the first scenes in twin peaks there is a similar moment when leland picks up the phone to hear laura is dead and lynch keeps the camera on the telephone cord - i have no idea why it is so disturbing - now when thinking about it - it happens a lot in twin peaks; the forrest that moves in the wind, the traffic lights, etc. but one of the differences to mulholland drive is that in twin peaks we have some idea of spirits and whatever lurking in a paralell dimension (or something ). in mulholland drive, at least i, have no idea of what the hell is going on, but there's clearly something i should understand, but i don't - and it is deeply unsetteling.

yes.

- a. juantorena

M. Lindman said...

I agree, there's many scenes like that in Twin peaks. But I'm not sure if I would say that it is clear what the "spirits" are in Twin Peaks. Or, at least I don't think there is an explanatory level in TP that takes away the unnerving quality of the scenes depicting the woods or the traffic lights.

Inland Empire also contai strange, nightmare-ish atmospheres that by now have become so characteristic of Lynch's films. It's by far his most hectic film. There are few quiet moments. The viewer is thrown from one unsettling corner to another. I must say it works, partially because the film is built around many different levels/stories.

You should also look out for The Reflecting skin by Philip Ridley. It's quite different from a film by Lynch, but in my opinion, they share the same penchant for unsettling moments, brought about with small means (in Ridley's case, it's swaying corn fields).