Terrifying dream about a terrifying dream

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Tue, 2007-05-29 09:25

poetjude

Terrifying dream about a terrifying dream

I made the fatal error of watching Mullholland drive again last night and woke up at 2.am in abject terror.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6rqrGqj1C0

This has to be the scariest scene ever but I disagree with comment that it is "The absence of music in exchange for that low crawling drone." that gives it its super terrifying edge.

I think it is the combo of the superb acting by 'Dan' and the look in his face coupled with the ordinariness of the scene. The fact he is in a diner makes it more horrifying than if it was in a creepy forest or old house.

"It's him that's doing it" is a brilliant line, again because of its ordinariness.

There is actually nothing in the scene that on its own is scary but the way Lynch puts it together is genius.

It is almost sends you into a state of cannabis psychosis where the ordinary details of everyday streets and circumstances take on the most frightening hue because of their perceived relevance.

Tue, 2007-05-29 12:21

tom_saunders

It's a great scene and truly scaring. I just wish the whole film hung together in a more satisfying way. To me it's an assemblage that's allusive without actually meaning anything - that is, it could mean anything you want it to mean. Is incongruity and the not quite explicable enough in a work of art, especially in a largely narrative art form? I don't sense any big ideas in Mullholland Drive. It's cinema as a game against itself, a sort of Mornington Crescent using meaning rather than location.

Tue, 2007-05-29 12:44

Liana07

That thing that nips out for a quick look, doesnt half look like the bear in The Singing Ringing Tree - http://www.thechestnut.com/srtree/srtree3.htm

Tue, 2007-05-29 13:23

poetjude

well stap me vitals...so it does! jude "Cacoethes scribendi" http://www.judesworld.net

Tue, 2007-05-29 13:30

maddan

Which is curious, because the singing ringing tree absolutely terrifies me.

Tue, 2007-05-29 15:06

archergirl

Ha, ha! You're right! I had to pause at the 'scary' part to have another look at the bear-thing. I think it's a dirty man with leprosy and dreadlocks. I haven't seen the film, however, so I might be wrong. I think half the stuff put out for children is scary. Have you *seen* 'In the Night Garden'? All the acid I dropped when I was younger, couldn't have come up with such things.

Tue, 2007-05-29 15:26

poetjude

I do agree with Tom about wishing the film hung together in a more staisfying way. I think the reason why David Lynch doesn't reveal the true meaning of all parts of all his films is because he doesn't know himself. Don't get me wrong - I love David Lynch's films, but though his vignettes like this one are brilliant, he over-uses them. If he were a poet he does too much 'show' and absolutely no 'tell'. I get left with the feeling 'could be brilliant'. jude "Cacoethes scribendi" http://www.judesworld.net

Tue, 2007-05-29 15:49

maddan

I've not seen it, but wasn't it originally made as a tv series and then got edited down into a feature - which might explain why it's such a muddle. Either that or the fact that David Lynch is an overrated preconscious loon, but I think I'm the only person in the world who holds the latter opinion.

Tue, 2007-05-29 16:24

Jack Cade

"I don't sense any big ideas in Mullholland Drive." Haven't seen Mullholland Drive yet, but I don't sense many big ideas in the David Lynch films I have seen. *BUT* that's partly why I've enjoyed them. Any themes are often dealt with quite lightly. It is, as you say, more like cinema as a game, or as a kind of sorcery. I like that. There's nothing I avoid more avidly than films which wear their heavy-handed message on their sleeves, or proclaim themselves too obviously as 'powerful' pieces of art.

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