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Video: Muddled 'Mulholland' still an interesting trip
By STEVE PERSALL, Times Film Critic
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 11, 2002
Mulholland Drive (R)
[Photo: Universal Focus]
Laura Elena Harring plays an amnesiac in Mulholland Dr.
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Nobody fiddles with moviegoers' perceptions like David Lynch, and Mulholland Drive is one of his weirdest works ever. It appears to be about a starry-eyed actor (Naomi Watts) and an amnesiac (Laura Elena Harring) who meet by chance and become immersed in a gangland melodrama. Or is it about an egocentric film director (Justin Theroux) making a movie? Or is it something else bubbling under the glossy surface? Nobody knows but Lynch (perhaps), and he's not telling.
First impressions: "Mulholland Drive is unmistakably a David Lynch film, a densely brooding potboiler, nearly incomprehensible and arresting enough to make a viewer keep trying. There is no point A to begin with and no point Z to reach, just delirium with the scantest plot to guide it. Lynch confuses with absolute confidence that everything makes sense, if only to himself. (The film is) a puzzle without the courtesy of hinting how the picture is supposed to look when assembled."
Second thoughts: Another viewing didn't make the movie any clearer, but Lynch's dreamy confusion is still better than paint-by-number filmmaking that's easier to like.
Rental audience: Lynch fans; viewers cramming for a Rorshach test.
Rent it if you enjoy: Any of Lynch's jumbled visions, especially Lost Highway, Eraserhead and the Twin Peaks TV series. Each of them is close to Mulholland Drive with regard to nonclarity.
Serendipity (PG-13)
John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale (Pearl Harbor) play would-be lovers kept apart by the time-honored movie tradition of people meant for each other who barely fail to meet each other. We know they will be perfect together, but getting them together is a tough assignment for director Peter Chelsom (Funny Bones, Town and Country).
First impressions: "A smartly constructed charmer proving the durability of romantic comedy by shaping an entire movie around a single cliche. The beauty of Serendipity is the way Klein's screenplay continues to find ways for Sara and Jonathan to barely miss each other. Sure, it's impossibly contrived. But the convincing actors and Chelsom's cagey staging of their lack of awareness make viewers believe for a breezy 90 minutes."
Second thoughts: Generally snubbed when released in theaters, but should be a popular date-at-home movie.
Rental audience: Cusack's fans, of which there are not enough.
Rent it if you enjoy: Sleepless in Seattle, While You Were Sleeping, or any other romantic comedy depending upon chance.
No Man's Land (R)
This year's Academy Award winner for best foreign language film is a biting Bosnian War satire. Director Danis Tanovic turns three soldiers trapped in a trench into a terrific metaphor for the futility of war and international disputes carrying on so long that nobody knows who to blame anymore. The soldiers are as frightened as they are loyal to their respective causes, the United Nations peacekeeping forces are impotent clowns, and the media won't allow the truth to get in the way of a good story.
First impressions: "No Man's Land never stoops to slapstick, but Tanovic's canny sense of the absurd makes everyone appear to be slipping on political banana peels. It's a film laden with wise metaphors and offhand gestures of incompetence when they're needed least. The movie becomes its own sly punch line.
"Knowledge of Bosnian war dynamics isn't necessary because the human failings contributing to the mess are universal. The laughs catch in your throat with Tanovic's final image, a stunning symbol of a post-Sept. 11 world bracing for the next senseless explosion."
Second thoughts: One of the most satisfying moments at the 74th annual Academy Awards took place when this film beat that twit Amelie.
Rental audience: Sly-witted deep thinkers.
Rent it if you enjoy: Dr. Strangelove, Wrong is Right, Network.
DVD: New and noteworthy for digital players
[Photo: Universal Pictures]
A veteran CIA agent (Robert Redford) goes on a rescue mission to rescue protege (Brad Pitt) who has been captured in China for espionage. |
Spy Game (Collector's Edition)
Some DVD users were hoping this week that David Lynch would use the format to explain what the heck was happening in Mulholland Falls. Fans of that trippy flick must wait for a special edition, since the DVD version lacks any bonus features that might offer clues.
Instead, we turn to the collector's edition of Spy Game, a movie that is everything Mulholland Falls isn't: a star vehicle (Robert Redford, Brad Pitt) with a tried-and-true concept (CIA agents keeping the world safe) and a plot that can be summarized in shorthand (veteran mentors rookie, then saves his butt). It's an enjoyable pairing of golden boys who like to explore the darkness behind their blondness.
But Spy Game isn't the kind of movie that needs to be explained. You know who to cheer simply by the casting, and no other actor gets enough screen time to compete with the stars. Redford's Nathan Muir, an agent ready to retire, is another variation on a theme he's played many times before, all easy smiles and wisecracks, getting more tight-lipped when the squeeze is on. Pitt's Tom Bishop could be his brash younger brother, cocky and cool, although much more willing to muss his good looks than Redford ever was.
Together they hopscotch through hot spots in director Tony Scott's flashback scheme, detailing their relationship through scrapes in Beirut, Vietnam, Berlin and Hong Kong. In the present (1991), Tom is arrested in China for espionage, and Nathan attempts a rescue despite CIA officials who don't want an international incident. To its credit, Spy Game races fast enough to evade logical scrutiny.
The DVD's extra features include an optional information locator titled Clandestine Ops, providing background notes whenever an icon appears on the screen during the show. Four scenes include a CIA emblem indicating that alternate versions are available with Scott's comments about the changes. Scott provides an audio commentary track focusing on the film's technical aspects, while producers Marc Abraham and Douglas Wick provide another commentary confirming that producers aren't interesting to hear.
Storyboards and production notes are part of the package, and a CD-ROM option doesn't offer much beyond plugs for Universal Pictures' online community and this summer's release The Bourne Identity.
The collection's best filler is a list of requirements and favorable characteristics of CIA applicants, just in case the movie gets you in the mood. Some of the requirements are standard; preferred college degrees are mostly along the lines of finance, engineering and science. Then there's the cryptic need for "competence in ambiguous situations" that you'll have to watch the movie to understand.
REWIND: Videos worth another look
The smell of napalm in his writing
The work of John Milius -- writer, director, script doctor -- reflects his conservative philosophy.
Anyone who saw Joel and Ethan Coen's The Big Lebowski remembers John Goodman's role as Walter Sobchek, a gruff, gung-ho Vietnam veteran with a chip -- no, make that a log -- on his shoulder. That character was based on screenwriter John Milius, a friend of the Coens with a reputation as a macho conservative often reflected in his writings.
Milius is a card-carrying board of directors member of the National Rifle Association whose own military ambitions were ended by chronic asthma. He's been taking out his aggressions on screen for three decades, occasionally as a director (Conan the Barbarian) but mostly writing and polishing scripts for hard-boiled heroes such as Dirty Harry Callahan. "Go ahead, make my day" was Milius' idea. So was Robert Shaw's harrowing Jaws monologue about the crew of the USS Indianapolis eaten by sharks.
Visitors to Milius' office are greeted by the tools of his tirades: War memorabilia, surfboards, Cuban cigars and lots of guns. His characters aren't shining role models yet usually adhere to some personal code of honor to be respected, if only because they'll kill you if you don't.
Today is Milius' 58th birthday, with no signs of the author mellowing. Although he hasn't added another screenwriting credit since Clear and Present Danger in 1997, Milius' two-fisted reputation is intact, preserved in these films available on home video:
Apocalypse Now -- Milius got screenwriting assists from director Francis Ford Coppola and Vietnam journalist Michael Herr, who conceived Martin Sheen's narration. But the juicy stuff, including Col. Kilgore's "napalm in the morning" reverie, is pure Milius.
Big Wednesday -- Times outdoors adventurer Terry Tomalin calls this one of his favorite surfing movies of all time. It's a testosterone fest with Gary Busey, Jan-Michael Vincent and William Katt getting older but not growing up as they seek the perfect wave.
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean -- Paul Newman is wonderful as the hanging judge of Langtry, Texas (named after his honor's favorite star, Miss Lily Langtry). Great cast includes Anthony Perkins, Stacy Keach, Ned Beatty, Ava Gardner as Miss Lily and director John Huston as Grizzly Adams.
Jeremiah Johnson -- Ranks with Deliverance as the most existential outdoor adventures ever filmed. Robert Redford plays a man so dissatisfied with society that he becomes a mountain hermit. Not much dialogue, comparatively speaking, but lots of meaning in Redford's grim performance and the sweeping Utah settings.
Evel Knievel -- A daredevil leaping over canyons on a rocket sled sounds right up Milius' alley. George Hamilton's portrayal is flimsy and the whole production looks cheesy, but it's good for goofing off.
The Wind and the Lion -- Candice Bergen plays an American woman abducted by Moroccan bandits at the run of the 20th century. Riding to her rescue is Sean Connery as an Arab chieftain with charisma to burn.
Clear and Present Danger -- Milius added toughness to a screenplay adapted from Tom Clancy's best seller. Harrison Ford stars as CIA agent Jack Ryan, investigating a Colombian drug cartel.
Conan the Barbarian -- All you need to know about Milius' style is summarized by these memorable lines for Arnold Schwarzenegger when Conan describes the best things in life: "To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women." Whoa, easy on the coffee, big guy.
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