Mulholland Dr. (2001)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Mulholland Dr. (2001) – D. Lynch

Is this David Lynch’s best movie or simply his most enjoyable?  A mystery that at first seems unfathomable but with repeated viewings may be unlocked?  Naomi Watts plays Betty, a young woman who moves from Canada to Hollywood in search of stardom, but who immediately stumbles upon a mysterious woman (Laura Elena Harring) who has been in a car accident and lost her memory and is now hiding in Betty’s aunt’s bungalow (where Betty is staying while her aunt is out of town).  Together, they seek to find out the woman’s identity (she is called Rita because of the Gilda movie poster in the bungalow) but end up falling in love (?).  Running alongside this plot is another one:  a young director (Justin Theroux) is forced (by the mob) to choose a particular actress for the lead role in his highly anticipated film.  (These separate plots might just come together on the other side of the looking glass). Lynch is a master of suspense and manages to captivate the audience with camera movements and music alone – but, of course, his main ploy is weirdness (as one of the characters says “It has been a very strange day and getting stranger”).  The WTF moments pile on, one after the other, but somehow they seem to cohere in this movie unlike some of his others – we are invited to draw conclusions from the weird moments that can help us to better understand Betty’s experiences (and later those of Diane, also played by Naomi Watts).  The sleeve of my DVD came printed with 10 clues from David Lynch that are advertised to help you figure out the movie (such things as “pay attention to the bathrobe, the ashtray, and the coffee cup” or “how many times does the Cowboy appear?”)  Truly, these puzzlers made the film even more enjoyable.  There may be links, too, to other parts of the Lynchian universe – this film was originally meant to be a TV series following on from the success of Twin Peaks (but the pilot was not picked up and Lynch went on to film a conclusion that “wraps” it all up, even after the original sets and costumes were destroyed).  For example, you might think about whether there is a resemblance between the creature behind the Winkies and the possibly evil hoboes from Twin Peaks (Season 3 in particular?).  Even more enjoyable in an “8 ½” sort of way is seeing the film as a condemnation of Hollywood from Lynch’s point of view as a director who has had his share of troubles and interference.  Take that one step further and you can see this as a parable of the people drawn to Hollywood’s dream factory that end up with their lives in tatters (what might a young girl end up doing as the dream fades?).  Regardless of whether all the pieces fit (although I have finally grasped the blue key!) this is a ride well worth taking – Lynch’s masterpiece in my book (and more enjoyable than some of his harder-to-watch films).

Dust in the Wind (1986)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Dust in the Wind (1986) – H.-H. Hou

Do the early films of the great Taiwanese director Hsiao-Hsien Hou qualify as “transcendental”, referring to Paul Schrader’s description of films by Bresson, Ozu, and Dreyer?  (I haven’t read the book so how would I know?). The other term I see bandied about is “spiritually significant” – but I’m not sure whether this is something different from humanism and whether films that harbor no religious connotations, symbols or meanings count (after all, existentialism is a humanism!).  Which is a long way of saying that this quiet story about two teenage lovers who leave their rural mining community for the big smoke of Taipei and face ups and downs there has qualities that make its themes seem to rise above the text to become more universal and yes, affecting.  But it takes a long time for this transcendent feeling to arise (nearly the final minutes of the film) which is not to say that what goes before is boring or superfluous (instead it is necessary for us to earn the conclusion, I think). Indeed, Hou’s style, which manages to use colour, framing, and background subtly and artistically, even while in neo-realist mode, makes the journey worthwhile.  I think I need to revisit his other great, perhaps greater, films of this period (e.g, A Time to Live and A Time to Die, 1985; The Puppetmaster, 1993) and to seek out those I have not yet seen.  Transcending one’s own existence is a balm for troubled times (all we are is the title of this film, after all).

  

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) – T. Garnett

John Garfield is the drifter, Frank, who takes a job as a handyman for a roadside diner and petrol station run by Nick (Cecil Kelloway), a funny older gent who is married to the much younger Cora (Lana Turner).  Frank can’t resist Cora’s flirtations and impetuously kisses her – soon they are dreaming of what their lives would be like with Nick out of the way.  Most of the film is a long build-up to their murder attempt with Cora sometimes hot and sometimes cold toward Frank.  Is Garfield a sucker? Probably – this is film noir, after all.  He has numerous opportunities to escape the situation (and almost does).  Soon the D. A. (Leon Ames) is on their case, trying to pit them against each other – but lawyer Hume Cronyn handles things.  Or does he?  There are enough twists here, perhaps ironic twists, to keep things interesting – but mostly this is a slow burn, as Garfield’s Frank is defeated by lust and then something different, a fatalistic impulse that draws him to doom like a moth to the flame. The Italian version (Ossessione, 1943) of James M. Cain’s novella is strong but the ‘80s remake with Nicholson and Lange is not.   

Sansho the Bailiff (1954)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Sansho the Bailiff (1954) – K. Mizoguchi

This is an epically sad film with many depressing turns of event, with terrible outcomes due to both human cruelty or frailty and to chance/fate/bad luck.  The film begins with Tamaki  (Kinuyo Tanaka) escorting her young children, Zushio (aged 13) and Anju (aged 8), across lonely terrain with only a maid to assist her.  In alternating flashbacks, we learn that she is headed to meet her husband, a regional governor who was “transferred” (i.e., exiled) to a distant province because he dared to stand up for the peasants in his jurisdiction.  Shockingly, she and her children are waylaid, betrayed, and sold into slavery.  Tamiki is forced into prostitution on faraway Sado island and her children are forced to work for Sansho the Bailiff in a slave labour camp.  Director Kenji Mizoguchi masterfully dispenses with the early exposition and depicts these brutal events rather unblinkingly.  From then on, we follow the children as they grow up in the slave camp until, 10 years later, they consider escaping.  The twists in the plot are surprising to say the least – but every time our hopes are raised, they are ultimately crushed by another depressing episode (“life is torture” is a lyric of the central song here).  That said, we might still take some solace that there are gentle and kind and compassionate people on this Earth even if the cruel and selfish and powerful are able to squash them.  As in his other masterworks (e.g., Ugetsu Monogatari, 1953), Mizoguchi uses longshots to set his characters in their milieu and isn’t afraid to use beautiful compositions (Japanese-style). The plot ultimately takes on a fabulistic shape as events move to their final resolution.  The lesson to learn would seem to be to endure despite suffering.

The Farewell (2019)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Farewell (2019) – L. Wang

I don’t know much about Awkwafina (she’s also a rapper?) but she has an easy-going charm that helps to carry this film by new director Lulu Wang.  The story is personal but it references cultural differences that likely affect most migrants, particularly those crossing from East to West (or vice versa).  For example, the rights and duties of families versus individuals may be very different (this is practically a cliché by now, of course).  This traditional conflict comes to a head when the grandmother of Billi (Awkwafina) is diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer back in China and the family decides not to tell her -- with the complicity of the hospital.  Having grown up in New York, Billi is stunned by what she perceives to be the lack of dignity afforded to her grandmother but her family maintains that it is their responsibility to bear the emotional weight of the situation and to protect “Nai Nai” from its stresses.  That’s the plot in a nutshell and the screen time is used primarily to flesh out the family dynamics:  everyone has returned to China for a (faux) wedding between Billi’s cousin and his Japanese girlfriend which is really an excuse to see Nai Nai one last time.  The mix of drama and comic relief is deft and the music (by Wang herself on piano) helps to guide our emotional responses.  It’s an easy film to like despite its heavy theme – perhaps the universality of the events and the contemplation of different ways of responding to them across cultures provides an access point, regardless of one’s origin.  Awkwafina (aged 30 here) might also attract Millenials who are shaping up to be a very amusing generation. 

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) – J. Frankenheimer

I think it was probably 1990 or so when Bill, Marc, and I all travelled to Chicago (from our separate locales) to visit Laura.  There was a Jackie Chan film festival at the Art Institute (this is how I remember it) and we planned to see something – but, somehow, we turned up on the wrong night and The Manchurian Candidate was showing after having been out of circulation for decades.  What a thrill to see something this weird with no foreknowledge!  Frank Sinatra stars as Major Ben Marco who, as the film opens, is captured with his platoon by Chinese troops in the Korean war.  In a tour-de-force scene (staged by director John Frankenheimer), we learn that they have been brainwashed into believing that they are waiting out a storm at a women’s garden club meeting in New Jersey when in fact they are exhibits of psychological conditioning being shown to Chinese and Russian brass.  Laurence Harvey plays Staff Sgt. Raymond Shaw who is conditioned to be an assassin and set to be turned over to his American operator upon his return to New York. Being asked to play solitaire –and the presence of a particular card -- are the cues that open him up to external control. When Marco starts having vivid nightmares about his time in Korea, he begins an investigation that will ultimately lead to the truth.  Angela Lansbury plays Shaw’s mother, a rabid anti-communist working through her buffoon husband (Barney Miller’s James Gregory) who is a McCarthyite senator. Janet Leigh plays Sinatra’s love interest – or is she a double agent? Their dialogue together is nonsensical at best.  The plot has a number of twists and turns, which I won’t reveal here.  (I refuse to watch the remake).  This is one of the all-time great Cold War thrillers – if you haven’t seen it, you should.