Sat in Utter Confusion for Two Hours?: Mullholland Drive Movie Review

It literally took me months, but finally I understand the movie I appreciate it so much more because it was so thoughtfully made & was truly the first of its kind. The overall message that Mulholland Drive is trying to convey is that we construct our realities based on fantasies. While we recognize movies often “mirror” our reality, we see it as a contained environment– very separated and othered from the world we live in. This movie serves to show that while movies reflect what we see in reality, they also help construct our reality, too. Movies show us a story that isn't real but is realistic, and we use it to measure our own lives. Media consumers internalize the plot line of a movie and take some of it as inspiration for our own lives -- making it something to achieve or providing us with a mindset adjustment.

Adam Kesher is my favorite character... because he’s fine BUT also because he’s so interesting and random? In the infamous cowboy scene, the cowboy tells him “No, you're not thinkin'. You're too busy being a smart aleck to be thinkin'. Now I want ya to "think" and stop bein' a smart aleck.” This is bizzare, because Adam— who’s character at this point only contextualizes ‘betty’s’ delusions— has to meet with this completely random, nameless, character who talks nonsense at him for a few minutes. This interaction makes very little sense thinking of Adam as anything other than a vessel to carry Diane’s disappointment & disillusions about why she never had success in Hollywood. However, this moment is significant outside of her. it is a clear point in the movie where it's telling us to stop analyzing everything and trying to define what we are seeing. Adam was trying to act as the “logical” or “realistic” one in the conversation which made him react to the cowboy like he was crazy. The cowboy seemed to symbolize the fantasy as he was very mystical and not really related to the story in the sense that he was a random man dressed as a cowboy talking in riddles within a movie with characters that seem more like people we’d encounter in real life. 

ALL IN ALL… I think about this movie all the time & compare so many others to it. The other movies with similar themes & styles are good but YOU CANT OUTDO THE DOER. Period.