I DON'T understand endings/story? do you know?

Hi guys/gals

I hope your all having a great start to the weekend.

Hopefully I won't be sounding to dense today but just recently I had seen a musical and movie I could not fully understand.

I have seen many musicals & movies with twists and turns but for some strange reason I could not understand these two productions.

Can you help by explaining to me what they meant.

1) Mulhand Drive - the movie (CAN'T REMEMBER the spelling ). The movie with the gorgeous Naomi Watts now what was that all about?

2) The Rocky Horror Show - musical/movie once again I'm beginning to feel really stupid here and normally I'm the type of person who always thinks outside the box but who knows maybe my brain in going mush in my old age. (I'm not that old just kidding - but man I feel it today).

So can anyone out there help explain these two fine productions which I cannot understand.

Hope to hear from you guys soon.

JB :-)

I haven't seen Mulholland Drive, but isn't David Lynch known for making enigmatic, nightmarish, indecipherable films?


But I really quite like the Rocky Horror Show.

Right from it's opening song it announces the material and style it is about to parody: the 50's B-grade Sci-Fi films put out by RKO, like 'Forbidden Planet', 'The Day The Earth Stood Still', 'Flash Gordon'...and all the corniest versions of Frankenstein. Most of the characters are parody stereotypes...the highschool sweethearts, the evil mad scientist, the creepy henchman, the leather-clad biker rocker, the detective/professor, the dumb jock.

But on top of that, not unlike the Comedy Improv scenarios we love playing with so much at the Big Hoo Haa, they combine the parody idea with a juxtaposed scenario of a planet inhabited by transvestite/transexuals...and let the story figure itself out from there.

Musically it does what a lot of music in the 70's did, borrowed from the 50's sound styles and gave it a raunchier, more pompous, glam edge...but the lyrics are totally tongue in cheek.

Given these parameters, it's no wonder the resulting storyline is ludicrous, but that's exactly the point.


When Richard O'Brien (who wrote the book and music, and played Riff-Raff the henchman in the film) first produced it in a small venue in London, it was never intended as more than a dark, lunatic, comedy romp...not unlike things I've seen here by Luke Milton, or Blak Yak's 'Psycho Beach Party'? But it was the audience response that turned it into an underground classic, with patrons returning again and again, and dressing in drag. When it was made into a film, the initial response in the USA was very poor, and it was soon only screened during late night sessions at arthouse film theatres. But soon these became cult gatherings as audiences would regularly turn up to midnight screenings dressed as their favourite characters, sing along with the movie, and call out responses to certain lines in the film....and late night screenings were extended into record-breaking seasons.

Cheers,
Craig

Thanks Craig

I can always rely on you to come to my rescue. I can honestly say Rocky Horror is now a little bit clearer with your explanation but when I first saw it I was totally "what the???".

As for Mulholland Drive (thanks for the spelling) another big mystery it was entertaining and Naomi was quite good but I was left thinking I cannot understand the ending or was I meant to?. I'm sure it is David Lynch and I like his style of movies.

If you know of anyone who has seen the film could you get back to me, or if you ever get the chance to see the film yourself?. I'm sure you know how I'm feeling it's a bit like sitting in the cinema watching a rather interesting film, going to buy popcorn and missing out on the ending.

Anyway I hope you have a great week and I'll keep my fingers crossed for Mulholland Drive.

Smiles JB

PS: If you can't get to me about Mulholland Drive don't worry I appreciate you writing back about the Rocky Horror Show cheers. :-)

JB wrote:
>
> As for Mulholland Drive (thanks for the spelling) another big
> mystery it was entertaining and Naomi was quite good but I
> was left thinking I cannot understand the ending or was I
> meant to?. I'm sure it is David Lynch and I like his style of
> movies.
> If you know of anyone who has seen the film could you get
> back to me, or if you ever get the chance to see the film
> yourself?. I'm sure you know how I'm feeling it's a bit like
> sitting in the cinema watching a rather interesting film,
> going to buy popcorn and missing out on the ending.


Just saw this on DVD, and I can now see what you mean! But I very much liked it...I suppose I was forewarned a bit and was watching more with the intention to 'figure it out'.

Someone else in your other thread has paraphrased the story well enough...I loved the way the perspective changed and you had to totally reevaluate the narrative (which was sketchy anyway) when you start to identify with 'real' Naomi Watts character. There are so many wonderfully surreal moments in the film that are played totally straight, and it's only the context that makes it so surreal. And when they are placed alongside some obviously surreal images which I was led to interpret as dreams, I was totally fooled as to WHO was having the dream.
The audience gets as lost and confused as to what is reality as does the main protagonist, going off the rails in a very 'Hollywood Seven' scenario of broken dreams, jealousy, and depression (drug?) induced madness.

Even the conventional idea of chronology gets fooled around with, as faces from the past assume multiple roles, and the main character gets to see images that suggest they occur after her own death, like a premonition or deathwish. (Or someone in the other thread has suggested she may now be a ghost looking back, which is a valid interpretation).

In the DVD there are some bonus interviews/press conferences with David Lynch at the Cannes Film Festival, and of course they are all asking him to explain what the hell is going on! He is very protective of the ambiguity, not explaining things much more than 'everything comes from ideas, we don't know where ideas come from'.
Mulholland Drive itself is the long, winding, poorly lit road across the hills overlooking LA/Hollywood; very picturesque and iconic but also treacherous, twisting, lonely and mysterious...he claims that is the original idea everything sprung from, and it's a damn fine metaphor if you ask me.



Thanks for pointing this to me JB, I thought it was a great movie and I'm thinking of checking out more of Lynch's work. I've only seen Dune, The Elephant Man, and Blue Velvet, and that was all a long time ago.

Cheers,
Craig