2001-11-07 - 11:12 p.m.
First a few words about the musical Buffy (and this doesn�t contain any spoilers so keep reading even if you haven�t seen it yet):
I wasn�t expecting to like it. I have serious musical-theater issues stemming from my relationship with my first girlfriend. You think love affairs gone wrong are painful? Try a love affair gone wrong with lots of bad community theater thrown in. I once had to hurry home from one of our nights together, put my headphones on and crank Black Flag all the way up to 11 in a desperate attempt to drive "The Surrey With the Fringe on Top" out of my skull.
Plus, I remember "Cop Rock."
But--surprise surprise--not only was last night�s Buffy cleverly done, but it actually managed to move all the various storylines forward, which doesn�t often happen when TV writers set out to be clever. Granted, it didn�t have the evil Willow from the alternate universe slinking around in black leather, but I guess we can�t have everything.
And Anya�s Alanis-style song about evil bunnies nearly gave me a coronary from laughing.
***
So. Mulholland Drive.
I wasn�t expecting to like this one either. A David Lynch film set in Los Angeles? What�s the point? I grew up in L.A.--the place is a David Lynch film.
Those expectation shriveled up and blew away the instant I saw the Gap-ad-from-hell opening sequence, followed by that long, slow tracking shot of the limo crawling through the Santa Monica Mountains at night with the sea of city lights below--of course L.A. is the perfect setting for a Lynch film. It�s all illusion and surface and dark, slimy goings-on hidden under a shiny coating of glamor that sits there like a coating of suntan oil. I mean, duh.
I�ll have to see Blue Velvet again (the real version, not the lame Bravo version with all the profanity dubbed over) before deciding if Mulholland Drive is better. But The Straight Story bored the crap out of me, and not even my twisted brain could wrap itself around Lost Highway, so I can definitely say it�s the best Lynch film in the last few years. Nice to see David back on his game. Go see it.
Mig sleepy now. Time for go to bed.
***
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