Mulholland Dr.

Silencio: A Haunting Descent into Guilt, **** Hollywood Dreams, and the Illusory Silence of the Mind.(Rewatch) 230930 (5.0)"Silencio. There is no band. There is no orchestra. It is all a recording. It is all an illusion. Listen." Offering silence to the beloved soul who closed my heart forever. To leave behind a clearer grasp of this masterpiece, I am recording this rewatch with greater focus, having been merely entranced during my first viewing. The story opens with jitterbug dancers moving with energetic optimism, embodying the hopeful dream of aspiring actress Betty Elms. Meanwhile, an elegant woman riding along a dark mountain road realizes the route has changed; threatened at gunpoint, she escapes when drag racers crash into her limousine, leading her to seek refuge inside an apartment on Sunset Boulevard. The resident, Ruth, leaves for a shoot in Canada without minding the stranger entering her home. At the crash site, police discover a pearl earring, realizing a passenger vanished. At Winkie's diner, Dan recounts two nightmares about a terrifying man behind the restaurant, only to confront the horrific, soot-stained bum in the alley and collapse in sheer shock. Mysterious phone calls ripple across empty rooms, yellow wall phones, and dark bedrooms, carrying the cryptic message: "The girl is still missing." Betty arrives in Los Angeles with bright charm, befriending an elderly couple on the plane whose wide, exaggerated smiles feel quietly grotesque. She meets Coco Lenoix, the landlady managing Aunt Ruth's courtyard apartment where Wilkins's dog leaves its mark. Betty discovers the amnesiac woman showering in the apartment; unable to remember her identity, the woman borrows the name Rita Hayworth from a movie poster, pretending to be Ruth's acquaintance before falling asleep. Betty shares her innocent aspiration: "It's like a dream being here... I want to be a great actress and a movie star." In a studio boardroom, director Adam Kesher and his team meet with the Castigliane brothers and corporate higher-ups, who hand over a headshot of Camilla Rhodes, coldly decreeing, "This is the girl." Adam fiercely resists this interference, while the brothers throw tantrums over an espresso, their dictate monitored in secret by a powerful, reclusive figure in a wheelchair. Furious at having his artistic vision crushed, Adam smashes the Castiglianes' car windshield with a golf club. Luigi Castigliane informs the mysterious broker, Mr. Roque, that Adam refused the casting, shutting down the entire project. This biting sequence satirizes the covert hierarchies and ruthless control governing Hollywood. Elsewhere, an incompetent hitman casually shoots a man with a silencer to steal Ed's address book containing the history of everything, inadvertently killing a neighboring woman and a cleaner before setting off an alarm. Betty learns through a phone call with her aunt that Rita is an intruder, yet the kindhearted small-town girl chooses to protect her rather than call the police. Rita's purse holds stacks of cash and a triangular blue key, her only memory tied to Mulholland Drive and an instinctive urge to evade hospitals and authorities. The hitman investigates streetwalkers near Pink's Hoffy searching for a brunette. Adam returns home to find a "Gene Clean" van outside, discovering his wife Lorraine in bed with Gene; after ruining her jewelry with hot-pink paint, Adam is beaten and cast out into the rain. Betty hides Rita's cash inside a hatbox and confirms with LAPD Detective Baker that an accident occurred on Mulholland Drive. Eating at Winkie's, the name tag of their waitress Diane triggers Rita's memory of the name Diane Selwyn, prompting them to look up the address on Sierra Bonita. A mob enforcer arrives at Adam's ruined home, beating Gene and Lorraine. At the Park Hotel, the clerk Cookie informs Adam that his bank accounts are frozen, remarking cryptically, "No matter where you are, they know." Adam's secretary Cynthia arranges a secret midnight meeting in a barn on Beachwood Canyon with the enigmatic Cowboy, who advises Adam on how attitude shapes one's path, ordering him to declare "This is the girl" when Camilla auditions. An eccentric neighbor named Louise attempts to evict Rita on Ruth's behalf, deeply unnerving the fugitive woman. The Cowboy confronts Adam's arrogance in the barn, asserting that there is only one driver to a buggy and warning him that his future encounters depend on whether he cooperates. Betty undergoes an audition reading with veteran Woody Katz, delivering an electrifying, sexually charged performance that stuns the room. When taken to meet Adam on his set, a profound glance passes between them, but Betty rushes back to keep her promise to Rita. Camilla Rhodes auditions on set, and Adam compliantly utters the mandated phrase: "This is the girl." Evading a watcher outside Diane Selwyn's apartment complex, Rita and Betty sneak into Unit 17 with the help of neighbor W.

Taking up the narrative mode of the previous LOST HIGHWAY, the director from Montana takes us for a walkbetween dream and reality, between present fiction and possible futures, confusing and playing with the characters.A thousand explanations and meanings have been given about the story, but what remains is a colorful thrillerAbsolutely brilliant noir. The scene of the "Silencio" theater is legendary.Naomi Watts' interpretation is absolutely extraordinary, truly fantastic, and Laura Herring's,excellent in the role of femme fatale.Masterpiece