Screamager

David Lynch brings all his surreal qualities together for, what else, an unintelligibly brilliant masterpiece. David Lynch is a madman, and he has been for the last 40 years or so. We were first introduced to his "style" with 1977's Eraserhead - a film that remains shocking to this day and quickly cemented Lynch as one of the 20th century's prominent surrealists. This was followed by the more accessible The Elephant Man, although still fairly surreal, and a number of movies that ranged from absolute **** (Dune) to absolute classics (Blue Velvet). Of all of his films, however, there is none quite like Mulholland Drive. To describe the film is an arduous task that would ruin the experience, and to summarise it would be an injustice. To put it as simply as possible, Mulholland Drive is a film about the search for meaning. A theme that is quite meta, since we as the audience also try to find the true meaning behind the film; scenes that lead to nowhere, absurdly comic moments that have no relevance, a list of questions that Lynch insists are important to "unlocking the secret" - or is this just misdirection on his part? Mulholland Drive initially started out as a pilot for an unproduced TV show, which may account for some of the random plot points that are ignored later in the film. But despite all that the surreal qualities actually work, and the more we try to investigate the truth the less interested we are. It's a film where we want to find the answers, but at the same we want them to remain hidden. There are countless interpretations to the movie and that just makes it so much better than Lynch's previous film Lost Highway (1997) - a film which influences the narrative structure of this film, but one which employed it less effectively. So what can I really say about Mulholland Drive? It's difficult to review a film like this because of how unique and surreal it is. My recommendation is that you watch it, because it is an incredible experience - artistic, comedic, dark, surreal, mysterious, it's a puzzle that can never truly be solved. Although I believe Blue Velvet to be Lynch's finest film (it was my introduction to his work), Mulholland Drive is worthy of a 10 simply because of how compelling it is - it's the mystery of Twin Peaks, but it's one that even Cooper can't solve. I don't think he'd want to either.

I wanted to like Moonlight. Really, I did. But I can't. I don't know what it is about the film but it just frustrates me. I screened this film as part of my research into the representation of sexuality and gender in film, believing that this was a significant work. And it is: the Academy Award for Best Picture winner and one of the most highly rated films on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. Naturally, with all the praise the film was lavished with, I was excited. When the movie ended I was in a state of confusion. Confusion because when the credits started rolling my first thought was "Is that it?". I often like films that are subtle in the way they work and Moonlight is an extremely subtle movie yet at the same time it bears the subtlety of a brick to the face; Moonlight is the equivalent of someone tapping you on the shoulder, punching you and then running away before you have a chance to realise what's happening. The film is too conventional and tries too hard to be experimental with it's simplicity: our protagonist Chiron is met with a number of issues throughout his life which are generic, cliched and frankly uninteresting - people claim that this movie is "all too real" but for me it seemed like a shopping list of typical film issues that had all been neatly shoehorned to create the perfect tragic character. The problem I have with this is that a lot of the issues are unresolved by the time the film ends, but perhaps that was the entire point, but then again I stopped caring in the last 10 minutes. You see if you're going to go for a film with deep meaning you have to make one that's actively engaging. (Not that I would consider the film deep, it's more a shallow grave of ideas.) What bothers me most about the film isn't even regarding the film itself but the reviews. It honestly feels as though this film has been lauded by the masses out of fear that to hold a contrarian view would mark you as either a racist or homophobic. You might read this and think I sound ridiculous but there are existing reviews that criticise this film based purely on its artistic merits, and the people writing those have been attacked for those exact reasons. Heck, I read an article suggesting that Moonlight itself is racist and I'll admit that they brought up some valid arguments. I've glossed over much of the other elements that went into the making of this film and although you may think I'll criticise them, because I do not like the film, you are wrong. The performances are for the most part fantastic, Mahershala Ali in particular was deserving of his Oscar, the film is well-directed and has some great cinematography, the only problem I have is the screenplay and how forced some of the dialogue is. So Moonlight was a great disappointment for me. A film I was excited for but one which ultimately failed to meet my expectations. While there are many brilliant things about this film there is simply one thing that is too significant to prevent the film from being anywhere near a masterpiece. Honestly? They should have let La La Land keep the award.

The Last Jedi is not a perfect movie, but when has any Star Wars film been perfect? This movie made risky decisions... and they all paid off. Rian Johnson has directed and written some absolutely great works - including Brick and Looper, which are two films that have brilliant writing. I will admit that I was taken aback by the amount of humour in this movie, but that got me thinking, this Star Wars film has the most emotion of any film in the franchise. Everyone complained that The Force Awakens was a remake of A New Hope, but now everyone is complaining that this is not a remake of Empire Strikes Back. If anything, it's better. Why? Because for the first time it feels that a Star Wars film has dedicated time to actually fleshing out its characters, and the writing plays a huge part in that. Unlike previous films, there's no dodgy writing or cringe-inducing lines (there is potentially one, but in context it's a perfectly acceptable line), and we actually get to know the characters more - be it ones that have been introduced in this trilogy, or some of the original characters. Understandably Mark Hamill was disappointed by his new characterisation but I honestly believe that this was a fantastic performance; one which has notably annoyed the fanbase, to which I ask you, seriously? Luke Skywalker is no longer the young idealistic adventurer he was in the original films, he's a much darker character weathered by the sense of failure, bearing the burden of having to live up to weighted expectations (similar to the expectations of fans for this trilogy coincidentally...). As for the other characters, Kylo Ren might be the best written character in the franchise - he's a complex character who is conflicted, at once vicious and powerful but also showing a sensitivity and reluctance to his atrocities. The newly introduced characters, such as Rose and DJ, are also humanised, far more than any of the characters in the prequels. Story wise, this film has been criticised by the fans (again), which I must disagree with (again). As I had stated this was by far the most emotional Star Wars film I have seen. Although there were no single moments that matched the sadness of Han Solo's death in the preceding film, this was a film that had moments where I would laugh, cry and moments that left me in suspense. The story is quite straightforward in that it's actually quite minimal - the Rebels have to escape the First Order, Finn and Rose try to find a hacker to assist them, whilst Rey attempts to encourage Luke to train her and help his sister, all while Kylo Ren continues to struggle with his nature. This is a film that has plenty of plot, but is focused more on the emotional aspect. The effects are the real stars of this franchise though, and boy do they deliver. The action set pieces are exquisite, with the climactic battle being a visual treat. So what can I say? I enjoyed this movie, but I am aware that there is a fanbase out there that believes Disney has ruined the franchise to which I say ABSOLUTELY NOT! This is, in my honest opinion, the third best Star Wars movie - bested only by the first two, primarily because I have had years to reflect on those and only days to reflect on this one. You might think that my judgement is less informed, but I disagree. This was a film that made me think about it after I left the cinema, and it moved me as a good film often does. To those who despise this film, I advise you to engage with it properly, maybe then you will realise the brilliance of it and the genius of Rian Johnson for daring to take a risk. It might not be what you expected, but that doesn't mean it's bad.