Anyone who knows me even just a little bit knows I hold David Lynch in ridiculously high regard. I’ve dedicated a good chunk of my thinking life — and a sizable patch of my right forearm — to Twin Peaks, and I watch the rest of his work the way some people go to church: weekly, with great devotion, and usually dressed for the occasion. Out of all his work though, Mulholland Drive has been my absolute favorite of his films from the first time I saw it, and upon each subsequent viewing, somewhere in the 20s now, I am only further convinced of its greatness. It’s my third favorite film of all-time behind Jaws and The Third Man, it’s my second favorite horror film of all-time (again behind Jaws), and I, like a lot of folks, consider it to be the greatest film made thus far in the 21st century.
But for all the time I’ve spent thinking about Mulholland Drive in relation to itself and Lynch’s other work, I never really considered until today when I saw the following video, that maybe the reason I love Mulholland Drive above the rest of the directors oeuvre is because Mulholland Drive is the culmination of all things Lynchian; the themes, aesthetic style, characterization, and storytelling patterns he spent a career developing come to a perfect head in this one film, making it — pardon the pun — the peak of his art.
Our friend Leigh Singer is the brains behind this video, made for the fine folks at Fandor, and it is, quite simply, the best video about Mulholland Drive that I’ve ever seen. That’s right, I said it. Singer traces Lynch’s career and deftly demonstrates how the director pulls from everything he’s done in Mulholland, making it without a doubt exactly what Singer posits it to be: the ultimate and essential David Lynch experience.
I submit this video is equally as essential.
Related Topics: Filmmaking
