Has IM-1776's Thomas Millary Found the Key to Mulholland Drive?
The "Ascent of the Divine Feminine" in Mulholland Drive, Mad Men, and Under the Silver Lake
Well, I wouldn’t know, but this is some very interesting cultural criticism indeed, touching on “everything,” as Millary hints, but of special interest to anyone who’s been intrigued by either of these two surreal-conspiracies-in-Hollywood films, or by the Mad Men series. It’s a three-part essay consisting of three film reviews, which Millary finished today with this one on Mulholland Drive, and with some good background on its director David Lynch added. The site/magazine IM-1776 is the perfect home for this series, so I encourage you to explore it a bit after having read Millary.
I’m not going to say more, but just send you to the review-essays themselves—all the links needed are on the title page of the latest. I assume Titus can someday tell us more about Mr. Millary, or at least, who else to read on these cult films. And since I suspect many people remain unaware of the intriguingly strange, and rather casually vicious, one he starts with, Under the Silver Lake, here’s a trailer:
If you haven’t seen this or Mulholland Drive, you probably ought to wait to read Millary until you have, since the element of surprise plays a big role in both, and they’re both narratively complex enough that his essays on them might be pretty confusing for uninitiated. ‘Course, I haven’t seen all of Mad Men, so I have some viewing-work cut out for myself, too.
Titus once discussed Mulholland Drive with Sohrab Ahmari. And if any of you think you know the real key, do put us on the right path in the comments!