Mulholland Drive: the Cowboy and the Fourth wall

Mulholland Drive is one of my favorite movies, this is sure and obvious. Nobody likes too much weird and too excessive fan-boy theories in general. But what I truly believe is that any movie of David Lynch is a personal experience and sharing interesting theories is the only way to enrich and improve your view.

This time I will talk about the Cowboy, one of the most mysterious characters of Mulholland Drive.

The first time he appears to the director of the movie. In that specific occasion he tells one important thing: “You will see me one more time if you do good. You will see me two more times if you do bad.“

In that moment he is speaking not only to the character, but even directly to the viewer. This is highlighted by the fact that the Cowboy is rarely in the same shot with another character. Even if he is talking with somebody he looks alone, close to speak directly to the camera.

From that point in the movie the cowboy will appear twice.

The first to wake up Betty from the dream. In that episode all is going fine and Betsy is happily waking up. That is the good moment. The viewer is thinking that maybe the movie will lead toward an happy ending.

Sadly we will see the cowboy once more, during the last dinner.

From that point on, all will be bad till the tragic end. Good characters will drastically change in negative ones. The obsession will start to grow.

The cowboy is talking to the viewer about the evolution of the plot of Mulholland Drive. The first time when the ending seems a positive one. The second one when all falls down into a dramatic end.

He is somehow a cryptic storyteller of this dark tale. He is driving the impressions of the viewer about different evolutions of the movie.

A lot of theories could arise from this complex character. There is not a right view inside a David Lynch movie. My view is just another piece of the puzzle.

Monster of the Week: Siam

Origin: Silent Hill Homecoming.

Appearance: Siam is a complex and interesting creature. It is a fusion of a man and woman, constricted and bound together with black tape and wearing leather bondage-like clothes. The forms are forced into an unnatural position where the female figure is lying on the back of the man, without any free will. The man part has some giant mace-like arms, similar to the one of other creatures in Silent Hill universe like Closer and Mandarin. The Siam attacks are based entirely on the strength of the male figure. It moves fast, like an ape, charging at you with all its strength.

Symbolism: The obvious symbolism of Siam lies in its duality that represents the tight relationship between men and women. This a universal representation of this complicate relationship at any level, but especially focused in all the relationships inside Silent Hill saga. A lot of people criticize Homecoming, but this game has a very interesting ability. This game more than trying to tell the personal history of Alex, it is trying to create a symbolic bridge of references between all the previous chapters. The only way to kill a Siam is to damage the female part of him.  This is a reference to what it happens in Silent Hill 2 and 4, where if you fail to protect your partner you will obtain the worst ending. Mary and Eileen are even completely bound to the main character, following him around without any free will, like the female part of the Siam. Bu there is even a deep and tight relationship because the male part of Siam is trying to protect the female part, like James and Henry before him with Maria and Eileen. This happens even in Homecoming, with Alex and Elle. A complicate relationship like all the previous one, between feeling and instincts. Another interesting clue to support this theory is that, when you kill the first Siam on Xbox 360, you will obtain the Achievement “Shades of James”. The reference cannot be more clear.

Hausu: a pioneer, surreal and weird japanese movie

Hausu is not a movie for everyone.It is not even a movie from a canonical point of view. Hausu is a visual experience, a torrent of weird, creepy and dreamlike images. There is nothing like Hausu in the world of the movies.

Hausu is a colorful and weird experience, a non-sense of scenes and dialogues. The visual power of this movie is unique, with a beautiful choice of colors and some crazy effects that belongs to an LSD nightmare.

The plot is simple and minimalist. A group of girl going to visit the aunt of one of them, that is hiding a creepy secret. If the first half of the movie looks like a standard teenager movie full of cheesy music and flat dialogues, the second half shows the truly weird power of this movie.

I am sure that behind the weird torrent of images, the plot of Hausu hides some symbolisms. It is a coming to age movie about how it is difficult to become adults. There are a lot of scenes that hide a sexual message, like the contrast between watermelons and bananas, the naked bath in the blood, the morphing into a naked doll.

But you would not watch Hausu for its plot or the symbolisms. You will watch it for how weird and bizzarre is, for how original and unique can be even now a movie of 1977.

If you want a circus of weirdness with an head biting asses, a man-eating piano, kung-fu fight against pieces of woods, evil cats, moaning killing pillows and a man transforming into bananas, this is the movie you are looking for.

Hausu is a truly unique visual experience. At the end, it is not a movie for anyone and you could love or hate it. What is surely true is that Hausu is a brilliant and unique movie till now that truly deserve to be watched.

I want to conclude just saying: “Kung-fu you are so cool!”.

Monster of the Week: the Watchers

Origin: Drakengard (PS2)

Appearance: These creepy creatures are clearly identical to giant floating infants. If this alone is not enough to highlight their creepiness, they are also cannibal and voracious of human meat. Yes, giant floating men-eater babies. The surprise is even more shocking because they appear just in one ending of what was, till this point, a normal fantasy game.

Symbolism: The  Watchers are the gods that everyone pray for hope and positive things, till the day they truly arrive. At that point is too late to regret that the God you where praying for all your life is only a giant and dumb creature that only wants to eat your flesh. Nothing is scarier than this disillusion of the faith, and Drakengard painted perfectly and unexpectly a creepy and innovative religious apocalyptic scenario.

In the mouth of madness: an elogium to H. P. Lovecraft.

Do you read Sutter Cane?
If you didn’t watch the masterpiece of John Carpenter “In the mouth of madness”, this name will sound unknown. Well, better to go now and check this movie because Sutter Cane sold more books than Stephen King. Even more than the Bible itself.

Sutter Cane is the representation of H. P. Lovecraft and all the movie is about ” and if Lovecraft had right?”. The movie is a not only a declaration of love to the figure of Lovecraft, but also it is the perfect incarnation of his work, even without truly citing any of his histories.

In the Mouth of Madness is a twisted rope, where there is a movie inside a book inside a movie. Here, breaking the fourth wall is the standard way to move on the plot.
To summarized the complex plot I will use the same words behind the book “In the Mouth of Madness” that appears in the movie. The last masterpiece of Sutter Cane.

Sutter Cane is not only the writer of the books that are the base of the movie, he is the avatar of the director. He is the demiurge of the all the history.

“My favorite color is blue”. This sentence marks one of the most amazing break of the fourth wall in a movie, and one of the most intriguing technical expression of John Carpenter.

Fictional world and real world merge under the influence of Sutter Cane and the viewer watching the movie is a part of it.

When Sutter Cane opens himself  like a breaking page of a book he opens a break between his fictional characters and the reality.

The writers and all the creative minds are like a door to another world.

So, coming back to an opening question: what if the work of Lovecraft was not fictional? What if the more we read a book the more we give power and consistence to something?
Like with religion: more Bibles we read, more the concept of religion spreads.

If this will happen even with horror books? The born of ab horro-based religion is another interesting topic touched by this movie.

So not only this movie is a technical gem full of incredibile and twisted moments, but it is even an incredible representation of many horror related “what if?” and a true elogium to Lovecraft.

Monster of the Week: the Creeper

Origin: The Suffering ties that binds

Appearance: A bold man very pale, wearing a long coat. The nightmare starts when this creature opens his coat, revealing one of the sickest creature design ever made in a videogame. The coat is a part of him, bloody and organic as the inside of his skin.Three girls in revealing outfit, probably hookers he killed, arise as tentacles from his bowels. Deadly blades come out from their mouth. This sick and depraved creature is able to crawl like a spider using the women like legs.

Symbolism: The Creeper represents the most sick and disturbing essence of a serial killer. He is an hideous creature, looking normal at first look, but revealing his deviated behaviors just under his coat. He is a pure misogynist, a killer of women. For him the woman is only an object to use, an appendix to make him walk, a slave. As i said before, the Creeper is really one of the sickest creature even designed in a videogame.