Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Visual Parallels: Mulholland Dr. + Young Adult

Mulholland Dr. and Young Adult. Both focused on female heroines who are fighting with severe depression, jealousy and the feeling of being a failure. They both conjure an image that is not real - for Diane it's a dream where she is innocent, she has a chance at big career and where the woman she loves is in love with her. The naivety of the illusion is reflected in film's first images when we see Diane, smiling and hopeful, ready for her big dream to begin.. For Mavis it's living in her memories, repeating herself over and over again, though the world she lives in moved on. She looks at the picture from her wedding day - different kind of dream from the one she relives now, the scenario from high school, but another shattered dream nonetheless.

They both see things that cause powerful and ultimately destructive emotions in them - the girl who has it all, who isn't Diane, the picture of the baby which Mavis will never have. The blue key representing the guilt Diane can't cope with, the broken car - a wreckage, much like Mavis.

They live their lives in similar kind of hopelessness and lonely routine - drinking, staying in bed, not caring about their looks unless there is a reason to go out, which usually means chasing their dream. They both can't hide their jealousy or they rage and they both have honest conversations with strangers, probably not even realizing how sad it is that those people became their only confidants.

Next in the series - Taxi Driver and Drive

43 comments:

  1. Wow... I would've never guessed linking these two films together since they're so different. This was spot on.

    Taxi Driver and Drive I know have similarities both visually and in terms of their protagonists.

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    1. Thank you! Yeah, Taxi Driver and Drive have so many similarities I remember when the movie came out, reading reviews, I was surprised not many people mentioned it.

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  2. I haven't seen either of these, but always enjoy your posts, especially for the visuals. Looking forward to the next post (really need to see Taxi Driver).

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    1. Thank you! You should check all of those out, excellent films and great character studies.

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  3. Haven't seen either of these, but surely want to. However, I have a feeling that I won't like Mulholland Dr.

    Excited about the future post! It'll be epic.

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    1. I thought I may not like it either but it became my fav movie of all time, before Black Swan. It's like a big puzzle, the best part is that it is possible to get to the bottom of this and find explanation for everything.

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  4. I know what I'm going to be doing soon. Checking out both of these movies back to back. I have no idea how you even thought of comparing these two movies but I love it, and it makes perfect sense.

    Great Job

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    1. That's a great idea! Thank you! I saw both so many times, it just came to me especially because of all the shots of Theron and Watts looking exhausted and disheveled.

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  5. I haven't seen either one of these, but looking at your pics here, wow there certainly are a lot of similarities. I wonder if Jason Reitman is even aware of this, not sure if he's into Lynch's work or not, ahah.

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    1. Maybe, who knows :) I think a lot of people know Mulholland Drive, so who knows maybe he was a little inspired by it.

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  6. Really cool. I love these parallels posts. Keep 'em up.

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  7. I have different perception on Mulholland Drive. I might have to read the movie's plot again since it leads to many perception.

    Nice post, Sati! There are definitely some similarities between both's lead character.

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    1. It's really a fascinating movie. There is whole website - I think it's called "lost on Mulholland Drive" that has many great articles about it.

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  8. Amazing as usual. You should submit these series to a magazine or something.

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    1. Thank you! It's still a tiny series though, I chose films as I watch them so I don't know how many of those similarities I will notice. It may be 10 parts, maybe 100, depends.

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  9. Definitely some major similarities there, helped by two lovely blondes looking very much like sisters!!

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    1. Oh yes. Those two would hit the clubs hard, too :)

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  10. Haven't seen YA yet but really looking forward to it. Taxi Driver and Drive will make an awesome next one!

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    1. YA is awesome, Charlize delivers one of her best performances there, you should check it out!

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  11. Haven't watched either of them (shame). But seriously, how do you think of these parallels? It's brilliant! I'm looking forward to the next one: Taxi Driver and Drive sounds like an explosion of style and awesomeness.

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    1. It just comes to me :) I think I remember things better when I see them than when it comes to hearing, I do remember shots from movies very well.

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  12. Hey, Sati, you're a genius. That's all.

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  13. I recently watched Young Adult but haven't seen Mullholland Dr. in years. All I remember is this one scene in particular and otherwise not knowing what the Hell was going on. Or maybe that was Lost Highway?

    Anyway, what I do understand, is how awesome this effort is. I'm routinely floored by how hard you work.

    Great.

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    1. That can be the case for both LH and MD, except MD is easier to solve, at least in my experience.

      Thank you! This isn't that hard to do, the reviews and other features are a bit more exhausting since this is primarly taking screenshots and I love it :)

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  14. Nice parallels. Especially love the Naomi looking off-screen/Charlize walking to the house one and the key/car one. Great stuff!

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  15. Love these posts, two films that I didn't know had much in common until I saw your piece.

    Looking forward to the Drive/Taxi Driver post!

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    1. Thank you! I'll post D/TD around same time next month.

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  16. Wow, what an outstanding post. You have a very good eye for detail I would have never thought of a link between the films before I read your excellent post.

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  17. An outstanding and visually amazing post

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  18. Amazing work again, Sati! I've not seen either (for shame!) but love the visuals that you picked out. You are a visual genius!

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    1. Thank you! You should see these two, really great films with wonderful performances.

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  19. What an inspired comparison. Awesome work, Sati, can't wait for the next!

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    1. Thank you! Drive and Taxi Driver are a lot of work, but it's kinda fun too. Plus I got to see those 2 again and it's always a good thing.

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  20. This is great, I didn't knew they were so similar. I need to see mulholland drive soon!

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    1. You really do, it's such a wonderful movie, I'm sure you'll love it.

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  21. It's funny, Mulholland drive is one of my all-time favourite films and I didn't care much for Young Adult, yet I never noticed the similarities between the two, cool post.

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