Review of David Lynch's Los Angeles Trilogy

I watched this film for Cinema and Digital Technology, a film course I took. So far I have watched David Lynch's Los Angeles trilogy; Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, and Inland Empire. Lost Highway may be the best of the three and it also is, perhaps, the easiest one to follow.

Lost Highway is a film about changing identities. Bill Pullman's character changes, his wife's character changes. Eventually all of the characters lives intertwine. This thriller uses a unique narrative structure. It flashes between one character and another. The action revolves around the Pullman/mechanic character. There are some sex scenes and use of music to bring the audience deeper into the dark recesses of humanity; a gangster, a woman who was forced into pornography, juxtaposed against the mechanic and Pullman who is trying to protect his wife. Eventually the narrative circles back to the house. There the movie ends.

Mulholland Drive is similar to Lost Highway in that there is a narrative structure that is disjointed and changes of identity within the main characters. The two women become a lesbian couple and Lynch offers several scenes of softcore, lipstick lesbian erotica. I thought that Mulholland Drive was anti-climatic compared to Lost Highway and both Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive to be more linear then Inland Empire.

In Mulholland drive there is, like Lost Highway a plot shrouded in mystery. The lost girl doesn't know her name or where she lives. Eventually, with the opening of the blue cube, the McGuffin of the movie, the two women's identities are changed. One becomes a starlet and the other a jilited lover who contracts for the starlet's murder.

Inland Empire is different from both film. It has a very non-linear structure. If you thought the plot was hard to understand in Lost Highway or Mulholland Drive, then you will be even more confused by the plot in Inland Empire. There is very little exposition. The only thing holding together the film is the character of Laura Dern. We follow her through different places, different times, and, perhaps, different dimensions. Again there are changes of identity and there is little closure to the film.

Even more than Highway or Drive, Inland Empire becomes self-referential and odd. Particularly the sequence with the rabbit family.

Each film is difficult to grasp and interpret. I think Lynch does this on purpose. He pushes the boundaries of film in new directions in terms of cinematography and narrative structure.