Mulholland Dr.

The early films of David Lynch introduced a much-needed dark energy and surreal imagery into the bubblegum culture of 80s Hollywood and this brilliant filmmaker has discussed his work in the sold out Bing Theater on two occasions: following Lost Highway which climaxed our Lynch retrospective in 2000; and several years ago at the preview screening of Inland Empire. Mulholland Dr.—the opening film in our 2007 René Magritte-inspired series “Through the Looking Glass”—is set in a duplicitous Hollywood where the sordid tale of a jealous, unemployed actress who descends into madness morphs into a glossy Nancy Drew adventure about a perky blonde (Watts) and a voluptuous brunette (Harring) who team up to solve a mystery. In reverse order. Conceived as an enigmatic series of nightmarish and whimsical events, Lynch’s epic hallucination evokes the claustrophobic universe of the similarly named Sunset Boulevard and the fantasy world of The Wizard of Oz, a Lynch favorite in which the American heartland is peopled by tin men, straw men and wicked witches—much like Hollywood today. “A nervy full-scale nightmare of Tinseltown... Watching Mulholland Dr. is a little like peering into the semi-darkness from the front car of a runaway subway train tunneling furiously into the earth as if sucked toward some unknowable hell.“—Stephen Holden, The New York Times.
Bing Theater |  $10 general admission. $7 museum members, seniors (62+), students with valid ID | Tickets: 323 857-6010 or purchase online.