A haunting Lynch film with a deep meaning

Rating: 9/10 (26 July 2016)

David Lynch is a filmmaker known for the absurdity of his films. However, he is also really good at inserting highly complex story lines into his movies. Every time I re-watch one of his films, I feel like I understand them a little more. More complex events which didn't make any sense to me or meant nothing to me on my first viewing feel creative once I come up with a good explanation to them. This, in turn, made Lynch a really great filmmaker. It gave his films more staying power.
After a car crash renders a woman named Rita amnesiac, she partners up with a woman named Betty hoping to become a Hollywood actress as they search for answers across L.A., encountering several bizarre events in the process.
There is a widely accepted broad explanation of the film. However, even after you look it up, the film still has a lot of staying power. There are several other scenes from the film which appear to go deeper, and this gives it more staying power. However, no matter how much you look up, it still always seems like there is more to learn from the film, and it still keeps you coming back. The film is constructed so that it will always be open to interpretation. Every time you first watch the movie, your initial explanation always seems off, and it's hard to feel comfortable with it without watching it more times. This movie finds a great balance between reality and fantasy. It sounds very cryptic at first. However, after you pay attention to a few clues in the film, you start to form a basic idea of what's happening, and you should be able to go off from that and expand your interpretation of the film.
Like most Lynch films, this is very complicated. Lynch finds many ways of giving hints to its meaning in many possible ways. He has brilliant cinematography which includes a red and pink color scheme (this is important symbolism). He also has weird set pieces which seem out of place. One of them is when they investigate an apartment where someone named "Diane Selwyn" supposedly lives. They find a disturbing scene there which gives a frightening clue to what the film means. Also, there is a blue box and a key which seems very odd and out of place. It makes the viewer wonder what its purpose of being in the film is. Lynch made it so that every single event from the film which seemed out of place to the storyline gave somewhat of a hint to what the film meant. I liked how Lynch did this as I thought that it was a clever method. He left subtle hints that were easily noticeable, but they weren't too obvious that they gave the films' meaning away.
This film also has many scary scenes. The diner scene is perhaps the most famous one. It was very suspenseful. The viewer knew that something bad might happen. However, they also had a slight feeling of confidence that they would be fine. As tension got higher, the viewer knew that anything could go wrong, and that sense of confidence kept on dwindling. However, it was still hanging on in the back of their minds. The payoff of that scene worked very well since the buildup was really good. Also, the ending scene was very terrifying as well. The lighting and camera-work made it very unnerving, and the viewer was probably horrified. Lynch made no attempts to show suspense or to build up the tension here. He just put the payoff right at the beginning of the scene to show the viewer what they had to be terrified of. The result was a terrifying sight. Also, I found that there were some scenes which seemed scarier on repeat viewings as I got to expand my interpretation of the film. Overall, this film provided a great amount of terror.
The soundtrack to this film was really good. It was very ominous. Also, it contributed really well to the sense of mystery that the film had. The intro when it shows Rita's car moving down the highway feels like a haunting way to start off the film. Not only is the soundtrack dark and ominous, but it also can be emotional at times, especially with the "Love Theme". Songs from it carry several different emotions. It fits in perfectly with the movie.
In conclusion, this movie is amazing. I'm not sure if it's my idea of a masterpiece (although, I feel like my rating for it could rise on future viewings), but it's still very good. It has very good ambiguity and it leaves a few clues big enough to make the viewer enjoy it a lot more on future viewings. It also has many scary scenes which can make it haunting at times, especially after you learn a bit more about its plot. It expertly represents Lynch's talent at making complicated and weird films. When "Sight & Sound" published their 2012 edition of the top 250 best movies ever made, this film ranked at #28. I still like Eraserhead a little more, but I can understand the praise for this film. It accomplishes a lot, and it may grow on me over time as well (that was what Eraserhead did after all).