the revealing of opinion

Rating: Null/10 (9 December 2002)

First of all, i by no means understand this movie's structure or general premise, but i do have an idea as to what the movie might be based upon and i think that is the Foust legend. Selling your soul to the devil for a better life. I don't think that it is a dream because it seems to me that there are too many references to the devil or an evil nature of some sort which makes the movie dark and in many ways very sinister. The character behind the diner could possibly be the devil or one involved with the devil. The cowboy could possibly be a messenger for the devil. The guy who kills Ed for the little black book could possibly work for the devil, (he did say that he's just doing some work for this guy, but never says who). The two old people could possibly be demons because they are in the very first scene of Betty's "dream life" and in her last as she kills herself.
Another reason why this whole scenario seems possible is because Names change (along with identity), plot changes, and mood changes drastically at certain points in the movie.
The fact that the night club is such a long scene and that from that point on just about everything changes leads me to believe that it is extremely important and may possibly be the key to the movie. In the night club the fact that everything is an illusion is pushed dramatically, but i don't think that this means everything is a dream. I can't see how the difference between consciousness and subconsciousness is shown or revealed in this scene other than the fact that it is said to be an illusion because that could mean a thousand different things.
I think the movie is about lust, love, jealousy, and the limits people will go to in order to retrieve something they had or gain something they've always wanted. The fact that it deals with people in Hollywood I think is amusing because if I were to have an accurate view on this movie it would in a way be suggesting that Hollywood is the epitome of corruption.
I do not think that the acting is bad or over-done because i think it was clearly intentional for certain characters to be over-dramatized in order to show the rebirth or re-animation. The corny nature of Betty's acting when she gets off of the plane is, i think, intentionally bad to show how she is not herself, but actually someone else entirely, but this of course is not taken into consideration for some time because the plot does not reveal things in a traditional fashion.
I think one of the reasons why the movie is so confusing is because it is not in order. This is not to say that it's backwards or that if you watched the movie in a more direct order it would flow, but that time is manipulated because of a re-animation of life.
Finally, this is all an opinion and i could be wrong, but i am pretty sure that it's not a dream on anyone's part mostly because the cowboy tells the dead body to "wake up, pretty girl."