Post date: 30-Oct-2017 20:10:10
Mulholland Dr. by David Lynch (2001)
Reading week can also be a watching week, so here is one of the most important movie I suggested so far: Mulholland Dr. by David Lynch. It is often presented as the best movie of 21st century, I would simply say it is one of the best movies ever made. The level of mastery and mystery in this movie is one of the highest of cinema history. Rather than repeating the common things that have been said on this movie, I will try to depict of more personal way I think about Lynch cinema. According to me, the whole purpose of Lynch cinema is to vehicle the feeling of a dream (not in the naive nice way but rather in the dark disturbing way). From Eraserhead to Inland Empire, passing by Blue Velvet and Lost Highway, Lynch always achieve to make me feel strange at the moment of the end credits, like a vague feeling in the throat one can have after waking up from a weird dream. Hence, I would invite to trust your senses rather your reason when watching Mulholland Dr. I actually am perplexed by this people on the internet describing a full simple explanation of the entire movie: it just shows to a certain extent that they didn't understand it. Lynch wrote it as a dream: rather than finding a meaning behind every scene and a consistent theory through the entire movie, the viewer should rather dig for the feeling Lynch wanted to depict, and eventually the meaning of things will come up. The talent of Lynch in this movie is to have found a consistent way to talk about a woman's feelings, about Hollywood industry, about Los Angeles and American culture, making us laugh, scared, uncomfortable, cry, in a single movie. This is an absolute masterpiece, where every single hand contributing to it displayed incredible talent: the music of Angelo Badalamenti, the acting of Naomi Watts... And obviously the visual genius of Lynch. All that together, it is Mulholland Drive, and please, such a dense movie may puzzle at first, so give it a second try, and then, I promise, you will never forget it. Every watching is a discovery and an emotional journey.
Red by King Crimson (1974)
It is time now to talk about my favourite band: King Crimson. Band created at the end of the 60s and led by the guitar genius Robert Fripp, it produced the first and most important album of progressive rock: in the Court of the Crimson King. This album contains "21st Century Schizoid Man", which remains one of the biggest musical shock of my life. Why didn't I suggest this album, then? Well, first of all because it is rather well-known, and then because I think it is not their best. Throughout the years, KC developed a very specific approach to music, blending hard-rock and avant-garde jazz, with an emphasis on improvisation and rhythmical complexity. This style became more specific as the line-ups changed, until 1973 when John Wetton and Bill Bruford joined the band as bassist and drummer respectively. Robert Fripp found there his musical soulmates, and they produced three astounding albums. The final one of these is Red, their most incredible album according to me. In 1974, they created such a peculiar sound that is a surprising glimpse on how metal will look like ten years later. The aggressive sound of Wetton's bass, the broken cymbals (literally) of Bruford and the heavy sound of Fripp's guitar is unique on this album. The first face of the album display incredible heavy songs, featuring some vocals of John Wetton. The time signature changes are challenging, the syncopated drumming of Bruford is mind-blowing: each musician display incredible talent during this dark musical journey. The face B is composed of an improvised track (typical from all KC albums) and the 12 minutes-long track Starless. This last song is the one I often mention as my favourite song ever: this is the best progressive rock song of all time according to me. Starting with an emotional melody, the song suddenly switch to a dark interlude, with the obsessing combination of guitar and bass lines. The tension builds up thanks to the inventive drumming of Bruford to reach a insanely wild free jazz saxophone solo of Mel Collins, to finally come back on the initial melody, with an intensity rarely seen in the history of rock. In one word, a masterpiece.