You care about the characters the actions, irrespective of the reality you are watching, appear to have genuine consequences – and so therefore you are drawn into the intriguing spider’s web. It’s what drew me to the director’s films even back when I didn’t have a clue what was going on in them. David Lynch movies, no matter how surreal and confusing they may get, are still, ultimately, highly entertaining. Don’t get me wrong, I am fully aware of the critical acclaim this film has received, and thus aware of the risks I run in deriding it – but it is just not a very enjoyable movie on any level. The trouble is, the end result is an almost-unwatchable mess.
In this regard, it is an absolute success. It portrays three sets of ‘characters’ using all the same actors it shows us footage from three different ‘sources’ – the real-life events, the ‘movie’ events and the ‘making of the movie’ events – and attempts to fuse them all together into a befuddling mix which will require the utmost concentration (and probably several viewings) to fully separate. Road to Nowhere is an elaborate exercise in cinematic trickery. To further complicate matters, the director Mitchell Haven (Tygh Runyan) is not only be making a movie about the characters of Rafe and Velma, but also a movie about making that movie. Cliff De Young ( Glory) plays Cary Stewart, a little-known actor who, for some strange reason, also looks identical to the person his character is based upon, Rafe Taschen. Let me try and elucidate: Shannyn Sossamon ( Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang One Missed Call) plays Laurel Graham, an amateur actress who is picked for a part in a film because of her striking resemblance to the real-life woman upon which the character is based – Velma Duran. Confused? You’re not the only one, and things certainly won’t be any clearer when you get to the end of this maze (within a maze (within a maze)). To further add to this mind-boggling triptych, the cast playing all three roles across the various ‘realities’ are identical. The lines between reality and fiction are blurred in the extreme, as we see scenes of the real couple, scenes of the actors acting, and scenes of the actors not acting, all of which are seldom – if ever –differentiated. Intersplicing three parallel storylines, the story follows a director adapting a true tale of a double-suicide. I suppose that if anybody had the right to try, it would be cult director Monte Hellman returning from a Terence Malick-esque 20-year hiatus to bring us the offbeat indie mystery Road to Nowhere. Practically owning the surreal and impossible mystery sub-genre that he appears to have forged single-handedly, there have always been other filmmakers interested with the idea of crafting intriguing mind-twisting mysteries in the same vein, but few have achieve anything even comparable to Lynch’s works (I suppose, on a good day, Terry Gilliam has come close – 12 Monkeys, Brazil – but his efforts offer more of a sci-fi mind-bending angle).
That’s what I love about David Lynch movies – it is not necessary to fully understand them in order to fully enjoy them. The funny thing is, his films work as well – if not better – as mysteries, rather than as puzzles which have been solved. Over the years, however, it has become easier to achieve a deeper understanding of even his most complex, near-incomprehensible projects, my personal favourite being Mulholland Drive.
But, back then, it was less about answering all those niggling questions, and more about the experience of his twisted fairytale rides. Did I wholly understand them? No, not a hope in hell. Initially, I was always seduced by their mystique the palpable atmosphere and seemingly heightened sexuality teasing us with an enticing veneer that covered up what was often a dark and disturbing core.
Over the years I’ve come to fully appreciate the movies of David Lynch.
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