Having had a few months since my theatrical viewings to digest, it's now time to return and confront the DVD release head on. Here we go again!

Taking Lynch's "no dvd frills" philosophy to its utter extreme, this disc doesn't even feature chapter stops. (I'm almost surprised it included menus, but I guess something was needed to allow people to select the audio track.) Shove that cryptic obfuscation in your face, dammit!

Shall I take yet another stab at interpreting the meaning of it all? Yes, I shall. There be SPOILERS below this point.

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Layers, Jerry. Layers! What we have here could be considered a piece of fractal storytelling. There are smaller patterns recurring within larger ones. Edges whose shapes are unique, yet they echo other pieces of the whole, and can be traced down into infinite levels of recursion. An example or two might help.

"It is all an illusion."

This is a repeated theme throughout the film, explicitly spoken by the maestro at Club Silencio, but displayed on a smaller scale many times prior to his appearance. When we see the first actress auditioning for the role in Adam Kesher's movie, the camera starts tight on her face as she apparently sings with the 50s band in a pastel-walled world. Ever so slowly, the camera pulls back to reveal... a studio... a mixing board... a soundstage... a set... prerecorded vocals lipsynced as a tape plays. The initial magic of the song is submerged within the grand illusion laid bare.

When Camilla "This is the girl" Rhodes gets up to sing, the audience already knows the entire process is a forgery, so she appears as even more of an imposter, subconsciously reminding us of our own gullibility. This emotional setup, combined with the knowledge that the director is being coerced into choosing her, plus some subtle ligthing and makeup to tint the bias further, triggers a genuine sense of revulsion at the mere sight of her face. But it is all an illusion.

Rewind a bit, to Betty's audition. She steps into the contrived role so readily (as a good actress would), that the entire world of the present surrounding her and the other actor seems momentarily lost outside an invisible barrier. A curtain of illusion, into which all are drawn.

On a macro level, some people interpret the entire first two thirds of the film to be a giant illusion (or delusion). Assuming this, then Rita's words as she awakens, eyes wide open, reflect a dawning of unpleasant lucidity before the entire construct crumbles within Diane's head. "No aye banda."

Where am I going with this? I don't freakin know! This damn film has my head spinning in a million directions yet again.

I am definitely (still) of the opinion that the first scene at Winkie's, where the two men discuss the one's dream, is somehow happening within Rita's head. She goes to sleep. Cut to the guys talking. They sneak behind the scary building. One of them faints. Cut back to Rita waking up. It's gotta be inside her head, so maybe she has some kind of foreknowledge (or premonition) of what will/has transpire(d) there. It is, after all, her own fate that will be sealed at that very table. (Assuming Rita and the later Camilla Rhodes are the same person.)

But what of Adam Kesher? One could almost conclude that his entire character (prior to the opening of the blue box, at least) might also reside within Rita's head. (Pay attention to the cutting, and what the camera focuses on before each cut to his life.) If we combine this theory with the interpretation that the entire first part of the film is Diane's imagining, then it means that a character within Diane's dream is spawning another subconscious identity of her own. Nah, that's too f-ed up even for me. But it's a thought.

Regarding the interpretation that it's all in poor depressed Diane's head. I have been fairly resistant to go along with this, because I think it lessens the richness and depth of the experience. Maybe that's my own wishful thinking surfacing. Watching it again, I have to admit that there is a heap of evidence to support this view. The white shot of Betty at the very beginning, and dissolve into the pillow might be the strongest evidence to support this view.

Even so, I think my own circular reincarnation theory (incoherently outlined in previous movielog entries) is more fun. If I wanted to, I could twist and spin the facts to support it, and probably end up nearly as convincing as those who believe that the only "real" part of the movie occurs during the final half hour.

Alright, I have a few more things to say, but I'm going to go wander off into the collective to talk about a few of Lynch's "clues" there. What a trip this movie is.