Mulholland Drive

I read a review that said Mulholland Drive made 'a baggy sort of sense'. And it does. One of David Hockney's paintings is titled Mulholland Drive and he writes: 'the moment you live up here, you get a different view of Los Angeles, these wiggly lines seem to enter your life... I actually felt those wiggly lines. This was a new perception of Los Angeles, a new experience of a city laid out in straight lines and cubes.'

Driving east on Mulholland, from the San Diego Freeway to the Hollywood Freeway, also makes a 'baggy' (or maybe 'wiggly') sort of sense of Los Angeles. There are many views - looking over Beverly Hills, Hollywood, and the San Fernando Valley. But for all the twists, turns, double-backs, and crossroads, there's never a complete view of the city. You never get the full story. The road acts as a superb metaphor for the film narrative. REM could have easily been on the stereo: "and if you ever want to fly / Mulholland drive / way in the sky".