No Hay Banda!

Bondar: No hay banda! There is no band! Il n’est pas de orquestra! This is all… a tape-recording. No hay banda! And yet we hear a band. If we want to hear a clarinette… listen… Un trombon “à coulisse”. Un trombon “con sordina”. Sient le son du trombon in sourdine. Hear le son… and mute it… drop it… It’s all recorded. No hay banda! It’s all a tape. Il n’est pas de orquestra. It is… an illusion. Listen… Senoras y senores… el club Silencio les presenta la llorona de Los Angeles: Rebekah del Rio.

Cowboy: There’s sometimes a buggy. How many drivers does a buggy have? One. So let’s just say I’m drivin’ this buggy… and you if fix your attitude you can ride along with me. Okay. I want you to go back to work tomorrow. You were re-casting the lead actress anyway… audition many girls for the part. When you see the girl that was shown to you earlier today, you will say: “This is the girl.” The rest of the cast can stay. That is up to you. But that lead girl is not up to you. Now, you will see me one more time… if you do good. You will see me two more times… if you do bad.

-from David Lynch’s 2001 film, Mulholland Drive (This is the first by Lynch that I’ve seen. I was reading David Foster Wallace’s impression of the director and Lost Highway in “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again,” and I saw that Mulholland was screening at the Brattle, as the first film in their (Some Of) The Best of the Oughts series. I was blown away! The audience loved it too. After the Blue-Haired Lady whispered, “Silencio,” the crowd erupted in an ovation, and I couldn’t stop smiling.)