Melissa Anderson

David Lynch is one of my favorite directors and I go back and forth about which one of his films is my number one favorite. Currently I think that spot is held by Twin Peaks: The Return, but Inland Empire is a close second. This film is a sprawling, challenging, and often ugly (but in an amazing way) look at Hollywood, acting, and the divisions and contradictions inside our personalities. Rather than trying to "solve" the mysteries of the film or make sense of the narrative (a delightfully impossible text), Anderson comes at the film from an "acteurist" philosophy in which the main actress, the amazing Laura Dern, is seen as a co-creator with Lynch. Her feminist, queer, interpretation of the movie mixes in Dern's biography and filmography, current events that happen after the movie was filmed (in particular Harvey Weinstein and the #metoo movement), the connections with Lynch's previous film, Mulholland Drive, and Anderson's personal reactions to all the above. If that sounds messy and nonlinear and sometimes frustrating to you, then you are right on the money, but as a whole, it is a great response to this messy and nonlinear and sometimes frustrating film. It is also a big ole love letter to Laura Dern, and I am all for that.… (més)

Another autobiography that could have used a lot more editing, some writing assitance, and a few more revisions.

Hated - oh so strongly hated - the faux screenplay text portions of the book. Geez. Just tell your story. Don't make us parse through a fake screenplay to figure out what's going on.

Hated the line by line re-enactments of individual Little House episodes. We know - we've watched them. We don't need you telling us all about them again. Spend more time on how you felt in those episodes, what challenges you faced in the acting, what about the episode touched you (or didn't), what you remember about it, what you learned, etc.

There was a good book in here that just wasn't allowed to be free.

In the end I just felt ambivalent about the entire book.… (més)

I read this RIGHT after reading Alison Argrim's book and boy was I confused. Alison describes "Missy" as withdrawn, snooty, and going through so many childhood problems of her own that no one really knew her at all. So I was interested to see that MSA saw herself as a pretty outgoing, happy and adjusted young woman. Not saying she isn't but the books couldn't have been more opposite. Perhaps I would have liked this book more if I had read it first, but I went in expecting to find out why MSA was so withdrawn from the rest of the cast and was shocked to find out she really didnt view it that way at all… (més)