Directed by:
David LynchScreenplay:
David LynchCinematography:
Peter DemingComposer:
Angelo BadalamentiCast:
Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Ann Miller, Dan Hedaya, Justin Theroux, Brent Briscoe, Robert Forster, Katharine Towne, Lee Grant, Scott Coffey, Billy Ray Cyrus (more)VOD (3)
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Naomi Watts (Birdman, Funny Games) gives a career-making performance as aspiring actress Betty, who after arriving in Hollywood, befriends an amnesiac woman (Laura Harring) and tries to help her recover her memory. The film establishes these characters but then proceeds to subvert any certainty about them, instead offering a swirling atmosphere of increasing surrealism. (Independent Cinema Office)
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Reviews (14)
I can't help it, but I've probably seen too many Lynch films in too short a time, which leads to me not liking Mulholland Drive as much as I probably could. But when I watch this film, I see all the previous works Lynch has done. There's something from Twin Peaks, something from Lost Highway, something from Blue Velvet, and also a certain intensity from Wild at Heart. It's great that Lynch maintains his style, that it's still him, but his mind games are more of a torment for me. The craziest part for me is that people are trying to analyze the film as if there's a clear explanation for what we're watching. To Lynch's films, especially the recent ones excluding The Straight Story, simply no key exists. It's not about understanding what the director intended, but simply taking something from the film, finding your own path, without expecting that your interpretation is the only correct one. Lynch is brilliant at this, but he's also repetitive.
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A really tough nut to crack, even the squirrel from Ice Age wouldn't be able to handle it. Lynch plays an unequal game with the viewer and it may not be to everyone's taste. I appreciate Lynch's disregard for sales and going about his business, but I guess the distributors of Mullholland Drive weren't jumping for joy at the $7 million US box office. If I were them, I would announce a competition "Whoever understands this film wins a dinner with Lynch in person". It wouldn't cost them anything because no one would come and they would at least get some interesting advertising. Lynch not only gives no answers (and that's a good thing), but he gives no clues to understanding his visions. He only mumbles, but very skillfully. For the first twenty minutes I had a hard time getting into the action on the screen, but gradually Lynch wrapped me around his finger and I devoured one scene after another. I didn't ask for an explanation, I took the whole thing as a sequence of mini-stories that may or may not have a connection. I enjoyed putting the pieces together, I embraced Lynch's game. And why I’m not giving it five stars then? Because Lynch overdid it with the final half hour. Everything has its limits, even Lynch's riddles and plot twists. I can totally see him having royal fun over all the "what was that about" discussions. Once again he took a shot at the audience and got away with it. And by the way, Naomi Watts is amazing here, acting and visually.
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Mulholland Drive is not a film for viewers who need a clearly defined script, want answers, and a clear resolution. It is, on the other hand, suitable for those who like to play, enjoy a mysterious atmosphere, and possess a good dose of imagination and creativity. Mulholland Drive is primarily a typically Lynchian game with genres and pop-cultural references, featuring excellent music, great acting performances, precise editing, and interesting cinematography. It’s a film that made Naomi Watts a major star. Overall impression: 95%. Along with the much darker Lost Highway, it's probably Lynch's best work.
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As a series, it might not be bad. Yet as a standalone film, it rides the wave of films with unreliable narrators, and that perpetual dreamlike atmosphere and the combination of Lynch and his favorite films just makes for a new collage. However, the latent Sapphic themes and the crush on the Paramount gate are elements I’m always interested in.
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This is either a masterpiece or a bad trip, but an excellent and unusual experience in any case. Also, since my first encounter with Lynch, I have learnt how to watch his films (to accept that most of the action doesn’t take place in the real world), so this time I’m convinced that I know what this one is roughly about, and it actually begins to make sense in the last half hour. Basically, it draws attention to feelings and conditions that are common in a person’s daily life, even if they are not always aware of them: desire, disappointment, pain, escape, revenge. PS: Or it’s something completely different.
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