Mulholland Dr.
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Movie Reviews of Mulholland Dr.
Movie Review: A brilliant, mindbending treasure, even for non-Lynch fans
Summary: 5 Stars
Let me first say that if you have not yet seen "Mulholland Drive", then by golly PLEASE stop reading these or any other reviews!! There are spoilers all throughout, and they could severely hamper the rare filmgoing experience to be had while watching this film. I for one knew absolutely NOTHING about the story, and I experienced one of the rarest treats in my 20 some years of avidly watching movies. This film has helped restore my faith in modern filmmaking. Not to mention it finally did what I thought would never happen: I became a David Lynch fan. I personally did not like "Blue Velvet" when I finally saw it a few years ago (though I now know that I must see it again). And I did not at all like "Wild At Heart" when I saw that about 11 years ago. I thought this guy obviously possessed a unique filmmaking vision, but I simply didn't get it. I'm really not even sure why I gave "Mulholland Drive" a try. I think part of it had to do with having seen Naomi Watts in "The Ring". Not that I fell in love with her or anything, I just found her interesting to watch in that movie. But let me say that I also walked away from this movie as a fan of Naomi Watts. She is simply smashing in this movie, tackling a most difficult role that I'm sure not many young actresses in Hollywood could pull off (though I saw in the cast bios that she's been in movies since 1986). So with all of that said, I don't want to say anything about the story. Nothing at all. Other than just stick with it. It works itself out, but you will have to see the movie at least one more time and you'll need to think about it. Be prepared to put aside at least six hours. And be sure to read the ten clues on the DVD insert card, BUT don't read them until you've watched it once. If you still don't get it, then come back here and read some of the reviews by the few people that got it and wrote about it. Just know that while not exactly everything in the story is relevant to the core plot, part of the great pleasure is sorting out what does fit and what are simply red herrings.
You'll be glad you gave this one a try. But be ready to actively participate. If you just sit back and let the images fly by you, then you will miss out on a rare opportunity to be sucked into a movie that will do to you what very few films can. One critic was right when s/he said "it gets in your head and stays there". This kind of thing has never really happened to me as an adult. Or maybe I'm just regressing to my teenage years and I'm acting like a kid. Who knows; I just know that I LOVED this movie. And I am a very demanding customer.
It's got to be the best film made since 1980. I mark that as the year that Hollywood filmmaking exited its final golden era. And the two films that mark that exit for me are "Ordinary People" and "Raging Bull". I'm not saying that movies got worse. Our pop culture in general somehow changed at that time and became more commercial, something that we still feel in a much bigger way today.
But on the down side, I must say the DVD itself is disappointing. There's no reason a 2001 film should come with no extras. It's not like they have to dig through the vaults to find bonus materials. And what's funnier, I personally never care about chapters on a DVD, but for the first time I could have really used them here--but David Lynch didn't want it released that way. How ironic for me.
Movie Review: Mulholland Drive
Summary: 5 Stars
Honestly, the best movie I've seen in a long, long time.It seems (after reading alot of the reviews) that this movie has its fans and its not fans. That its movement in telling its tale baffles and enrages some, and inspires others pretty much carries the hallmark of a great film. Films should do that, not just have you leaving the theatre or screen saying 'That was garbage and I can't even bother saying why'.
Maybe it hits a certain relevance with me. After living in Los Angeles and the Hollywood area for a little while, I'd swear to you that such a creature exists lurking behind a Winkies Restaurant. For all those that feel Harlem or New York City is a fearful place to be, I can tell you in all-truth that Hollywood at night is a far far worse place to be, where all those truly on the deranged side figured out that staying warm was a far smarter thing to do. And that the Illusion Factory that is Hollywood snares so many, and you can see the wasteland of it on its streets, just makes Mulholland Drive a powerful statement regarding illusions. I do not feel necessarily pessimistic in my attitude towards Hollywood or that part of California, but I know that being in it gives you an understanding of the un-reality which is that part of the world. It made Mulholland Drive for me, a reminder of things I saw in Los Angeles that seemed unbelieveable, but accepted as fact and something to strive for. And no, I did not go out to Los Angeles seeking fame, fortune and glory. I just like moving and changing the scenery.
I was not at all confused by Lynch's story. I knew it was important to watch everything taking place, to miss one reference would mean its relevance later on would not be as impacting. I knew enough to know that all would eventually reach to some 'thing' or conclusion, and I surely was not disappointed by its ending at all. By THE END I realised I had watched a great piece of filmmaking, probably the best since 1995's The Usual Suspects. Mulholland Drive is suspenseful, intriguing, confusing and puts the viewer in a state of displacement.
I mean, maybe it is just me. But I know alot of people who go out to California thinking alot like 'Betty/Diane' does, that everything is going to be wonderful, no matter what comes. Honestly, that does happen. And as many young hotshot directors as there are, to think that organised crime does not play apart in the industry, and can dictate how your movie will be, should be made would be naive. But thats not all of Lynch's point. Betty's delusional portion of the movie only serves as a 'pointed finger' at elements of corruption within the system, and the people participating. The movie works not only as a cautionary tale, but also as an expose. It actually works on so many more levels than this I can't really even begin to thoroughly go through it point by point.
Lynch produced probably his best work since Blue Velvet for me with this film. I honestly do see what has enraged some about the film, and on the other hand take those views with a slight pinch of salt, knowing that Lynch made some incredible observations about the American Dream, Hollywood, the human psyche and the vast majority of their pitfalls. Beneath the layers of confusion is a true tale of honesty that does not require a pessimistic mind to see its value or worth, nor an optimistic one's constant re-approval that all is well despite. Balance is the key.
Movie Review: Drive on
Summary: 5 Stars
Los Angeles is not known for being a spooky town, with the palm trees, sunshine and Hollywood. But David Lynch makes it so in "Mulholland Drive," a brilliantly elliptical film where nothing is as it seems. With outstanding acting, eerie direction and a thoroughly strange plotline, this is a brain-bender of the best kind.
The movie opens with heavy breathing, visions of a lovely young girl being awarded, many teen couples dancing, and a slow descent toward a pillow. Then we cut to a three-way car crash, followed by a pretty young woman (Laura Harring) wandering down the hill to an upscale apartment. But she soon encounters the owner's niece, pretty plucky Betty (Naomi Watts). When Betty learns that the mysterious young lady -- who is calling herself Rita -- has amnesia, she decides to help her find out what is going on.
Elsewhere, a promising young film director's life is falling to pieces, because of a pair of malevolent brothers who want a particular young lady to star in his film. And when Betty begins to explore the strange car accident that Rita walked away from, they find that there is a bizarre conspiracy brewing in L.A. Or is there? The path gets more and more twisted, as the boundaries of reality and dreams blur.... and it all centers on a mysterious name: Diane Selwyn.
This is a movie that doesn't make sense on the first viewing -- at first it just seems to be a straightforward suspense movie. But David Lynch completely turns that on its ear. Not everything makes sense in this film -- such as the monstrous man behind the restaurant -- but the pieces start to slowly click together as we find out who Diane Selwyn is.
When you realize what the first two hours actually are, the film makes much more sense -- a muddied look at Diane Selwyn's life, but fragmented and twisted by her desires. Multiple alter-egos, wishful thinking, obsessive lesbian love, jealousy, rage, and random people and places come into her dream, but reflected as she wants to see them, and tainted by her own guilt.
And even the sunny opening scenes, with the starry-eyed Betty arriving in sunny L.A. for an audition, take on a dark tinge when you discover who Diane was, and that she had the same experience. Naomi Watts plays both Betty and Diane, one sweet and innocent, the other bitter and unbalanced. And she's marvelous as both, whether playing a sweet young girl, or a hardened, obsessive starlet. Harding does almost as good a job as Rita, especially as the film starts, but the focus slowly and inexorable shifts to Watts.
David Lynch ignores the shiny warmth of L.A., focusing on back-alley monsters, creepy dreams and hit men. He's known for being incredibly weird, and here he doesn't disappoint -- ordinary words and occurances are sinister, and the camerawork is insanely good. The camera slowly descends, wanders down hallways, and creeps to reveal something horrible. A few scenes -- the lesbian love scene, the monstrous restaurant creature that is implied to be in the middle of it -- seem a bit out of place, but then again, their presence could be interpreted in multiple ways.
Surrealistic noir is the best way to describe "Mulholland Drive," an exceptionally strange mind-bender of a movie. Creepy, beautiful and very very unreal, and not something forgotten easily.
Movie Review: Hypnotic from beginning to end
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is unlike any other movie I've ever seen in my life.After watching it, I knew I had to review it, however, I was not entirely certain how I could do it, or what I would write. I could reveal every scene in the movie for this review and would still not tell you anything about the movie. I watched every single moment of the movie with a level of attentiveness I don't ever give films, and in spite of this, I could not tell you what the movie is about--I would be hard pressed to even tell what I think it's about.
The movie mostly revolves around two characters in Los Angeles--Rita (Laura Elena Harring) and Betty (Naomi Watts). Rita, we learn, has suffered amnesia from a car accident; she can recollect nothing about herself, not even her real name--she merely lifted the name 'Rita' from a Rita Hayworth movie poster in Betty's apartment. Her only belongings are a purse which contains a large sum of money, and a curious-looking blue key. Betty, an aspiring actress, has flown in from Ontario to audition for a part in a new movie directed by a man named Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux). Adam is involved the the movie's B-plot, where he must cast a particular actress for the movie's lead or be killed.
Once again, the movie is not really about that, or about anything. The movie can only be described as what it most closely resembles; it has been billed as a mystery, and that is true inasmuch as that there are things that are not known when the movie begins, but the movie is in a state of constant revelation. Resolution is never reached, but the mystery that requires it may never have existed to begin with.
I mentioned how much I was paying attention in this movie. I've never watched a movie before and been so completely drawn in by what was happening. I had no idea what to expect, ever, and I believe it will be a long time before I see a movie again that has that kind of power.
The movie does an out-of-nowhere turn in which everything that came before is rendered completely worthless in terms of plot development, spurned by Rita and Betty's discovery of what the little blue key goes to. Watts and Harring are in the movie after this point, but seemingly are now different characters. Or is the quartet of characters played by the two actresses all the same character? Nothing is for certain.
I watched the movie with two of my friends, Justin, who owned the DVD, and Josh, who was watching it for the first time like I was. Justin and I had come up with explanations for what was actually going on in the movie. Justin said that the last half-hour was the reality of Naomi Watts' character; everything before was her dream. I said that the entire movie was a death fantasy of a character who commits suicide at the very end of the movie. (I will not reveal who, though even if I did, nothing would be spoiled.) Both theories seem to hold water, but that is because everything in the movie to support plot is so scant that it is up to heavy interpretation. In the end I had to say that making sense of the movie was foolish, this movie only makes sense a scene at a time, and to tie them together will leave you with more loose ends than knots.
This is not a movie to see if you are concerned with making sense, this is a movie that is more concerned with feelings and emotions, requiring the audience to admit that they can't know what's going on.
Movie Review: The "Gordian Knot" of cinema.
Summary: 5 Stars
Without fail, it seems those who see Mulholland Drive have a knee-jerk reaction in one of two ways: (a) they think it's pointless and stupid and weird and they're completely baffled by it, or (b) they become entranced and absorbed...and they're completely baffled by it.The first time I saw this movie, I was in the (b) category. I couldn't explain it, I couldn't put it together, but I loved it. It begins with two story threads that are ostensibly unrelated. In one, a woman called "Rita" has lost her memory and -- with the help of a bold, aspiring actress named Betty -- tries to find out who she is. In the other, there appears to be a mysterious operation in Hollywood surrounding the casting process of a young director's latest movie. A number of weird scenes are interspersed amidst these two plot threads and seemingly have nothing to do with anything. In the final half hour, the movie's world is twisted around and by the time it ends, the viewer will probably be left scratching his head. Less patient viewers will probably start swearing like drunken sailors and break something (or maybe go watch Independence Day).
I was completely enthralled by every second of this film, but I needed to wait for the DVD before I could see it again and begin to try and understand it. I've seen it several times now and while I'm not much closer to understanding it, I love it just the same. I've read a number of interpretations of this movie that suggest anything from "it's all a dream" to "it's about how Hollywood corrupts" to "IT MAKES NO SENSE." At the time of this writing, I've just watched it for the fourth time, and I must assert that there is a certain purpose behind everything, even the scenes which are the weirdest of weird. However, I cannot come up with a comprehensive understanding of this movie that elucidates _all_ its different elements. On one hand, the entire experience seems remarkably dream-like, almost a cinematic montage of self-contained, powerful episodes with a tenuous relationship to other scenes. On the other hand, though the movie appears to be sundered into two distinct parts, there is a definite connection to be made. A very fun movie to explore.
Naomi Watts' performance (as Betty) is absolutely stunning. If Halle Barry hadn't been so good in Monster's Ball, I'd have said Miss Watts deserved the Oscar for Best Actress in 2001 (I don't even know if she was nominated...but the Oscars are dumb anyway). Think carefully about Betty's acting audition...it's one of the theme's pillars.
Can you "cut the Gordian knot" of Mulholland Drive? In other words, can anyone solve the puzzle of this movie? I'm honestly not sure anyone can -- there's a 5000+ word analysis out there on the Internet that is quite great, but even it can't account for everything. There may not be a complete answer at all. Maybe this movie just resists sound reasoning entirely. But it sure is great.
The bottom line? Watch the movie, I guess. You might think it's the dumbest film ever made, or get consumed by the mystery of it all.
The DVD itself is pretty weak feature-wise. No scene selection, for one thing, which is pretty much inexcusable. It's made so much worse for the fact that there are a number of very poignant scenes that just beg repeated viewings. Other than that, you get the obligatory DVD features with no appreciable extras. Bummer.