January 1, 2010
There are many reasons why I love Mulholland Dr. (and please don't point out the obvious, those of you who have actually seen it). The film is so many things at once it's hard to keep track. It's a thriller. It's a noir. It's a triangulated love story. It's a tale of vengeance. D...( read more)avid Lynch has spun all of these things together to create his masterpiece. He is the true master of the WTF.
The film is about many things. I could go into detail about them, not because I'm afraid of spoiling the plot, but because it will sound complicated. Just sounds, not that it really is complicated. The film basically follows Betty (Naomi Watts) and Rita (Laura Harring) as they try to piece together who Rita really is due to amnesia. Betty is a small town girl in Hollywood to make it big in movies. Throw in director Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) and his ultimate bad day and you round out the main plot of the film.
Or so you think because this isn't your typical Hollywood fare. This is a David Lynch film and what appears to be simple is not. But it really is. Are you getting this so far? There are so many layers to Mulholland Dr., you will have to watch it twice to get to the core of the film. Nothing is what it seems, not because of sci-fi or Doc Brown. It's the basic human condition that makes people see what they want to see and be what they want to be. It's a film about lost dreams. It's Sunset Blvd. for the kids that grew up on Star Wars. It's a movie that doesn't just sit there on the screen. It gets your mind going. You make it what you want it to be.
In a sense, David Lynch's career has been pushing forward to this point. Starting with the extreme avant garde of Eraserhead, to the very approachable Blue Velvet (kudos to Dennis Hopper), proceeding down the Lost Highway, he has finally ended up with his finest work. A film that tells a Hollywood story without us even knowing it.
As I said, David Lynch is the King of WTF. You will say WTF a lot during the first three quarters of this film, but you'll still stay interested up until the final sense when it all comes together. Mulholland Dr. is a film that keeps the mind racing, daring you to figure out what the hell's going on before the credits roll. This is one of the most cerebral films ever. This is a true masterpiece.
THE ORIGINAL REVIEW:
When I was sitting there watching David Lynch's Mulholland Drive I was totally confused for the first two hours of the film as it seemed to just drag into nothing with plots that ran left and right but never meeting in the middle. It's the last twenty minutes of the film that save it and give the film what can be described as an almost linear storyline.
The plot involves "Rita" (Laura Herring) being involved in a car accident on Mulholland Drive and losing her memory. She stumbles into the life of Betty Elms (Naomi Watts) an aspiring actress living in her aunts apartment. The most basic premise of the film is that it's about the quest of these two women to figure out who "Rita" is. There are additional plots intertwines with this main narrative, such as Justin Theroux's character having the ultimate bad day.
But there's more to it than that.
That's what beautiful about it. Lynch has practically made a film that you have to determine what the hell it's about. What balls! How dare he make his audience think about what they just saw. This is one of the reasons why I really got the movie in the last twenty minutes. He explains it. Sort of.
So if you're into movies where you'll say "What the fuck?!?!" for two hours this is the film for you. It's a two and a half hour riddle that explodes in the end.
When I was sitting there watching David Lynch's Mulholland Drive I was totally confused for the first two hours of the film as it seemed to just drag into nothing with plots that ran left and right but never meeting in the middle. It's the last twenty minutes of the film that save it and give the film what can be described as an almost linear storyline.
The plot involves "Rita" (Laura Herring) being involved in a car accident on Mulholland Drive and losing her memory. She stumbles into the life of Betty Elms (Naomi Watts) an aspiring actress living in her aunts apartment. The most basic premise of the film is that it's about the quest of these two women to figure out who "Rita" is. There are additional plots intertwines with this main narrative, such as Justin Theroux's character having the ultimate bad day.
But there's more to it than that.
That's what beautiful about it. Lynch has practically made a film that you have to determine what the hell it's about. What balls! How dare he make his audience think about what they just saw. This is one of the reasons why I really got the movie in the last twenty minutes. He explains it. Sort of.
So if you're into movies where you'll say "What the fuck?!?!" for two hours this is the film for you. It's a two and a half hour riddle that explodes in the end.
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