Mulholland Drive Review
by Laura Clifford (laura AT reelingreviews DOT com)October 12th, 2001
MULHOLLAND DRIVE
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A dark haired woman (Laura Elena Harring, "Little Nicky") is ordered out of a car at gunpoint just before it's hit head on by a bunch of joyriding teens.
Dazed, she climbs from the wreck and makes her way to a Hollywood apartment being vacated by an older woman.
A perky blond (Naomi Watts, "Dangerous Beauty") arrives to stay at her Aunt Ruth's vacant place with dreams of movie stardom dancing in her head. Betty finds the dark haired woman in Aunt Ruth's shower, but 'Rita' doesn't remember
who she is or why her purse is stuffed with hundred dollar bills and a blue key. The two set out to discover what led to her accident on "Mulholland Drive."
After the linear "The Straight Story," writer/director David Lynch is back in the weird world of nightmares with this cautionary tale of dashed dreams and lost love. Lynch fans should rejoice as "Mulholland Drive" is his best film since "Blue Velvet."
That film is immediately recalled with the light/dark parallels of Betty and Rita to Laura Dern and Isabella Rossellini's characters. The twist here is that we're in 'Betty's' dream, getting events filtered through her own idea of her good, talented self. 'I just came from Deep River, Ontario and now I'm in this dream place,' Betty chirps at LAX. The real woman we finally meet has a far darker soul, besmirched by her experiences in tinseltown.
One person having a torturous day in her REM state is Adam (Justin Theroux, "American Psycho"), a director with a penchant for Fellini-esque eyewear. He's being pressured by the mysterious Castigliane brothers (Dan Hedaya and composer Angelo Badalementi) to cast an unknown woman, Camille Rhodes, in his movie. After bashing their limo with a golf club, he heads home to discover his wife in bed with the pool man. He takes residence in a fleabag hotel and gets word that his bank has notified the manager that his credit's no good. Then his assistant tells him he's to meet 'The Cowboy' later that night. This Robert-Blake like character's message? When Camille auditions, he's to say 'That's the girl.'
Meanwhile, Betty's audition is so successful a visiting casting agent tries to steel her away and steer her towards Adam, but Betty, having promised
to meet Rita, with whom she's fallen in love, nervously flees. Rita thinks she might be Diane Selwyn and the two trace Diane's apartment only to find that Rita is not Diane and the dead body inside the apartment very well could be.
Trademark Lynch touches abound, from the opening car driving along a median strip on a dark road and subsequent car accident, to kitschy diners (Winkie's here, complete with ghoul in its back alley) and red draped rooms inhabited by Mr. Roque (Michael J. Anderson, "Twin Peaks'" Man From Another Place). The
Club Silencio, where all is illusion and everything's on tape (shades of "Lost
Highway"), features a singer belting out a Spanish rendition of Roy Orbison's "Crying" acappella. The industrial soundscapes and Badalementi score provide the signature Lynch sound while cinematographer Peter Deming's ("Lost Highway) camera creeps around corners towards sinister doorways and swoops into the black hole of a blue box.
Naomi Watts ably plays both the light and dark sides of a woman in love trying to survive in L.A. (her audition scene's a doozy).
Harring does well playing the sympathetic mystery woman of the dream and the harder beauty of reality. Theroux adds sardonic humor. The legendary Ann Miller is Coco in both worlds. Watch for an uncreditted cameo by Lee Grant as Lorraine.
In June of 1999, Jack Nicholson was in a car accident with an initially unidentified 29 year old woman on Mulholland Drive. She turned out to be Lara Flynn Boyle, the 'good' friend of "Twin Peaks'" doomed Laura Palmer. (Jack also had a road rage incident with a golf club.) Is this what David Lynch's dreams are made of? Whatever the inspiration, "Mulholland Drive" is Lynch at the top of his game.
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