Mulholland Drive Review
by Robin Clifford (robin AT reelingreviews DOT com)October 16th, 2001
"Mulholland Drive"
Dreams, strange characters, sexy and troubled women, a mystical black box and its blue key and a sinister air drive the bizarre drama as director/writer David Lynch takes us into his own unique view of the world with "Mulholland Drive." Naomi Watts stars as a squeaky-clean, fresh-faced actress named Betty Elms, straight out of the boondocks of Canada, who comes to Hollywood to find fame and fortune but, instead meets, in her aunt's shower, a mysterious, beautiful woman, Rita (Laura Harring). Rita has a pocketbook stuffed with hundred-dollar bills and no memory after being in a car accident on the titular road.
Betty offers to help Rita learn about herself and regain her memory. Meanwhile, Fellini-looking film director Adam (Justin Theroux) is being coerced by his backers, the Castigliane brothers (Dan Hedaya and "Mulholland Drive" composer Angelo Badalementi), to put their chose of actress as the star of the helmer's pic. Adam refuses, trashes the brothers' car then hides out in a Hollywood fleabag hotel, only to find out that his assets are frozen.
Betty is awakened from sleep by a strange and mysterious guy called The Cowboy only to learn that the her meteoric success is only a dream and she must cope with the reality of her situation - out of work and without prospect, except to use what God gave her to try and get ahead. Rita, it turns out, is the star and she has the attention of director Adam, now back in control.
David Lynch, as a filmmaker, is most definitely an acquired taste. Which explains why, for the first time I can recall in quite a while, years maybe, people walked out of the screening I attended. If not forewarned, the average movie bear would be hard-pressed to see just what it is about Lynch that causes him to have such a dedicated following. The director's style, since he broke ground with "Eraserhead," is to use sparse dialog, slow almost languid camera work and long bouts of quietude throughout his films, coupled with his offbeat storylines and characters. "Mulholland Drive" is no exception.
Be prepared, when you sit down to watch "Mulholland Drive" for the director's unique perspective on telling a story. He treats things that are good and nice as superficial and destined to be replaced by those things that rise up from the sordid underbelly of the human psyche. His main characters represent a duality of good/bad, but almost invariably, the bad comes to prominence - see the director's nightmarish "Blue Velvet" and the near-incomprehensible but enthralling "Lost Highway." While "Mulholland Drive" doesn't have the exquisitely evil character of the other films, Dennis Hopper and Robert Blake, respectively, there is the patented Lynchian undertone of the sinister side of man within and throughout the film.
Acting, like the dialogue, is sparse as the thesps deliver their lines in the slow, deliberate manner what couples with the director's laconic method of telling a story. This tale is almost linear in nature, somewhat of a departure from the episodic sequencing he normally exhibits. Lynch collaborator, cinematographer Peter Demming, provides the requisite moody camera work to carry forth the story and make the film look interesting. His close-up camerawork of the attractive female leads has a texture and feel that brings out their beauty. Production designer Jack Fisk is thoroughly in sync with the director and gives a life to the set design that complements the film. A keynote of the flick is a fabulous musical rendition of a foreign language version of the great Roy Orbison song, "Crying," that blew me away. The oft-eerie score, by Badalementi, helps maintain the sinister undertone that Lynch is striving for.
If you're headed out to the theater and are looking for a bit of mindless Hollywood entertainment, do NOT buy tickets for "Mulholland Drive." But, if you are a fan of David Lynch or are up to do a little experimentation at the movies (which I encourage), then this will, at the very least, have you thinking. This one is for the brave at heart (it is 21/2 hours long) and I give it a B+.
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