Mulholland Drive Review
by Eugene Novikov (lordeugene_98 AT yahoo DOT com)November 19th, 2001
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Reviewed by Eugene Novikov
http://www.ultimate-movie.com/
"This is the girl."
Starring Justin Theroux, Naomi Watts, Laura Elena Harring, Ann Miller, Dan Hedaya. Directed by David Lynch. Rated R.
It's tempting to dismiss Mulholland Drive as the nonsensical concoction of a filmmaker who has gone past "bizarre" and right into "psychotic." Even Roger Ebert, giving the film his highest rating, says that "the movie is hypnotic; we're drawn along as if one thing leads to another--but nothing leads anywhere, and that's even before the characters start to fracture and recombine like flesh caught in a kaleidoscope. Mulholland Drive isn't like Memento where if you watch it closely enough, you can hope to explain the mystery. There is no explanation. There may not even be a mystery." He doesn't do it justice. There is, in fact, an explanation, and after seeing the movie twice, I may or may not have it figured out. In any case, it is one of the most intricate mystery films I have ever seen, and the solution, when you realize that it exists and where it's hiding, is remarkably rewarding. David Lynch is clearly a strange man, but there is a method to his madness. It just takes a sophisticated viewer to figure it out.
Incidentally, this is two home runs in a row for Lynch, whose The Straight Story was an equally riveting, if simpler, portrait of a man who drives hundreds of miles on a lawnmower. Mulholland Drive is a return to Lynch's Blue Velvet roots: a dark story of a shady Hollywood underworld. It begins with a woman (Laura Elena Harring) leaving the scene of a car accident, stumbling into a random house and, not knowing who or where she is, falling asleep under a counter. It happens to be the house of aspiring actress Betty (Naomi Watts) who, being a shiny, perky personality immediately takes Rita -- a name the amnesiac pulls off a Rita Hayworth movie poster -- under her wing and helps her investigate her past.
In the meantime, a young film director (Justin Theroux) is given an ultimatum by the members of some sort of Hollywood secret society: cast a particular girl -- Camilla Rhodes is the name -- in the lead role of his movie, or else. The shots are called by some sort of midget in a wheelchair. What this actually has to do with our two heroines does not become clear until later, and maybe not even until a second viewing.
Mulholland Drive is one of the year's moodiest films. From beginning to end, there is an ominous feeling that something is not right, even though we can't always put our finger on it. It is this ambiguity that makes the movie so genuinely unnerving (and that's before the lesbian sex scenes). The incredible musical score by Angelo Badalamenti (who actually acts in the film as well) intensifies this sensation. There's nothing like a little David Lynch weirdness to thoroughly creep someone out.
But what is perhaps most remarkable about this unbelievably bizarre movie, is that all the weirdness is in service of the plot. There is not a moment when we think Lynch is being self-serving or self-indulgent. The fact that the answer to the riddle isn't spelledo out for the audience, doesn't mean it isn't there. How wonderful to see a movie that's a mystery for the audience as well as the characters. Mulholland Drive comes close to being an interactive experience.
If you were intrigued but confused, there is no shame: this is one of the most challenging movies of the year. But I implore you to go see it again. The answer is there. If nothing else, see the movie for the "No Aybanda" lip-synching concert scene, which is some of the most amazing, awe-inspiring filmmaking I have seen in my career. Mulholland Drive is a treasure.
Grade: A
Up Next: From Hell
©2001 Eugene Novikov
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
