Mulholland Drive Review
by Tim Wick

In this installment of my "better late than never" series, I look at the newest David Lynch movie which is, in fact, about six months old.

I've been careful to write reviews for this site only when the film is actually showing on a big screen somewhere in the Twin Cities. I mean, why write a review for a film that our readers don't actually have a chance to see, right? Frankly, I don't know how much longer you will have the chance to see this one in a theatre, so I am suggesting you make the time. It is showing only at a couple of second run theatres, but it's award potential would suggest it will stick around at least until Oscar nominations are announced next week.

I've been writing reviews for this site for just over two years now. I have always endeavored to keep my reviews as spoiler free as possible, to the point of ignoring major plot discussion and really focusing on ideas, impressions and performances. Never have I found it easier to write a spoiler free review. I simply can't think of anything I can say that would spoil this film because the film is so complex and ultimately so confusing that everything I took out of it cannot possibly be what anyone else would take out of it.

David Lynch has long been a student of the surreal. His films have a dreamlike quality that often make them nearly impossible to dissect as one would a film with a more traditional narrative arc. Fellowship of the Ring, while having a sort of non-ending, certainly propels it's characters somewhere. We feel they have grown and achieved something by the time the credits roll. No such certainty exists in the world of Mulholland Drive, a film that seems like the dreaming world described in Waking Life.

The film is, I think, about the razors edge between love and hate, between a dream and a nightmare, between lust and obsession, between fear and comfort. We can so quickly shift from one to the other. I was reminded of a friend whose wife left him recently. Before she walked out on him, he believed he loved her. He held to that belief for a long time but when it became clear there could be no reconciliation, that love shifted rather quickly to hate. The reaction is perfectly natural and has happened over and over again. We never think about how quickly our emotions can turn but it seems Lynch may have been obsessing about it.

His dream world is one of near perfection. In this dream world, women are always perfect. Their red lipstick is always on, even when they have just finished taking a shower. But a dream world is not even close to a real world. It takes so little for a dream to turn into a nightmare and this dream seems on the verge of nightmare at every turn. There is a touch of film noir and a touch of screwball comedy and quite possibly the most erotic scene that has been put to film in recent memory (which should come as no surprise since dreams are often more erotic that the real thing).

The film revolves around two women who have made a bold statement about their future in the film industry. Naomi Watts plays an innocent (?) starlet just arrived to make her own way in the Hollywood dream factory and Laura Herring is the amnesiac who shows up in Watts' apartment. On the strength of their performances in this film, I will certainly seek out other movies in which they star. Lynch's direction gives the movie a conflicting reality and both Watts and Herring approach this reality with a sort of calm that is just about right. I don't think we are ever surprised by what happens in our dreams. They are in our head after all. We should have some idea where our head is going.

But whose head is this dream in? Is any part of the film real? I think so, but a fair argument could be made that nothing actually happens in this film at all. The movie has nothing to do with getting anywhere and everything to do with going somewhere. Where it goes is ultimately up to the viewer. Such a style of film making can be unquestionably frustrating for some. It certainly was for me at times. But the fact is that I remained enthralled throughout the film. At almost two and a half hours, the film had reached a point where I often begin wondering how close I am to the end. Instead, I was a little surprised when the credits rolled because it felt as if little or no time had elapsed.

There are characters in this movie I haven't been able to make sense of yet. I can't even begin to guess what Lynch was saying by putting them in the movie. I'm not saying those characters were out of place, only that in the sense of the larger narrative (if there really is one), they don't seem to fit. Re-watching the film might make me more certain of their place, but it might also make me less certain of my initial interpretation of the movie. I get the feeling that this movie would never be the same twice - just as recurring dreams are always subtly different.

The movie has a list of awards that includes just about every critics' association in America but does not include nominations from the Directors guild, actors guild or producers guild. I wonder why - when critics seem almost united in their praise for this film - the Hollywood machine seems dead set on ignoring it? I'm honestly not sure. I note that the safe bet for an Oscar this year is A Beautiful Mind, while daring, groundbreaking films such as Moulin Rouge, Fellowship of the Ring and Mulholland Drive look to be little more than nominees.

Mulholland Drive demands much of it's audience. Because Lynch has created something that is essentially a waking dream, he expects us to form our own interpretation of that dream. He offers us no solutions, no easy way to figure out the enigma that his film represents. It is as if he has given us all the pieces to a puzzle but has absolutely no intention of showing us what the puzzle looks like. Worse, the pieces are the same, but the puzzle changes with each viewer. I think that I really appreciate this film on the same level as A.I. because it seems more concerned with what we talk about once we leave the theatre than what we are thinking while we are watching the movie.

This is a film that I will talk about a lot. It is a film I will point to as an example of how some people are making fresh and creative films that believe if you create something truly new, the audience will find it. It is also a film that will fail to please any but a limited number of film lovers. When so many people are looking for the relatively simple narrative that is contained in a film like Planet of the Apes, it becomes difficult to imagine many people looking for a film with a narrative so complex that it defies interpretation. I would hope that love or hate the film, we could all admire the effort and recognize we are looking at a great work - even if that work does not appeal to us

I love this film even as I admit that some of it is beyond my comprehension or even my desire to comprehend. I love it because it exists. It is provocative, evocative and downright frustrating. It will, I hope, make stars of Naomi Watts and Laura Herring. I can't give it five beakers because as brilliant as I think it is, I will never love this film the way I have loved Moulin Rouge or Fellowship of the Ring. The achievement is not any less than those to films, but I was not it's audience. I was always the outsider, admiring the artistry but ultimately failing to become a part of the art. That's my own fault, not the fault of the movie.

Mulholland Drive

Four and a half Beakers
(out of five)

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