Mulholland Drive, winding, dangerous, daunting. One night, after a car wreck on the aforementioned road, a young woman (Laura Harring) wakes up unaware of who she is or where she belongs. She befriends an up-and-coming actress named Betty (Naomi Watts), and the two search for answers. At the same time a young director named Adam (Justin Theroux) finds himself in financial trouble for reasons that he can’t explain. Are these things connected? Will these harrowing mysteries be solved? Only time will tell.
From the creative mind of David Lynch, Mulholland Drive is exactly what viewers familiar with his work might expect. This ever-changing story, with intertwining narratives, quickly becomes difficult to follow. Viewers are constantly attempting to follow this story, trying desperately to understand what is occurring, and they become lost in the shuffle of all of the moving pieces. Let’s be honest, though–if you’ve sought out a Lynch-led film then you understand what you’re in for. The constantly shifting nature of Mulholland Drive is intriguing, and it keeps viewers on their toes from beginning to end, always playing the part of detective, trying to figure out exactly what is happening.
Both a million things and nothing is happening at exactly the same time. Nothing makes sense, and yet, Lynch creates a story in which each and every moving part carries some weight on its own. I kept trying to figure out what exactly Mulholland Drive is at its core. Is it a love story, a murder mystery, a thriller? I’ve come to the conclusion that Lynch has sort of wrapped all of these things into one seemingly jumbled mess. Viewers might getting a riveting mystery one moment, a tantalizing comedy another, and a sexual journey right after. Lynch is notorious for creating crazy cinema, and this is that at its best.
Each of the many aspects of Mulholland Drive come to life by way of the cinematography. While the acting, the writing, and a series of other things are interesting and well done, it’s the cinematography that truly allow the power of Lynch’s film to come to be. Cinematographer Peter Deming captures the many layers of the narrative; he captures the constantly moving pieces of Lynch’s film, and without him (and Lynch’s direction), it’s fair to say that the physical beauty of Mulholland Drive would have simply failed to be. The characters’ facial expressions, the intimate sex sequences, and everything in between are aesthetically pleasing–and viewers are able to see the honesty and the intimate details of Mulholland Drive in its entirety.
What I get most prominently from Mulholland Drive (and this comes as a result of the many moving parts and everyone involved in developing this film) is the idea that you can sometimes give so much to others that you lose parts of yourself. This idea lingers in the background of the film throughout its entirety, but it’s not until the film has almost ended that viewers see this come to fruition. There’s something wonderfully appealing about this aspect of the film, because, for the most part, things seem frantic. Not everyone will get the same things out of Mulholland Drive as everyone else, but I think that this is the one thing that everyone learns by watching this film.
Mulholland Drive was initially created by Lynch as a spinoff ot the cult classic television series Twin Peaks. Now, I’ve never seen that show, and honestly I’ve never had any interest in watching it–so Mulholland Drive has a different effect on me than it would on someone who had followed the show. Regardless, however, I believe that Mulholland Drive has the ability to have a profound effect on anyone willing to watch. It has its moments of metaphorical vigor, but what Lynch creates cinematically is quite possibly unparalleled in the world of cinema. With so many moving parts, things can easily get lost in the shuffle of the narrative (and some things do), but the way in which Lynch is able to capture the beauty of each and every scene is just astounding. The aesthetic integrity of Mulholland Drive is one for the books, and like Lynch manages to do time and time again, whether you’ve followed his work or not, is captivate viewers, keeping them fully enthralled from beginning to end.
Written & Directed by David Lynch.
Starring Naomi Watts, Jeanna Bates, Dan Birnbaum, Laura Harring, Randall Wulff, Robert Forster, Brent Briscoe, Maya Bond, Patrick Fischler, Juster Theroux, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/10
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