Written and Directed by: David Lynch
Starring: Naomi Watts as Betty/Diane Laura Harring as Rita/Camilla Justin Theroux as Adam Kesher
I had a dream about this place.
A black limousine speeds down Mulholland Drive in the dark. Suddenly it pulls to the side and stops. The driver turns and looks at the beautiful woman in the back. "Get out of the car," he says. Then he pulls a gun. Before he can shoot, a car full of drag-racing teens whips around a curve and slams head-on into the limo. The woman pulls herself from the wreckage and staggers off into L. A. Her memory a blank, she knows nothing but fear.
The woman stumbles into an apartment just as the owner is leaving for a trip. Her hiding place doesn't last, though, as the owner's niece Betty, a relentlessly perky would-be starlet from Canada, shows up to try her hand at the movies. Spouting dialog that sounds like it's from a 1950s "star is born" film, she decides to help the mystery woman, who's dubbed herself "Rita", find out her true identity.
You will see me one more time if you do good. You will see me two more times if you do bad.
Meanwhile, movie director Adam Kesher is told in no uncertain terms who he'll be casting as the female lead in his latest movie. He storms out only to discover that production has been shut down, so he goes home - where he finds his wife in bed with the pool cleaner. Later on he's summoned to a meeting with "the cowboy", who never threatens him in so many words, but gives him a clear attitude adjustment.
Silencio.
Part dream and part flashback, David Lynch's best film since Blue Velvet explores a Hollywood where real talent is defeated by powerful men with inscrutable motives, where illusions are real enough to make you cry, where a blue key opens a blue box and leads you down the rabbit hole to Wonderland. Movies aren't reality; they only seem that way, and Lynch uses this to full effect as he presents us with images that defy our attempts to integrate them into a whole. It's a tribute to Lynch that in a movie where anything can happen (and does) the final scenes still have something left to shock and surprise us with.
Customer Reviews:
The best film released in 2001 Rating: David Lynch movies are usually love it or hate it affairs. Some think they are overindulgent ego trips, or pretentious, overly symbolic mishmoshes that need the cinematic equivalent of a Rosetta stone to decipher. Others, look on them as works of inscrutable genius. Lynch's range is actually quite remarkable. The 2 most normal and prosaic (in terms of plot structure) films he directed, THE ELEPHANT MAN and THE STRAIGHT STORY, exist at one edge of the Lynchian universe. At the other you have ERASERHEAD, WILD AT HEART, LOST HIGHWAY, and INLAND EMPIRE. David Lynch can be as coherent and sober as any other mainstream director, or he can be as wildly experimental and innovative as the most obscure artist. His greatest films I believe are the two that fall somewhere in between the 2 extremes, and they are BLUE VELVET and MULHOLLAND DRIVE. They are mysterious puzzles, but also simply great movies that can be enjoyed on many levels, and like most Lynch films, better appreciated with repeated viewings.
MULHOLLAND DRIVE was the best film of 2001. It was the most daring, the most beautifully filmed, the bravest, and the most unsettling movie of that year. It had the grotesque elements Lynch is famous for. It had the sardonic humor typically present in his work. It also had in Naomi Watts, the best performance given by an actress that year. It's understandable, that people just scratch their heads and wonder what this movie was all about, but if they can separate the dream elements from the real, they will be on the right track. Lynch movies are open to various interpretations, and they are purposely designed as cinematic Rorschach tests for the viewer. MULHOLLAND DRIVE has important things to say about Hollywood and the nature of fame and celebrity, and it has important things to say about love, jealousy, guilt, and ambition. But these things aren't spelled out for you. They are more opaque than transparent. What precisely is being said may not be clear, but clues are given, and the fun of watching MULHOLLAND DRIVE is finding those clues and playing detective. Lynch frequently uses colors and objects as clues; a symbolic shorthand to describe thematic elements of the story. MULHOLLAND DRIVE is also a hybrid of Surrealism and Expressionism. In Surrealism, dream logic replaces reality, and in Expressionism, emotional response through internal conflict, supplant rational motive and pragmatic action.
If you just want to sit back and be entertained for a couple of hours, I don't think you will enjoy this film, but if you want to be puzzled, astonished, and shocked out of complacency, as well as amused and entertained, watch MULHOLLAND DRIVE once, or twice, or even better, half a dozen times..and while you're at it, do the same for the other Lynch masterpieces currently available.
How do I hate thee Rating: I hated this movie. I watched it several times. I was interested, but there was nothing to be received from this movie. It was like I was eaves dropping on someone's drugged out consciousness. I refused to believe that there was something to get from this movie. If there was a key to the movie ... the Director swallowed it. You would be better off watching Limbo. With Limbo, you will at least know why you're mad.
Still happy Rating: Once again, a pleasant buying experience buying from Amazon. Although the movie was a bit darker than I expected, it still is a noteworthy addition to my collection.
The explanation is..............there is none. Rating: Granted some reviewers have created a de facto plot line by arbitrarily deciding that some parts are reality, some dream & some symbolism, etc. but they ignore large parts that can't be fitted into their story line. It's important to note the film started out to be a TV series, its seems a reasonable assumption the movie was cobbled together out of scenes that were originally intended to be used in separate episodes with a different plot. I guess Lynch thought every scene was so precious he had to use them in regardless. The movie could have been cut down by 30-45 minutes and not lost a thing.
Sadly rewatching the movie didn't clear up a thing, I only saw more problems the second time. Can someone explain -
Who the laughing man is, what does he have and why is it worth killing for?
Who are the Mobster types that are trying to tell Adam who to cast as the lead?
Why is he living in a flop house, why his money cut off, who is looking for him.
Who is the huge guy that goes to Adam's house, why does his wife react like a psycho?
What's with the old lady prophetess of doom?
Who is the 3rd girl seen leaving when Betty and Rita are breaking in and I assume the one who comes back for her stuff?
Why is her ash tray she takes still there in the next scene
Why does Rita decide to go blond then is back to brunette in later scenes?
Who is the middle age red head that wanders in & out for a few minutes?
Whats with the Betty / Diane name swap.
The movie does have some interesting scenes as they stand alone, but trying to fit them into a whole is probally a waste of time. Analyzing movies like this have become the modern equivalent of debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. But it doesn't make for good movies or the director a genius. Genius is making a well crafted movie with a compeling story, not 150 minutes that leave you with that "Huh" feeling.
Road To Nowhere, U-Turn! Rating: I've given up trying 2 figure out why this and why that. I just sit back and enjoy the ride. It's mystical never practical, illogical always maniacal. The performances are brilliant. This is Naomi Watts crowning achievement. One of m' fave films!
