Mulholland Drive
Composite Score: 84.13
Starring: Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux, Jeanne Bates, Patrick Fischler, Bonnie Aarons, Michael J. Anderson, Ann Miller, Mark Pellegrino, Lori Heuring, and Billy Ray Cyrus
Director: David Lynch
Writer: David Lynch
Genres: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
MPAA Rating: R for violence, language, and some strong sexuality
Box Office: $20.27 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Mulholland Drive is David Lynch’s film about an amnesiac actress, a newcomer to Hollywood, and a film director struggling to get his movie made without mob interference. The nonlinear narrative structure, eerie dreamlike energy, and plethora of loose ends make it one of the most rewatchable films of the 21st century. Like most David Lynch films, there’s plenty of symbolism and bits that are open to interpretation, but Mulholland Drive does it so well that it earned the director an Oscar nomination for his directing for the first time since Blue Velvet. It’s one of the director’s best films, sure to keep his fans happy, and one of the best films about Hollywood ever made.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
Mulholland Drive is one of Lynch’s most frustratingly open to interpretation films. Everything could be real or not real, and there’s so many unraveled loose ends that it can be frustrating for an audience looking for a casual mystery film. This film instead asks the audience to become the detectives, attempting to give some kind of meaning to the symbols and twists and jumble of characters that comprise Lynch’s ode to the ills of Hollywood. For filmgoers who want this type of engagement, Mulholland Drive is the perfect watch and rewatch (and rewatch and so on), but for the more casual viewer, the film will inevitably leave them frustrated and dissatisfied (and, for some, confused) by the time the credits roll. It’s imperfect in a way that will elicit conversation from cinephiles and leave the larger viewing public on the outside looking in, not the best way to construct a film in my own opinion.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
Frustrating as Lynch can be at times (most of the time), Mulholland Drive overcomes that frustration with a compelling romantic narrative, engaging side characters, and a cynical but not inaccurate study of the darker side of Hollywood hopefuls. Naomi Watts and Laura Harring are excellent as Betty/Diane and Rita/Camilla, winning the hearts of the audience and each other in their doomed pursuit of Rita’s memories and success in the big world of Hollywood. Even if you don’t fully understand all the little clues and mysteries and side plots and red herrings that Lynch throws out there in this film, the two women at its heart carry the film and the audience to a place of satisfied dissatisfaction by the film’s end.
David Lynch’s iconic ode to the dreams and realities of making it in Hollywood makes its place among the Greatest Films of All Time with the help of its two leading ladies and its ability to continually engage new audiences with each watch and rewatch. The mystery and ambiguity of Lynch are on full display in this film and might leave some viewers more frustrated than satiated, but from the right mindset, Mulholland Drive offers the potential to be a true masterpiece. It is currently streaming on the Criterion Channel for anyone looking to watch it in the near future and plumb its depths for themselves.
