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Mulholland Drive
USA, 2001 - Universal Focus/Universal Pictures
Directed by David Lynch
Starring:
Naomi Watts as Betty
Laura Harring as Rita
Justin Theroux as Adam Kesher
For more information go to the Internet Movie Database.
Initially "Mulholland Drive" was intended to be the
pilot for a series on ABC. Sadly ABC backed out and what may have
been a series even greater than "Twin Peaks" was lost.
However, being given the opportunity to make it a feature and
subsequently winning the best director prize at Cannes must have
been some consolation to Lynch.
Headlights flash on a Mulholland Drive street sign, briefly illuminating
it in the night. A beautiful woman straight out of a film noir
flick rides alone in the back seat. The car stops and a man in
the front turns around with a gun and orders her out of the car.
Before anyone can move they are hit by a speeding car heading
the other way. The only survivor is our beautiful woman, who having
now lost her memory, staggers down the hill towards the lights
of Los Angeles. She ends up in the home of a naïve, sweet,
young woman named Betty who has quite literally just gotten off
the plane from Deep River, Ontario to become a “serious actress”
in Hollywood. Much of the film is spent with them trying to determine
the identity of the amnesic woman.
Being a Lynch film, the Hollywood they explore is populated with
the bizarre, creepy and twisted - a cowboy who re-appears one
too many times, a monster living behind Winkie’s diner, and
the late-night cabaret singer who collapses during a haunting
spanish rendition of Roy Orbison’s “Crying.”
This film is to Hollywood what "Twin Peaks" was to
small-town America: a glimpse of a strange, atmospheric, parallel
world. Dealing with duality, fame, identity and most importantly
perception, "Mulholland Drive" leads you down what feels
like a conventional narrative path, only to suddenly emerge into
an even stranger universe, leaving the viewer with no bearings,
no signs, to indicate where they are. Like our amnesiac character,
you are left struggling to interpret this new world, to find a
secure place in it.
Full of eroticism, lush performances by actors playing actors
within the film, and small clues to the overall picture, David
Lynch teases the audiences and captivates them, never letting
you watch this film passively. Like wandering through a maze trying
to determine which direction will lead you out, "Mulholland
Drive" requires you to think ahead and remember where you’ve
been to make sense of what is on the screen. Ultimately though,
the puzzle pieces Lynch gives us quite intentionally never make
a complete picture.
Strong performances by two of the film’s actors deserve
special mention, Naomi Watts playing Betty is the epitome of virtue
and manages to stun the audience when her darker side peaks through.
Also notable is Justin Theroux as a film director who struggles
to keep control of his work. The third lead, Laura Herring as
the sultry brunette, is solid, but doesn’t have the strong
screen presence of Lynch’s past dark beauties.
Taking a ride on "Mulholland Drive" is a dark, winding
trip well worth the risk one takes of getting lost.
Rating: B
Andrea Hazard
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