Lynch paints a world that is mysterious yet brilliant, dark yet colorful, subdued, and most certainly bizarre.
Tools:
Recommend review to a friend »
When was the last time you walked through a museum or looked ponderously into an artist's rendering? Have you ever looked at classic or mainstream art and wondered, What was the artist thinking? I am sure all of us have endured these questions in our brief existence in the world, and it has become a part of what helps us build our own personal taste. In the end, we all form our own opinions and conclusions about how we interpret an artist's work. However, there are those few pieces of art in the world that are thought provoking, intriguing, or even astonishing. Least to say, this kind of work provokes people to debate, discuss, and rationalize their very thoughts. In 2001, "Mulholland Dr." did exactly that, and the film still manages to provoke discussion in several chat forums, worldwide.
I believe the director, David Lynch, painted a picture via a canvas of film and masterfully crafted his art to toy with our thoughts and emotions. Lynch paints a world that is mysterious yet brilliant, dark yet colorful, subdued, and most certainly bizarre. The closer you think you are to figuring out the world he paints, the more you find yourself on the back nine, down by twelve, and playing against Tiger Woods. However, this is exactly what I find so intriguing about Lynch's work. He's not afraid of getting us close and then turning the tables. It is not as if he's asking us what we see, but rather what we feel. I am especially fond of Lynch's use of color and how he cleverly uses it to create mood and atmosphere. Adding to the atmosphere is the hypnotic sound track, which seems meticulously placed to flow in complete perfection with the changing of his canvas.
To describe what "Mulholland Dr." is about, I feel, would give away too much to the potential audience. It is best to see this film with a fresh and open mind on your first outing. And, let me warn, do not expect a linear film that safely guides you from point A to point B with a big-bang, sappy, Hollywood ending. This is not a simple film. I know my parents hated this film, and they know I loved it. Then again, my parents think everything Steve Martin has done in the last ten years deserves him the Academy Award of Lifetime Achievement. Point is, "Mulholland Dr." can either be loved or hated depending on the common desires and tastes of the audience. My advice is, best not to try and figure anything out and just enjoy the subdued pleasantries. The film will paint a mysterious puzzle before your eyes, but it is best not to try and solve it without a repeat viewing. Yet, another aspect I loved about this film, after you have seen it once, you know you will need to go back and see it again.
As a guest on the Jay Leno show, costar Naomi Watts mentioned her part in this film as "the movie about a dream within a dream." Her response summed up what was happening in the movie, but don't let this answer distract you from the fact that there is an underlying mystery--a mystery so strange that it becomes hypnotic and intoxicating. By the end you'll be wondering about the purpose of the little blue box, the strange homeless person behind the café, what the Cowboy was all about, and whether Betty (Naomi Watts) was really having an ego dream of herself as a girl named Rita (Laura Harring)? Well, anything is possible. Even Sigmund Freud came to the conclusion that we are everyone in our dreams. If that is true, and if I were Catholic, I feel I would need to go to confession, soon.
The one thing I can do to help describe the flow of this film is to refer to how the film is described. Have you ever awakened from a dream and found yourself inside an entirely new dream? Well, that's about as close as you get to having a dream within a dream. You think you're awake but you're really not. Instead, you get a bonus dream. With that in mind, it's obvious that there will be a turning point within the film, or a transition period into another dream, if you will. It will be a point at which you think you almost have the mystery solved, but instead the film does a complete 360 in the opposite direction. Yet another element of this film I loved was how the transition was seamless. Lynch doesn't bother to distract the audience with special effects between transitions, nor does he give us soft camera edges that are traditional for representing a dreamlike state. He simply edits his film to have such a hypnotic flow that, when the major transitions do take effect, you barely notice them.
Just as the movie begins, we are taken into a tranquil, uncertain, bizarre world in Hollywood. Here, we are introduced to a slew of characters ranging from a disgruntled film director named Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) to Betty (Naomi Watts), a newcomer to Hollywood looking for fame, and then to Rita (Laura Harring), a woman who has lost her memory and obtains the help of Betty to solve her mystery. The two girls end up with more than they bargained for when they find a dead body in what, they believe, might be Rita's apartment. During this time you wind up wondering who the dead woman is. Is she really Rita's roommate or possibly herself or Betty, and do they both see their future? Then again, referring to the Freud theory, are they all the same person?
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]9902[/release]