Incredible

Rating: 10/10 (11 November 2017)

A film so polarized, that "The New York Observer" labeled Mulholland Drive as a "moronic and incoherent piece of garbage", while BBC noted it as the greatest film of the 21st century (so far). Even though I agree with the latter, I can understand the dislikes.
David Lynch completely transformed a seemingly clichéd story about an aspiring, perky actress who seeks fame in Hollywood to a horrifying surrealistic roller coaster that never ends. This transformation was so subtle that it kept viewers engaged throughout, emotionally contained, yet sporadic simultaneously. Angelo Badalamenti's beautifully unsettling score, a combination of minors and dissonance that represent the devastating collapse of Betty Elms, does well emphasizing Lynch's signature dark tone in such a psychedelic manner that viewers are able to relate to Betty's catastrophic hallucinations.
Was the first two-thirds of the film a dream? Betty Elms and Diane Selwyn were the same people? While there are countless other interpretations of the film, I, like most of the critics and audience, subscribe to the explanation above. The pieces of the puzzle seem to fit together so unbelievably well that it must have been Lynch's vision. To confront the fact that Diane was a sexually frustrated failed actress, she envisaged her own perfect life. For example, during my favorite scene of the film, Betty auditions in front of a crowded small room, where everyone praises her abilities. Except for Bob Brooker, the same director who didn't award Diane Selwyn the lead part in "The Sylvia North Story". Yet in this version of the events, Brooker is portrayed as incompetent, and easily deducted as disrespected by the side glances he receives from his peers. From this, we can determine that Diane blames the incapable director as her reason for not obtaining the part for "The Sylvia North Story". Sensible. Furthermore, Betty imagines the hit-man as extraordinarily incompetent during the murder scene, clumsily setting off the fire alarm, and killing two more people than he was supposed to. This amateurish hit-man could be a reasonable justification for the option that Camilla was not killed in reality.
Then the backbone of this film could be centered around the idea, "We believe what we want to believe." Yet there are multiple other persuasive interpretations of the film that cannot be dismissed, such as the Mobius strip theory, parallel universes, and that the whole film is a dream. Even after 16 years of extensive research and analysis, audiences and critics still can't seem to agree on one interpretation that is more convincing than the next.
And don't even get me started on Naomi Watts' breathtaking lead performance. From the lesbian sex scenes with Laura Harring to the heart-stopping audition scene, Naomi Watts has displayed an incredible range of emotions and acting capabilities. After watching such a masterpiece, I highly doubt one will argue that cinema isn't art. Because even if you didn't enjoy it, even if you still don't understand it, you can't deny the fact that "Mulholland Drive" is one of the most astonishing and bold films of all time. Thank you, David Lynch.
Silencio.