Lynch's masterpiece

Rating: Null/10 (13 August 2002)

Who would have thought that a true autuer like David Lynch, creator of a truelly unique concept and style in cinema, creator of such classics as the Elephant Man, Blue Velvet and the underated Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me (as well as the ground breaking TV series) would make his best film after nearly 30 years and 8 films and a long running TV series? Mind you, it took Hitchcock a while before he made Psycho (he made many great films before that), so I guess its possible.
Mulholland Drive comprises footage Lynch shot for an intended TV series, but the producers backed out, fearing the material would'nt be a success (obviousley, they forgot all about Twin Peaks and how successful that was) and then sent it to another production company, who loved what he shot and gave him some extra money to shoot more footage and make a complete feature film. Perhaps because of this, the film breaks new ground and is unlike anything you have ever seen - to the best of my knowledge, this has never been conceived before in film history (when a TV director shoots footage which gets rejected by the TV companys, the footage is dispenced with, but in Lynch's case, who is simply too much of a respected director, its bound to turn up some where).
The first 2 thirds of the film, the pilot, rely heavily on perfect script writing craft- note that there are at least 5 classic scenes during this part, and the last third, shot seperatley, contains pure Lynchian, nightmarish imagery, and attempts to resolve everything in the first 2 thirds during this process. So the film is obviousley going to be unique because of this, because as stated, it is doubtful that it's ever been done before (even if it was an accident).
What makes this Lynch's best film, and to me, one of the greatest films of all time and a classic by any definition, is just how effortlessly paced the film is. As we all know pilots for TV series have to be tightly written and constructed to maintain a viewers intrest (to make an impression) - and the way the film turns in on itself at the end is just amazing. There is never a dull moment, and after 10 years of properly eating, sleeping and breathing films I can honestly say I have never been so captivated.
As for the film making sense, all great works of art aren't really supposed to. This film is more like a classic song than a movie, it becomes increasingly addictive and life enhancing the more you indulge in its beauty. This film has the perfect combination of basic human emotions- humour, glamour, love, deception, fear, guilt and above all, confusion- and is compressed into a perfect dreamscape (as you feel these emotions when watching it, you don't just see it). At the end, you feel exhausted and completely different to how you felt before, because if you see it by yourself in the dark, and are captivated, you feel these emotions during it's 2 and a half hours which most people only feel during a day, even a week. Words cannot do this film justice, if your open minded and have respect for Lynch, you'll realise just how special this film really is.