The Impossible Dream

Rating: 9/10 (31 October 2002)

Been into Lynch since Eraserhead, which I saw in an actual theatre many years back and came away positive I'd seen something quite spectacular and original. I've watched it several times on VHS since then, and I've seen all of his subsequent films more than once as well - it seems to be a requirement with them.
I've seen Mulholland Dr. 5 times now - once in a theatre in Hollywood the weekend it opened and 4 more times on cable and/or DVD. I'm convinced that the entire first two-thirds of the movie is Diane's dream, from the very beginning, with the jitterbug dancing (Diane won a jitterbug contest, we learn later). She becomes 'Betty' in her dream, juxtaposing her name with the name she saw on the waitress's tag at Winkie's when she was paying the hit-man guy to kill Camilla.
Here's what confused me about this concept the first and second times I saw the movie and made me doubt if I was right: generally, in a dream, YOU are in every sequence, or at least your consciousness is there, watching. In this dream, though, Diane is not in all the sequences. This threw me off. But I think I've got it: Diane created the whole thing in her mind as a MOVIE, with other characters besides herself and Camilla.
Great performances here, of course, particularly from Naomi Watts, whom I had never seen before. I've made it a point to check out every film she's done since; she is one of the best actors working today, plain and simple. Not sure I'd agree to meet her up on Mulholland Dr., though.