Warmed over TV Pilot served a' la mode'.

Rating: 6/10 (22 November 2002)

Before damning or praising MULHOLLAND DRIVE one should first understand its background and what the director's original intent was. Roughly the first 90 minutes of this film are composed of footage from a 1999 TV movie that was to have served as a pilot for a proposed series on ABC. They apparently did not like what they saw, or perhaps felt that the story line --- "small town girl goes Hollywood, meets bizarre characters, gets embroiled in mystery", was just a bit too odd for the sedated cop/medical/sitcom/reality crowd. Either way the film languished in the vaults for over a year. Director David Lynch however, found a way to salvage his project --- simply tack on an hour of typically Lynchian sex and weirdness, then release it theatrically and hope that audiences worldwide would embrace it as a viable, multi-layered, groundbreaking work of art.
Well, to me that sounds a bit like micro-waving a piece of old apple pie, serving it up with a large dollop of cherry vanilla ice cream and hoping no one notices. Recently there have been lots of user comments stating that the film's first half should be viewed as an extended dream, and its second half as actual reality. The problem with that interpretation is that it has been embraced 'after-the-fact' by viewers who think they see some artistic master plan on the director's part. This could not be further from the truth. The scenes from the pilot had been shot with no such thing in mind. Even if the dream angle was something Lynch was going for in the refurbished theatrical version, those early scenes still come off as too firmly grounded in reality to seem convincingly dreamlike. No, I don't buy this dream angle at all. In the end, I believe that the reason many of us are drawn to this movie is not because of the bland pie underneath, but rather the rich, intoxicatingly sweet ice cream that's been dumped atop it.
Let's get down to brass tacks. There are basically 2 reasons most of us are fascinated by this movie. First and foremost, the lesbian sex scenes. Make no mistake about it boys and girls, many of us in living in these modern, liberated times have come to appreciate the aesthetically titillating aspects of watching two beautiful women making love to each other. If you disagree with me, simply try imagining yourself being as enthralled with this movie as you currently are had 2 'guys' played the lead roles. Well, now that we've established (surprise) that sex sells, we should ask ourselves if that in itself makes something great art? I certainly don't think so, --- If it did, half the pornographic films out there would be considered works on par with CITIZEN KANE.
Now for the second reason this film seems to fascinate us --- those amazingly disconcerting and typically surreal Lynchian moments that abound in the movie's final hour. Of all those moments, the most hauntingly memorable, in my opinion, is the scene at Club Silencio featuring the Spanish rendition of Roy Orbison's "Crying". Moments like that, coupled with the aforementioned scenes of sapphic bliss, build an atmosphere of brooding mystery and exotic sensuality that is quite alluring indeed.
It should come as no surprise that those scenes were part of the new material shot to help sell the film theatrically. Unfortunately, they simply feel like colorful afterthoughts --- material that was never truly part of the director's original vision for the film. Knowing this, at least for me, makes the overall experience of viewing MULHOLLAND DRIVE somewhat less than satisfying. In the end, its a bummer to think that there was never truly an artistic intent on the director's part other than to salvage a failed project by injecting moments of signature weirdness and steamy sex into it. Judging by the reviews on this site however, I'd say he'd managed to convince most of you otherwise.
This film gets a 6 out of 10 because I have a 'soft' spot for David Lynch. Not surprisingly, when it comes to Laura Elena Harring, the exact opposite seems to be true.