a movie about a movie about a movie about movies

Rating: 7/10 (15 May 2002)

I've heard some opinions on whether Mulholland Dr. is a dream or something else--so I vote for something else. Mulholland Drive is a movie which includes criticism about Hollywood and filmmaking. Watch the movie and observe the various directing styles. How does the story change when Betty reaches Los Angeles? It looks like a bad movie like Showgirls. But other times, MD is moody like an independent film, and sometimes it's weird with long wide lens shots and a floating camera like a David Lynch film: so is MD telling one story from the several different POVs? Is it showing us how Hollywood might butcher something but how an independent filmmaker might shoot a story and how Lynch sees it, all running together in a linear plotline??? Like Rashomon, but without the obvious separation of storytellers---And it's a story about Hollywood and the business of filmmaking. Sometimes Hollywood looks like the Mob, and sometimes it's just business; Sometimes Betty is in our story, and sometimes she's in one of the other director's stories....and what about the key? Is it blue because the French distributor of the film has a blue logo? Is the commentary about how difficult it is to make a film woven into the story? I'm only at the one hour mark on the DVD, but that's my view so far......should I even comment before the film is over? Of course not, but Lynch didn't allow chapter stops in the DVD, so I'm stopping intentionally and giving my opinion before I even know what the whole story is....Mulholland Drive (to me) is a story given to us as if by three different directors: independent, Hollywood Big Budget, and Lynch, and it includes backstory commentary on how Hollywood bullies filmmakers......but again, I'm only at the 1:00:00 mark..........