Masterpiece of Mystery

Rating: 10/10 (23 August 2002)

'Mulholland Dr." is a one way street to mystery, suspense and a hefty dose of 'what the?!"
The movie starts out with a woman in a beautiful dress being driven along Mulholland Dr. in a long black limousine. The limousine pulls to a stop and the driver pulls a gun on the woman. Before he can do anything a car of speeding teenagers hits the limousine, killing everyone except the woman. She wonders around for a bit before falling asleep in the garden of some apartments. When she wakes up she hides herself in a woman's apartment.
That apartment belongs to Betty's Aunt. Betty has arrived in L.A. to kick start her movie career. While her Aunt is away Betty will be staying in her apartment.
When Betty and the 'limousine woman' meet they realize the woman has amnesia. Together they try to solve the mystery. Who is the woman? Where does she live? Why did the driver pull a gun on her? And why is there a heap of money in her handbag along with a blue key? Their journey will take them on a wild journey of mystery.
But Mulholland Dr. is not that simple. There is a bigger mystery lurking.
***SPOILERS*** ONLY READ IF YOU HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE
Okay, so you've seen the movie. Pretty confusing huh! Well maybe it isn't. Mulholland Dr. is unlike most films as its ending can be taken in many ways.
1) The first and best idea is that the first part of the movie is a dream/fantasy. Right after the dancing bit at the beginning we see someone going to sleep on a bed. This is telling us its a dream right from the start! And the rest of the events near the end of the movie is reality. Salon.com has an awesome theory on this, read it and the movie's plot will seem very simple. Really!
2) The whole movie is reality, but it takes place in two different realities. This is the first theory I thought of after viewing the movie the first time. The blue box is almost like a transporter between dimensions.
3) All of the movie is a dream. This is my least favourite theory, but if you think about it it does make sense. When we dream a lot of the time the dream will move onto different scenes and characters and rarely make sense in a normal way.
*** END OF SPOLIERS ***
Mulholland Dr. is like many different movies. You can watch it with a certain theory, and next time watch it with a different theory. Choose your favourites and even try to come up with crazy ideas. Or you can just watch the film without trying to work out what it's trying to say and marvel at it's beauty.
The acting is excellent. Particularly Naomi Watts, who does an amazing job. Her acting in this movie blew me away, she is an awesome actress and should have won an Oscar for her performance.
Angelo Badalamenti's score is just wonderful to listen to and creates an amazing atmosphere.
'Mulholland Dr.' is like a painting. For example, take a painting of a Mother and her baby. One person may view the painting as very beautiful and a display of the bond a Mother and child feels. A different person may take it differently. Say, a Mother who lost her child. The painting may bring back sad memories and this person may feel the painting is sad and upsetting instead of beautiful. One painting. Two different ideas and feelings. Mulholland Dr.: One movie, many ideas. It's almost like David Lynch created a moving painting. Maybe being a painter from way back he feels as if paintings and movies can be the same kind of art.
I truly love this movie and get great feelings when thinking about it's amazing logic and mystery. And it contains a very funny hitman bungle scene to boot.
Remember, with most mystery movies the mystery is in the movie. Mulholland Dr. maybe one of the only films where the mystery is not only in the film but also the film as a whole.
A masterpiece that you don't have to 'get' to love.
10/10