Mulholland Drive is why I love film.

Rating: 10/10 (26 October 2001)

Film, my one true love...
There are moments in film that to me are so unforgettable...Spike Lee throwing a garbage can through a pizzeria window...a thief forcing a lover to swallow the entire contents of a book on the French Revolution page by page...a circus strongman longing for the waif he discarded years ago...a once blind flowergirl smiling at the man who helped to bring her sight...
Everyone who loves film has such moments. Film inspires the mind and takes us to places where we can never go, or have never dreamed of going. Great directors allow me to dream, while awake and asleep. A great film inspires me, kickstarting my imagination and creativity to new levels, providing me with esthetic euphoria.
David Lynch's Mulholland Drive...what can I say. The best two and a half hours spent in a movie theatre in a long long long time. Not since Being John Malkovich in 1999 have I been so "wowed" by how powerful film can be.
I know that many many people will ultimately loathe Mulholland Drive. I know that those like me who appreciate it for what it is, will be forever thankful to have been taken on such an amazing trip. What an outstanding collage of scattered images, glossed over with moody Badalamenti music, industrial sounds and kitschy dialogue. I love being surprised by a film, and I love being teased, tormented and forever tainted by a brilliant director who is comfortable enough with his own inner instincts and private thoughts to commit them to celluloid. This film embodies everything that I love about film. I will see it countless times and will discuss it endlessly with those, like me, who appreciate powerful filmmaking like this. Totally uncompromising, Mulholland Drive is a clear view into the subconscious minds of one of Hollywood's greatest mavericks. David Lynch must be the happiest man in the world. How many people on this planet ever get to fully unleash their full creativeness with carte-blanche. This film is exactly what he intended to create, and there were producers willing to finance it. Thank heaven.
I won't even begin to discuss plotlines, ABC network executive decisions, "getting it" versus "not getting it" like so many other user comments are doing. Rather, I would just like to speak for a silent minority of viewers who just appreciate a creative genius allowing us to revel in their masterpiece. The entire film has become one of my aforementioned moments. I won't be coming down from this high for a long time.
Silencio.