amused

Rating: Null/10 (30 April 2002)

I'm amused that so many people either couldn't or didn't want to understand this movie. This was my first Lynch experience, and although it was difficult to process the first time around, a second viewing cleared things up nicely. I saw it in the theater on a Sunday night, and returned on Monday to see it again. This film haunted me in ways no film ever has--its imagery stayed with me for days as I tried to put the plot together. Yes, there is a plot! I won't get into details, but the last part is REAL, and Lynch goes to great lengths to offer the viewer enough clues to make sense of what WASN'T REAL.
This was easily the most beautiful/tragic love story I've ever seen, and I think it's a shame that so many people saw fit to bash it. I'm an avid reader of many many different film critics, from all walks of media, pop and literary, and just about the only film that managed to captivate them all was Mulholland Dr.. To say that critics gave it praise because it had Lynch's name attached is in error. Critics have hated Lynch's work for many years now. A perfect example is Roger Ebert. Mulholland Dr. was the first Lynch movie he didn't dislike; he gave it four stars. If you've seen Mulholland Dr. once, do yourself a favor and see it again. If you put in even the slightest bit of thought, especially after the movie is over, it will turn that wasted 2.5 hours of your oh so precious life into 5 hours of pure cinema-induced awe.