David Lynch is slipping.

Rating: Null/10 (15 July 2002)

Maybe it's the pressure of being driven to produce ambitious works that are not congruent with what entertainment media wants to sell, or maybe he has no more ideas, but Mullholland Drive is disappointing, and for those already familiar with David Lynch's style, this film is a waste of time. I've read numerous comments on the board applauding Lynch for not bothering with plot, and applauding him for emphasizing style and aesthetics over substance. The emperor's clothes are fine, indeed! He has made several unquestionably great films, the most recent artistic success being The Straight Story (interestingly, a little bit of a departure from form - hmmm...). Most of his films actually do have substance. They do mean something, they do tell a fractured story, and one that does not betray its characters. But this film is simply a failure. Lynch does, in fact, develop an intriguing plot at the beginning of the film. Then a device is employed that he employed in a previous, disappointing film, "Lost Highway", and then he develops another intriguing plot, that, like "Lost Highway" suggests a more than fleeting relationship to what was going on before the "device" was employed. The problem is, Lynch is stringing his viewers along. There's no structure in the film continuous enough to support his characters' motivations. Also, "red herrings", "pointless introductions", and "dead ends" aren't really synonymous colloquialisms. A good part of this film was a pilot for a T.V. series, and once again Lynch feels compelled to somehow surmount the lack of interest in his originally intended project (and surely cull some return on investment) by forcing concepts intended to be developed in a much longer format into a film. What we, his (former) fans get, is poorly baked goods with loads and loads of frosting. He's done his original idea, whatever it was, a disservice, and given us a film that pretends to be about something, pretends to contain conflict, pretends to care about its characters, and pretends to give them motivation, but is ultimately like the ravings of a madman - you know how the rest goes. Signifying nothing? You bet. All the style in the world can't justify this film this far into this director's career.