Wonderfully weird, masterfully told and made from for me the genius David Lynch!

Rating: 10/10 (5 February 2010)

Until recently I had never heard of this film Mulholland Drive let alone the director David Lynch until only a couple of weeks ago.I heard about Lynch from my class teacher who is a massive fan of his movies. He told me that Mulholland drive was a very confusing film so I decided to give it a watch before the lecture to try and better understand it I watched it and I was initially confused as the plot is very difficult to follow but when it finished I was so intrigued to find out what the movie meant I got a couple of books out about it and I eventually think figured it out.
This is an incredible film, unique, refreshing and intelligent, which nowadays is not what Hollywood gives. Lynch directs Mulholland Drive with a nightmarish quality incorporating the theme of dreams and psychology into the mix.
The story starts off with a woman in an accident in a limousine when two cars with youths in who are drag racing crash into them. The woman who stumbles out makes it to an empty house where Betty played by Naomi Watts is staying as it's rented out by her aunt. Betty is an actress who wants to make it big in Hollywood. Initially she finds the women who calls herself 'Rita' played by Laura Harring. Betty decides to help her figure out who she is as Rita has lost her memory. With Rita she had a handbag and in it they find lots of money and a blue key. Betty helps Rita trace herself to a woman she thinks she remembers whose called Diane who may have gave her the key but when they track her down she's been murdered. Meanwhile Betty and Rita grow closer and fall in love.
A separate story is that the one of the youths who crashed into the limousine at the beginning is shown doing a hit on three people for a book, whilst a producer Adam Kesher played by Jason Theroux who Betty was going to audition for a part in his movie ends up going on the run from the mafia after refusing to cast a girl Camilla Rhodes they want but eventually he accepts. This all takes place within about about 110 minutes of the movie, which more all less makes sense then in the last forty minutes everything you thought you knew turns on it's head. When Betty and Rita have slept together Rita murmurs the name of a club in her sleep so her and Betty go to an early morning show to see what she can remember. When they get back Rita and Betty go to her room and Rita gets out a blue box, which the key fits in but at this point Betty had disappeared from the room and when Rita opens the box it's empty that when the film becomes bizarre but in a brilliant way.
Okay here goes the character of Betty (Watts) becomes the character of Diane who was found dead by Betty. Diane is in love with Rita who now becomes Camilla who she met on a set of a film. Camilla has been helping her get roles in movies and they have fallen in love. Unfortunately Camilla has been sleeping around and eventually ends up being engaged to Jason. Diane becomes devastated as Camilla calls things off so Diane hires a hit-man who was the youth in the car at the start and who did the hit on those three people to kill Camilla. He does but in the end she feels so guilty for what she has done that she kills herself. Basically the real story was of Diane falling in love with Camilla but her ending it as she is engaged to Adam and Diane wanting to kill Camilla and does as she also ends up killing herself. The first two thirds of the film is her twisted fantasy of how she wanted it to be with her and Camilla.
David Lynch is an amazing director and deserves to be up there with Spielburg, Eastwood and Cameron. Mulholland Drive cleverly manipulates the audiences expectations subtly so they have to figure out the puzzle themselves. I was totally shocked by the twists when I figured it out as there a lot of false red herrings. The portrayal of the human condition of dreams, reality, insanity build from love and betrayal is explored in superb depth. The lighting is of that film noir 1940s expression which is wonderfully artistic. The music is beautiful, powerful and though provoking which added the tension and suspense to the scenes. There isn't much dialogue and there are long pauses between character's interaction but through visually there body language and the way they say it depending on what is happening in the film progresses the story. The acting as well, Jason Theroux gives a good performance and so does Laura Harring, but Naomi Watts steals the movie, her first acting role this was and it made her. She deserved it. Here she gives the performance of a lifetime, worthy of an Oscar. It's one of the finest performance I have ever seen on film. One scene that stands out is the love scene with her and Harring aches with passion and believability but throughout Watts is totally convincing whether wanting to help Ruth in her fantasy or her menacing jealously in her reality.
Lynch has made a perfect film which is daring, unique and wonderfully complex with intelligence. He knows how to bring out the best in his actors and the lighting and the music is truly gorgeous. I will call this a David Lynch masterpiece. After Mulholland Drive I am going to watch more of his films. Something tells me Lynch may join my list of best ever directors. One of the greatest films I've seen and one I can't wait to view again. A truly remarkable film experience.