Tedious and Doesn't Make Sense

Rating: 4/10 (15 January 2011)

SLIGHT SPOILERS I felt that this film at times managed the neat trick of being simultaneously gripping and tedious, while at other times was just plain tedious. The dark atmosphere, and tension created in ordinary scenarios drew me in and, in conjunction with the good quality of the acting, kept me from turning off at least, but the film was a massive triumph of style over substance. It makes increasingly less sense as the second half of the film develops. While it is not hard to come up with an interpretation of it, I doubt there is a truly satisfying one, and any film that has to revert to dreams before it can make any sense should be marked down in my opinion. I believe films are better when they offer a more coherent plot and entertain, rather than leave us guessing: or at the very least have just one or two explanations which most intelligent people can be reasonably expected to figure out without tremendous effort. I wonder if some people rated this film highly because they were afraid to admit they did not understand it. Fear not, the film is empty and there is nothing to understand. Either that, or the director has decided to create something pointlessly complex that cannot be easily understood. I also prefer that mysteries should be decoded within the film itself for the most part, rather than leaving them for people to guess.
As the film went on, it became clear first of all that this would not be the type of flick to tie up all the loose ends. My next realisation was that it would not even resolve the main plot line (not without resorting to "it was a dream" anyway). As it deteriorated into further mess and nonsense, seemingly more interested in random images and symbols than telling a story, I began to expect an ending that trailed off anticlimactically. Even though I fully expected a poor ending, I was still a little stunned by how pathetic and awful the ending was. I will be making a mental note of all Lynch films and will make a reasonable effort to avoid them because the film was so desperately pretentious and delivered so little that I am convinced that I will never enjoy any of his films.
For this film to unravel to make sense, some of it must be a dream. That is not good enough to me.
Also, why should I have to watch it 2-3 times before I fully understand it all. It's nowhere near good enough on any level to warrant that. If I had paid money to go to the cinema to see this I would have felt cheated by those who told me to watch it again before it can be understood.
Possibly the most overrated film I have ever seen and I would say one of about the 20 worst films I have ever seen.