Lynch's masterwork

Rating: Null/10 (11 January 2002)

Lynch. Love him or hate him, there's no denying that his work get's stuck in your head and makes you think. In his latest film, Mulholland Drive, he may have outdone himself. Quite possibly his greatest film, it's halfway between a cryptic crossword puzzle lacking 90% of the clues, and a very strong dose of LSD.
The film is about a woman who's in car crash, get's amnesia, and is helped out by a wannabe-actress freshly arrived in LA from middletown America, and full of the youthful excuberence that goes along with that. Lynch plays them off perfectly against each other - one the brooding femme fetale (played by the ever-gorgeous Laura Harring) who has each line she utters perfectly formed and developed, and the other the bubbly dizzy blonde who seems a bit out of place in a Lynch picture (played by Naomi Watts).
From the most bizarre open sequencing of any film ever through to the most abrupt ending of any film ever, it keeps you in it's grasp and on the edge of your seat... partly wondering what the hell is going on it has to be said. But your helped along with your conclusions about the films theme by a beautifully composed haunting soundtrack. The music helps set the mood through the film right till the end - one of brooding underlying kept-in-check violence. An immediate comparison I was making was between this film and 'Memento' - due to the jumbled sequence of events leading to ultimate confusion, and the amnesia. Here's to the DVD with the easter egg of the film in the correct chronological sequence!
Twin Peaks fans are in for a treat too - lots of little homages being paid - from the red (nearly) curtained rooms, to the backwards-talking dwarf, and the ever omnipresent Laura Palmer.
This film also get's the vote for most sinister use of old age pensioners in a film too - SCARRRRRY! Go see it while it's still in cinemas and be prepared to be shell-shocked. Rating = 9/10.