Brilliant mind-teaser which leaves you spellbound

Rating: 10/10 (9 January 2002)

Well, where do I begin? It's hard to describe my view on David Lynch's latest works without revealing too much of what's going on in it. A lot of people have already written out their theories and analysis of "Mulholland Dr." - so I won't bother with something like that. Just one thing: Some folks claim that the film doesn't make sense. They're wrong! When you try hard enough connecting all those seemingly chaotic strings, images, fragments, then almost everything makes sense - although there may still be a couple of "red herrings" left
For me, there are three main reasons why no one who likes films like "The Usual Suspects" or the French movie "Viva la vie!" by Claude Lelouch should miss Lynch's masterpiece:
a) The tension: There are only a few movies which make me clutch the upholstery of the seat. But a couple of scenes in "Mulholland Dr." do - although the ideas behind them are rather simple: Sneaking into a dark flat or around the corner of a fast-food restaurant
b) The mind-teasing: Sometimes it isn't too bad when you already know some essential things about it before you go and see a movie. In case of, e.g., "Memento" - and "Mulholland Dr.", too, you should know that everything you see might be important to fully understand the film. With the consequence that you'll definitely keep your attention for more than two hours - sort of spellbound
c) The acting: It was a wise decision of Lynch not to cast any blockbuster stars for his movie but entirely rather unknown faces. Otherwise, we couldn't see those brilliant performances by Laura Elena Harring and especially Naomi Watts (who is gorgeous in every which way and would well deserve an award for her role).
To come to a conclusion: Even if you finally don't get what it's all about, this movie might fascinate you. Or, as a friend of mine said when we left the cinema: "I didn't understand anything of what was going on - but let's go and watch it again". 10/10