Mulholland Drive

Rating: 10/10 (3 December 2006)

The first time you see "Mulholland Drive," the most you can do is experience it. The second time, you'll notice more and perhaps a few pieces will fall into place. You can expect more of this the third time you see it. And the fourth. How many viewings does it take to get to the heart of "Mulholland Drive?" One wonders if it's a possibility. On a more serious note, what some would argue as David Lynch's best film, is a film rich in atmosphere, symbolism, and existential ideologies. The plot, which is still highly debated and theorized among film buffs, revolves around two women: an exotic amnesiac (Laura Elena Harring) and a bright-eyed ingénue (Naomi Watts) just arrived in a stylized and mystical Hollywood. Together, they investigate a mystery that encompasses a car crash, a locked box, a decaying corpse, and a purse full of money. Characters come and go and scenes flow from one to the next, with barely any concrete thread holding them together.
Lynch proves fearless in ignoring convention and throwing linear storytelling to the wind. He's not alone in his dexterity, however. Naomi Watts gives the best performance I've ever seen in the movies here. Lon Chaney, character actor of the silent era, has been fondly nicknamed, "The Man of a Thousand Faces." For her work here, Watts should be dubbed, "The Woman of a Thousand Faces of a Single Character." She plays her ingénue with a range of depths that surpass anything we might expect. In the body of the film, she is clearly its heart and soul. There are no doubt those who will be offended by this film. Perhaps they'll think it's too graphic, too artsy, or too intellectual. They would be right. This isn't a film for everyone. But for those attuned to the graphic, artsy, and intellectual aspects of film, "Mulholland Drive" is surely one of the most rewarding viewing options out there.
For those with the perseverance to work at understanding "Mulholland Drive," there will come a time when they begin to suspect that most of the film's spectacle and eccentric happenings are merely pawns, artistically manipulated to tell a tragically human story. I think this is correct. "Mulholland Drive" is something of a paradox in that it has to be complex and illogical to so truthfully tell its story. After all, the human thought process is one of the greatest complexities in existence and that's essentially what this film is seeking to represent. And it succeeds. It has to, otherwise viewers would never be willing to invest the time necessary to decipher it. All I can suggest is this: see it again. And again. See it until you understand it. And when that time comes, be prepared for it to break your heart.