Eerie, provocative take on Bergman's "Persona"...

Rating: 8/10 (4 September 2005)

Byzantine, brilliantly-acted drama parallels Hollywood glamor girl on the wrong path with freshly-scrubbed young actress who has just arrived in Los Angeles for a movie audition. Writer-director David Lynch shrewdly guides this jitterbug dance into a dreamy-nightmare world where fantasies and rude awakenings crisscross in coldly masterful style. It's a complex jigsaw of a movie--something along the lines of Bergman's "Persona" yet even more treacherous. You may not know where you're heading (or, indeed, where you've been) but you trust that Lynch does. Do concrete conclusions ever materialize? Some say yes, some say no, and some are still scratching their heads. There is no final summation, though that doesn't mean the picture is incomplete. It's a delicious film experience. David Lynch's world is a wicked one, and he's happy to invite us in. ***1/2 from ****