Superb

Rating: 10/10 (31 March 2006)

A lot of people love David Lynch. I count myself among that group. However, I am not an uncritical supporter of this man's oeuvre. I can say, without fear of censure, that Blue Velvet, Wild At Heart, the Straight Story, and Mulholland Drive are unrivaled masterpieces. The others are lesser films--Eraserhead is, though an auspicious debut, immature; Elephant Man is dull; Dune is lugubrious; and Lost Highway is an abomination and one of the worst films I've ever seen. Blue Velvet and Mulholland are two of the best films I've ever seen-- Mulholland in particular.
What's wonderful about this film? Everything. I saw it the first time at the Cork Film Festival in 2001, just after it opened in the states. The screen was huge and the theatre dark. When those joyriders come screeching down through the Hollywood Hills, I knew I was in for something special. I can't say that I completely understood everything the first time I saw Mulholland, but I grasped most of what was going one. To those that say this film is too confusing, I say you're not paying close enough attention and by that I mean you must have fallen asleep for part of it. The movie really isn't that difficult to follow, ultimately, unless you've never seen a movie with a dream sequence or a flashback or an out of sequence narrative. Show of hands: How many of you have seen Pulp Fiction? If you've seen that film, you can follow this one.
I'm not going to explain what I think happened because ultimately it doesn't matter. The world Lynch creates in this film is amazing and complete. It's a comic book-Los Angeles or one from another dimension. It's a fantasy-land. You have to lose yourself in it and be taken over by the tone of the film and its imagery. If you do that, the film will guide you through its more opaque convolutions.
The acting, cinematography, and overall mood are amazing here and this is probably Lynch's most assured film (if not my favorite). However, it's a terrible place to start, if you're unfamiliar with him. Start with The Straight Story (his most mature film) and move onto Blue Velvet (my personal favorite but a very raw film). Then, you'll probably be ready for Mulholland.