Stop it

Rating: Null/10 (5 November 2001)

I saw this in a theater full of old people. Don't ask me what they were doing at a David Lynch movie because I don't know. Not only did they seem to insist on talking during the film, but once it was over, they felt the need to express their disdain for it very loudly. I heard a lot of "What was that about?," "How awful can one movie be?," and the always popular "That was a huge waste of time." I witnessed a great work of art being wasted on a large group of people. I'm not saying that they were wrong. I'm just saying that people who react in that extreme probably should have known better than to show up in the first place.
The only thing worse than hearing all of the people complaining about how non-sensical this film was, is listening to people trying to explain it. Face the facts, this is not a film that benefits from knowing what's going on. You could watch it a thousand times, and come up with a different explanation of the events that unfold every time. None would be wrong. And we shouldn't look to David Lynch to explain what he meant by any of it because what he meant was for us to enjoy the ride. We hear a lot of filmmakers say that they want to leave you with more questions than answers, but it's normally not true. Though the plots may be confusing, an explanation normally shows up in the last ten minutes that is very definitive. Mulholland Drive offers us nothing of the sort and is true cinema.
Watching this film, to me, is like going to a museum. I've never been able to understand art work. But there have been plenty of things that I really enjoy. I'm not going to even attempt an explanation as to what happens or even as to what an overall theme might be. I just know that I'm going to watch it several times again. While I never got into Twin Peaks, I think I really would have liked to see this developed as a television series. And I'm sure that it would have been acceptable to television censors. The scenes with nudity were probably from the additional parts shot to make the pilot into a feature.
If you're wondering whether or not you should see this film, you probably shouldn't. We all know how much David Lynch we can take, and on a scale from 'The Straight Story' to 'Eraserhead', this is past Eraserhead. If you've never enjoyed what you like to call 'artsy' movies, then you have no right to say bad things about this film because you were stupid enough to go to it anyway. But for those of us who are willing to let go and simply experience a film instead of watching it, this is a great time.