Movie Review: Mulholland Drive
Mulholland Drive asks and deserves to be watched twice.
The 2001 mystery movie by David Lynch on a first watch can land with audiences a number of different ways. If you’re the sort who has forgotten how to watch movies and you spend half your time scrolling on your phone, it will seem like a pile of artsy fartsy nonsense. If you are reasonably sharp, you’ll understand the third act “twist” where Betty becomes Diane and we see the relationship between reality and the dream world. But if you are a true galaxy brain cinephile (like yours truly of course), you will appreciate the rich tapestry of narrative and directing choices that culminate in a work of art that not only tells a clever mystery with unique cultural and psychological commentary, but does so with an amazing aesthetic that organically bolsters the story and merits its own examination.
If you are a Twin Peaks enjoyer then the last point will especially ring true. The vibe is Lynchian in all the best ways. The plot is classic noir. A young aspiring actress named Betty (played by Naomi Watts) comes to Los Angeles and meets a strange woman named Rita in her apartment. Rita was involved in a car crash and is suffering from amnesia. The two women embark on a journey to find Rita’s true identity. Along the way we meet a wide range of colorful Hollywood characters, among them some bungling gangsters, a principled director fighting to stop the mob from taking over his film, and the mysterious “cowboy” stalking the production. The complexity of the film is not in the story itself but rather the thematic purpose of all of these subplots and side characters.
The film has an intentionally surreal quality in its first 90 minutes or so. You won’t be sure if you’re watching a drama, a comedy, a romance, or a thriller. There is some over the top physical humor, a steamy sex scene that comes out of nowhere, and some very kooky interactions such as Betty’s audition scene with an older actor and a tone deaf director as well as a very goofy subplot with mobsters. But then everything gets switched up in the film’s last thirty minutes. Unlike The Usual Suspects (or MGSV…), this isn’t a pointless, “it’s all just a dream!” trick the audience plot twist. The twist is, it turns out, essential.
See what makes the twist great is that it actually makes all of the weird stuff we saw make sense. All of it. Every single scene. There’s a good reason why the director seemed bored during Betty’s amazing audition. There’s a good reason why the mob is trying to force Adam to pick a specific actress for the film. There’s a good reason why Rita was in the car accident and couldn’t remember her own name. The writing is truly very smart. My understanding is that actually the film was meant to be a TV series. I’m glad Lynch was only able to make a one shot film. This concept drawn out over an entire season (or multiple!) would have been diluted and indulgent. In the form of a feature length film it hits just right.
What I really loved was how effectively the movie captures the uncanny feeling of a dream. Especially on a second watch you will notice how “just so” everything is in Betty’s journey, from her arrival at the apartment to her audition and indeed all of her interactions. In the film Inception, DiCaprio says of dreams that they, “seem real when we are in them. It’s only after we wake up that we realize something was strange.” Lynch very effectively captures this feeling in Mulholland Drive, certainly far better than Nolan did in Inception, a film where dreams are more sci-fi setpieces than eerie simulacra of reality.
Mulholland Drive is a challenging film that won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. For me personally the subject matter itself is its biggest weakness. I am not especially interested in Hollywood and the movie biz. There are many navel-gazing industry films that leave me cold but at least in the case of Mulholland Drive you have a great aesthetic and clever narrative structure to keep you invested. What’s more the film is the best argument against any who would dismiss Lynch for just being “weird for weirdness sake.” There is a method to his madness here and a great deal of substance and memorable storytelling if you pay attention. It is well worth the effort.
Grade: A-
