Review of Mulholland Dr. (1999) by Brent B — 09 Apr 2014

Mulholland dr. is one of David Lynch's most acclaimed and widely speculated works. It is a deliberately confusingly structured film that dives head first into a heady mix of conventional noir, hollywood satire, existentialist horror, philosophical musings, To break down the core dual narrative of the film based on it's late game twists and character outlines would be a massive disservice to the odd, unsettling, funny, painful, ODD experience of actually watching it.

I will not touch on the plot as there is almost no plot explanation that can happen without ruining some aspect of the film. It is comprised of two major acts (dual narrative) and a series of seemingly unrelated metaphorical scenes, and semi related surrealist scenes that comprise a very skewed and unsettling whole.

Perhaps the thing I enjoyed most about Mulholland dr. in comparison to Lost Highway or TP. Fire Walk With Me, is that Lynch never seems to take all of this too seriously, even when tugging the heart strings or delving into horror.

This film walks a dangerously fine line between hollywood meta-commentary and satire, and outright noir thriller/horror, without ever completely becoming either. Following a couple of twists, the final act of the film becomes nearly laughably absurd, as the already confusing reality/dream/metaphor timeline becomes even more obscured in a series of nightmarish yet campy scenes.

The film ends on a note where I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, shit myself, or pretend I never saw it. At the end of the day Mulholland Dr. works on many levels, as a surreal rollercoaster ride, as a puzzling noir, as an extended dream sequence, as a satire, yet never as a conventional narrative; if you are a viewer who values the journey more than the destination, then hop on board the crazy train.