Review of Mulholland Dr. (1999) by Orpheus A — 13 May 2012

Of course we scratch our heads in bafflement at what exactly Mulholland Drive all means, is it parodying the life of Marilyn Monroe or some other tragic actress? Is this a Mobius strip phantasm reflecting parallel dimensions, a rumination on fantasy and broken dreams? And what of the highly unpredictable ending and how much does it represent the protagonist's upbringing or her taking part in a jitterbug contest (???!!).

And yes, all these points are all very well, but ultimately despite my admiration that the film has motivated viewers imaginations I am still left with how it has made an impression on me. It's not like I'm a film goer who equates the necessity to 'enjoy' a film in the sense that it should be a fun ride like in a fairground, but I do have a fairly important stipulation that a piece of art should have power.

And Ultimately I wasn't completely won over by Mulholland Drive, I felt emotionally disconnected from its fetishism of Hollywood and quite bored with the purposefully ambiguous dialogue/plot. That it should transcend such barriers of quality control just because it's considered great art seems a ludicrous approach to film criticism, and thus I can only conclude that I didn't get Mulholland drive, not for the purposes of it being a surreal, satirical or even its confusing narrative but simply because I thought while it was at times interesting film it was defiantly not the masterpiece I had been lead to believe.