Review of Mulholland Drive (2001) by Hiran P — 11 Mar 2013

(Spoilers ahead).

Words cannot do justice as to what I think about this film. It is like a puzzle that you can distinguish that all the pieces somehow fits together, but once put together, it still remains a mystery. There is more symbolism as opposed to a concrete meaning. This is a cerebral film that requires the viewer to be analytical, yet at the same time be open to many interpretations.

That is the beauty of this film. This is art and while the film is really good, I'm still left pondering. I could imagine every viewer will arrive at a different interpretation and I feel David Lynch's intention while making this film was to encourage people to come up with their own explanations. This film is bound to leave one very puzzled upon their first viewing, but upon further analyzation, there is a symbolic relationship that ties everything together. If you are still lost, I think the key thing to pay attention to is the cowboy. For some reason, that really helped me a lot in finding some sort of logical explanation for the events that occur in the film.

While I really do not know if there is a moral presented (or a point), to me, this film represents the demons that people have in the back of their minds. It's the elephant in the room that people don't want to confront or how one becomes in denial of its existence and how there is a good way to do that, as well as a bad way, but either way it has to be confronted. That to me seems to be what this film spoke about. Coupled with a foreboding atmosphere and odd imagery, this is a disturbing piece of high quality cinema that is shrouded with an aura of mystery bound to leave an imprint on one's psyche. I would definitely watch this again not just to learn more about the world created in this film, but to also be immersed in it again. 5/5.