Review of Mulholland Drive (2001) by Min R — 20 Mar 2013

Lynch's darkly noir juxtaposition of archetypes and nonlinear storytelling compels, captivates, but never satisfies. The director's choice to maintain the film as heavily interpretable apparently juices some film critics, but not this one.

Even conceding that the painfully sonorous performances during the first third of the movie are purposely contrived (at least, one would hope so; if that is not the case, they simply become embarrassingly neophyte), Lynch's impenetrable narrative includes countless vignettes.

Intrinsically poor they are not, but while they add colorful neo-noir visuals they hardly add up to more than the sum of their parts. It's interesting and experimental, but also frustratingly vague and not nearly as erotic as it wants to be.

Furthermore, the perpetual avant-garde symbolism isn't titillating so much as tiring. It's a bit of a disappointment.