Movie Review by Bill Rendall

Mulholland Drive

What is reality? Mulholland Drive asks this question of Hollywood, the place where dreams are made.

On the first viewing Mulholland Drive appears to be a random jumble of puzzle pieces. However, even without making sense of the movie it is enjoyable for the dark, haunting score and bizarre images.

There are scenes in Mulholland Drive which leave a lasting impression. One is a meeting in which Hollywood mobsters pressure a movie director (Justin Theroux) to cast an actress called Camilla Rhodes as the leading lady in his movie. One of the mobsters is played by the music composer, Angelo Badalamenti. He clearly has the movie executives terrified and shows his distaste for the coffee he is served.

Another unforgettable scene also features Theroux at a meeting. This time late at night with a mysterious cowboy. The cowboy also pressures the director to cast Camilla Rhodes as the leading lady. The cowboy speaks in a soft, restrained voice but is strangely menacing.

The scene that affected me the most is when the leading ladies (Naomi Watts and Laura Harring) go to the mysterious nightclub, the Club Silencio. A diva appears and sings the Roy Orbison song 'Crying' in spanish. This song signals that Watts' love for Harring is unrequited.

On closer examination the story line of Mulholland Drive does make sense. The first part of the movie is Watts' dream of how her life could have been. I use the word "dream" loosely as many of the scenes do not include Watts but feature other characters who Watts imagines are influencing her life. The opening scene is seen from Harring's viewpoint and this misled some viewers into thinking that it is Harring's dream we are seeing.

Watt's life is unrealistically rosy early in her dream but takes a turn for the worse when she believes she is denied an acting role due to sinister forces working against her. Soon afterward things turn really ugly when Watts' sees herself lying dead on her bed.

Later the mysterious cowboy appears and tells her to wake up. What follows is probably close to the reality of Watts' life. However, it is not presented linearly and includes flashbacks from Watts' imagination.

There is a pivotal scene at a party in the Hollywood Hills in which many characters from her dream appear again in her real life. This is reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz although a lot darker.

There are interesting parallels between the character Watts plays in Mulholland Drive and her real life. She had come to Hollywood years earlier from Australia and had struggled to get a good acting role. She had become very frustrated with the auditioning process and this added irony to the audition scene in Mulholland Drive.

Watts pulls off an amazing transition between the two characters she plays in Mulholland Drive and richly deserves the accolades she garnered for her performance.

David Lynch originally wrote Mulholland Drive as a pilot for a television series. It was rejected but he later obtained funding to add more footage and turn it into a movie. Lynch has done a fine job of tying the movie together into a cohesive whole and Mulholland Drive is essential viewing if you like mind-bending movies.

Director: David Lynch

Screenplay: David Lynch

Music: Angelo Badalamenti

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