Astrid:
Although I consider myself quite a Lynch fan, this was the first time
I sat through the whole of Mulholland Drive. The most precious
content of this one, for me, was the non-linear storytelling.
Lynch is questioning the logic of constructing movie plots, but he is
also drawing the viewer into questioning the necessity of
distinguishing between the real and unreal.
Could this really happen? That is not a concern in Mulholland Drive
and accepting this makes me immediately apply Lynch's broad-
mindedness to life outside of cinema as well. Inspiring.
I have been told that this movie has sparked numerous and
passionate interpretations. People have had the need to 'solve' the
storyline and be right about how it all makes sense. I found this
line of conversation annoying even before I had watched the entire
film. Now my opinion is that it is unnecessary to Understand.
It would be boring to narrow down the meanings we can give to
the blue box, or to Camilla for that matter.
Watching Mulholland Drive was much like dreaming: if you go with
the flow and accept the passenger's seat, then you will be rewarded
with wonder. Exercise in letting go.
Nick:
Much has been made of the twist in Mulholland Drive, David
Lynch's dream-like meditation on an aspiring young star trying
to make it in Hollywood, who finds a car crash victim suffering
from amnesia in her borrowed apartment. You could try to work
out what is going on in a linear fashion, it is all there for you to do
so but somehow I don't think this is the point. The film deals with
dreams, the dream of making it. It's about identity and
finding oneself. I'm not sure if Mulholland Drive works as a
cohesive film, but it has 4 or so stunning scenes and at times is
very funny. It's also incredibly pretentious and slow.
What makes this a good Lynch movie rather than an OK one is
Naomi Watts. This was perhaps her calling card. Watts is one of
the top actors working today and Mulholland Drive is saved by
her performance, it's a brave turn which she gives her all to
(much like in the sensual audition she takes in the film) and the
twist that arrives is only credible due to Watt's believable
transformation. Laura Harring on the other hand is cardboard,
chewing the lines as if in the Bold & The Beautiful. Perhaps her
wooden performance is an intentional joke from Lynch.
Let's remember that this was originally a TV pilot, one that was
turned down. It's quite possible that the twist in the film was
purely the only way that Lynch could finish Mulholland Drive
within a cinema time frame, abandoning the original plot for the
twist we see on screen.
So, finally, this movie just works within Lynch's regular themes.
The sense of dread and fear, eroticism, modern noir and surrealistic
dream-like states that play throughout Mulholland Drive have been
visited by Lynch before, more notably with Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks.
