Naomi Watts is one of my favorite actresses, making her the only reason Mulholland Dr. had my interest out of the four selected this week for the 1001 Movie Club. But for me the film's Watts stars in have two extremes; I either really love them or I really hate them... guess which extreme this falls under.
Mulholland Dr. is a film that's purposely out to toy with you, with it's bizarre questionable characters and storyline. It's the only way the film could possibly unfold and be considered even slightly "amazing" to the critics. But the raw truth is the basic plot of the film, which you're left to wonder about until the end, is so uninteresting that Mulholland Dr. wouldn't even be a recommend film if it wasn't for all its "artful" disguises. Naomi Watts is Betty, a naive girl from Canada who comes to Hollywood hoping to hit it big as an actress. She discovers Rita, a beautiful woman with amnesia, shacking up in her Aunt's empty apartment. The two seem to form a instant bond and Betty is more than enthusiastic to help Rita try to remember her life before her accident. But obviously this is all a disguise for something else as the numerous other side stories and characters have to seemingly stand for or connect somehow.
To prove I'm not a hater of purposely confusing films, I have posted my review of a little know film entitled Stay, ironically also starring Naomi Watts. Stay is proof enough in my mind that a film can be utterly mind boggling yet still be highly entertaining. It all has to do with a gripping story, interesting and believable characters and constant signs throughout the story which keep pushing you to solve the mystery. Mulholland Dr. had none of that for me, sure it has it's clues but they're not apparent until you discover what's really going on and that's at the end of the film!
Mulholland Dr. is once again a "classic" film with certifiably un-classic characters and plot. While I thought Laura Harring's character was believable I never once got into Watt's role. Her performance seemed forced, almost similar to her horrible performance in Ellie Parker, one of the worst films I have ever seen. Story-wise I was rather uninterested in Mulholland Dr., most of the time I felt like I was watching a low budget cable film because the story is so unfocused (until the final twenty minutes) and everything leading up to that was a rather simplistic plot that slowly plods through. A film such as Stay I found was more complex and character driven, it forced my attention and forced me to think because everything in the film was a clue. Mulholland Dr. simply toys with you until it's finally ready to reveal what the point of it all was, there's really no chance of you piecing together the puzzle because as far as you know (until the end) there is no puzzle other than Rita's past.
Overall, I wasn't too impressed with Mulholland Dr., the revelation in the last twenty minutes is only interesting to see how they relate the other side characters to the main characters, but aside from that I didn't find the meat of the film interesting and the revelation didn't help to peak it anymore. In the end, Mulholland Dr. is another "artesy" film, it's main goal is to impress you with it's strange characters and side stories, not really to challenge your mind. Your purposefully left in the dark most of the film, and personally I enjoy the films that start you off in the dark and then give you something to work with, not wait until the end and then let you in on the secret.
4/10
No surprise once again ;p I wouldn't really call Mullholland Dr. a classic, and I don't think too many people will, but it certainly is a favorite in the film buff circles. The first time around, I think I would have disagreed 100% on the complexity, but I actually did find it a little more simplistic than I remembered. After my first viewing, I was so confused, but this time around it all made a lot of sense. I do disagree about your comments on the "puzzle" nature of the film. It's always a puzzle and, to me, the end was just a realization that you were trying to solve the wrong puzzle.
ReplyDeleteFor me personally, this deadly boring and dull movie was always in the same group with MAGNOLIA, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, ADAPTATION and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND.
ReplyDeleteI'll agree with you on that. I've never seen Adaptation, but all the others I have. Eternal Sunshine is the only one I somewhat enjoyed, I think I gave it a 6/10.
ReplyDeleteI believe AO Scott had Mulholland Dr. on his top 10 of the decade list, luckily his At The Movies co-host didn't agree. I don't find this film very complex the first time around, just bizarre, I think there's a distinct difference. Once you know what the truth of the film is I can see how you could argue the possible complexity, but when you don't know the truth the film only seems like a bizarre story about a woman with amnesia. The same goes with my puzzle statement, the film is more like a mystery the first time, then you can argue it's a puzzle after it's all done and you can go back and actually recognize the pieces.
ReplyDeleteBasically my problem with this film is I just saw it as a bizarre mystery, one I really never cared to solve, then when they reveal the mystery to be something completely different I still didn't care. Nothing in the film engaged me to ever want to care.
It doesn't do much to make sense, but Mulholland Dr. is one of those wacko films from David Lynch, that just is so strange, incoherent, and crazy, but yet so imaginative, well-acted, and intelligently structured, that it works
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