Mulholland Drive Review

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Have you ever seen a film that touches you and tugs at your heartstrings? Well, "Mulholland Drive" is not like that. David Lynchâ€™s most recent flick actually picks you up by your lapel and fondles you like a couple of drunk Catholic priests, and then tugs at your brains like a couple of x-ray tweezers. Most likely, it is like something youâ€™ve never seen before. Words cannot begin to describe the experience of being raped by "Mulholland Drive." But Iâ€™ll give it a try anyway.

The film starts with a mysterious limousine driving a young, pretty girl (Laura Elena Harring) into an unseen ditch. It is there when her carmates, armed, threaten her, telling her to get out of the car. Before anyone reacts, the car is blindsided by an approaching car filled with what appears to be the cast of "I Know What You Did Last Summer." There is a crash, and the young girl stumbles away awkwardly, eventually crawling to the bottom of the hill. She is in Hollywood, but has no knowledge of her identity. I suspect this is how Melanie Griffithâ€™s career began as well.

The story skips to introduce Betty (Naomi Watts), a young starlet who is arriving in Hollywood to embark upon an acting career. She stays at a relativeâ€™s house, where she finds the amnesiac of the previous night masturbating in the shower. She claims that her name is Rita, and the two bond over her uncertain situation. As they trace the origins of her background, the duo come across a number of chilling, odd sights, only some of which may be relevant to the story. And then they have sex.

For the first hour and a half, the story is intercut with a tale of a young hotshot director trying to cast his new picture. He is strong-armed by a mysterious wing of his company into casting Betty as the lead, for reasons unspecified. The shifty crew behind this scheme includes a downtrodden Den Hedaya and an unnamed little person seated in a highchair.

And then, two hours in, a mysterious key is found that changes the dynamics of the already-puzzling story. Among more indecipherable goings-on, it appears that the two female leads inexplicably change places. Nothing ever again is what it seems. Itâ€™s a testament to Lynch that after such a jarring switch, we are left even more interested, and eager to piece together this labyrinth mystery.

Donâ€™t be fooled: anyone who tells you they know what all this means is a pretentious cocksmoker with his head up his ass. There is no decipherable meaning behind "Mulholland Drive." It is the puzzle that remains ever unsolvable. And yet, the feeling that there is an answer behind the mystery, behind the chaos, makes "Mulholland Drive" the smartest, sexiest and most involving films in a long time. And the lesbian sex scene is great.

Review by: Gabe Toro