Mulholland Drive on DVD (2001)

ZZ from London, UK , 16/02/2004

'No Plot'...'The worst acting ever'....'Unrelated events'....'No ending'...Sorry but this film has all those elements and more!

This film is all about subtext....NOT what's on the surface, NOT what you see in a typical Vin Diesel movie. To truly appreciate this film you have to watch it twice, just like The Usual Suspects. On the first viewing pay attention to the plot (yes there is a plot), 'Unrelated events', and even 'acting' and on the second viewing sit back and enjoy all these elements, that some of you complained were missing, come together. You have to see the film for what it is....a metaphor. Acting is supposed to be bad during the first 2/3 of the film...it's bad for a reason! This film has a slow pace dream-like feeling during the first 2/3 of the movie because it's precisely what it is...a dream....a dream that turned into nightmare...a realisation of an awful reality. This film is about love, betrayal, guilt, jealousy, murder, passing a point of no return...all of which lead to a suicide of a tragic soul.

OK here's a BASIC PLOT:

Diane Selwyn, aspiring movie actress, moves to Hollywood full of hope and ambition. After a while she realises that Hollywood is not what it seems, it's NOT a so-called dream place. She struggles to find work, but meets talented actress Camilla Rhodes. They become lovers and Camilla helps her to get some smaller parts in her films. However after a while Camilla meets a hot-shot director Adam Kesher and decides to dump Diane. She tells Diane that she won't see her anymore and moves in with Adam. Diane is heartbroken, can't take the pain. She hires a hit man to kill Camilla. Hit man tells her that after the work is done he'll leave a blue key in her apartment. Soon Diane finds the key....she's overridden with guilt....detectives are looking for her..she's can't live with what she's done....finally she takes a gun and blows her brains out.

That's as simple as I can put it, but you have to realise that the first 2/3 of the movie is Diane's dream (In which she's everything she ever hoped to be...in which she adopts a new personality even a new name). I a dream it's Diane that's in control, it's Diane that's a talented actress. In her dream Camilla needs Diane (whereas in reality it's the other way around). Why was the hit man so clumsy at the beginning of the movie? Because in her dreams she wanted to believe that he's clumsy, that he didn't succeed, whereas in reality he's not as clumsy as Diane hoped him to be. Anyways I'm running out of space here so I have to stop but my only advice to you is......watch this move again!

  108 out of 127 people found this review helpful

Read all reviews

A customer from Brighton , 02/02/2004

Its like having your intestines slowly drawn out. This is one agonisingly painful film to watch!

I should have guessed from the director what this film is going to be like. I never understood Twin Peaks and this film is along the same lines of bizarre plot twist. In fact there were so many unrelated sub plots the film never really came to any conclusion towards the end.

And one technical problem I found with the DVD. Its not divided into chapters. If you made the unfortunate mistake I did by pressing back to start of current chapter instead rewinding because you missed something the film goes right back to the start. So you get to enjoy the pain of watching it all over again. Thats if you wanted to do.

  30 out of 35 people found this review helpful

Read all reviews

rcruz71 from Berkshire , 20/10/2003

This was one of the most rewarding movies I've seen... after I watched it a second time. As with any David Lynch film, you have to pay attention or you'll miss something (or everything). The great thing about films like these, which are few and far between in a popcorn eating commercial world, is that it makes you think about the film after you've seen it. You have to do a little work, but it's so satisfying when you get it. So, get it..!

  26 out of 31 people found this review helpful

Read all reviews

clivewalker from West Sussex , 21/03/2004

Mulholland Drive is a more accessible David Lynch film than some of his other work - but that still means some weird and wonderful stuff.

The film starts quite conventionally, an attempted murder, a woman with no memory, a would-be Hollywood actress. However, in the middle of the film, things start to become more and more strange - so that I was often wondering whether I was watching a dream sequence or another part of the same story...or even another story.

I'll leave you to decide. It is a film that is not afraid to step outside the usual boundaries and that make it quite unusual compared to a lot of other Hollywood films these days.

In summary, I found it interesting, beautifully filmed, strange and somewhat infuriating in equal measure - but that is David Lynch all over.

  22 out of 25 people found this review helpful

Read all reviews

A customer from Romney Marsh , 05/09/2006

OK, so I've read ZZ's review at the top and his take on the film kinda makes sense, but by golly I wish I could have understood it a bit more while actually watching it. Not sure I've got the patience (yet) for a second 2 1/2 hr viewing to see if it falls into place anymore, but all I can see at this stage is that it looks as though it's a classic without me being actually able to understand exactly how.... For patient viewers who like to think and do some hard work rather than a relaxing evening's entertainment.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

Read all highest rated reviews

A customer from Leicester, England , 23/07/2004

one of the greatest films of all time but on first viewing it may just appear confusing and useless, devoid of any meaning and so on. trust me its not, you can eventually work the storyline out on the third or fourth viewing, then you will realise how good it is. a clue is that at the start of the film the woman under the covers in bed is sleeping.

  3 out of 4 people found this review helpful

Read all highest rated reviews