UFC: "Mulholland Dr." - Hollywood At Its Weirdest

“Mulholland Dr.”
Directed by David Lynch


David Lynch is, without a doubt, the most unique director to hit the street’s of Hollywood. You cannot go into his movies expecting something from the trailers. The trailers for his films are nothing but a big tease. I went into “Mulholland Dr.” with only thoughts of a trailer, and three hours later, I questioned what I just watched. What I realize is that David Lynch didn’t make a traditional picture, he made a classic. It is a film that only people with high IQs and 4.0 GPAs will understand. It is a film that will have a bunch of film scholars shaking their heads after five viewings, still not understanding the point of the film.

David Lynch is David Lynch. There is nothing else you can say. He’s made films that have ruled on every level. His first full-length film “Eraserhead” still has no meaning to anyone but Lynch himself. Many have questioned his true intentions with the film, and no one received an answer for it. By the time “Blue Velvet” came around, Lynch made a name for himself. Starting out slow, “Blue Velvet” became a crime mystery to a mind-fuck of a movie.

There came “Twin Peaks” and his other films. I haven’t seen every single film of David Lynch’s. I have “Lost Highway” roaming around my house somewhere, just waiting to be watched. The first film that really got me into David Lynch was 2006’s “Inland Empire.” The movie didn’t make much sense to me, and after countless rewatches, it still doesn’t. I have yet to see someone explain the movie without using the word, “Umm…’ Needless to say, “Inland Empire” is David Lynch at his most masterful, his most masochistic.

So I began surfing back into his movies, where I found myself viewing “Mulholland Dr.” Upon watching this film, I did a bit of research on the project. Staying far away from spoilers, the premise seemed like a simple one about two women investigating a car crash on Mulholland Dr. These ladies aren’t only going to be the ladies that we will spend our two and a half hours with, but we will be spending countless time with them after the film ends. And I assure you, the thoughts that you have about this movie after you leave are thoughts that you want to get out of your head as soon as possible.

Betty (Naomi Watts) arrives to Los Angeles in search of a role for a film. While staying in her aunt’s apartment while she is filming a movie in Canada, she discovers a lady in her aunt’s bed. This lady doesn’t know who she is, where she came from, or what is going on. Assuming the name Rita, (Laura Elena Harring) Betty and Rita try to discover how Rita ended up in her aunt’s house. All of this is going on while Betty is trying out for a part in the new Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) film.

It sounds very simple, but be warned – so does all of David Lynch’s films. It is hard not to forget the fact that this is David Lynch, because like I said, this is David Lynch. You need to know beforehand that if you can come out of a film of his and say that you understood what has happened that you are very much the genius that you make yourself out to be. “Mulholland Dr.” is probably Lynch’s most intricate film. There are details on every corner that you must pay close attention to. If you lose your focus for a second you will miss an important piece to the story. Before the beginning credits, a bunch of couples are dancing to some catchy jig. To the viewer, this would seem unimportant and just trying to get the viewer into a cheery mood.

To Lynch, this is him trying to fuck with your senses.

It is hard to talk about this film without spoiling anything. I’ll admit that when I researched the film the least bit that steering clear from spoilers was difficult, possibly one of the more difficult things I’ve ever done. People throw all of their thoughts around for each of Lynch’s films and they all argue on who’s is right and who’s is wrong. If you have a different sight of what I saw in “Mulholland Dr.,” you’re wrong. There is only one definitive explanation for the film.

Many people have said that the film is all one dream. What Lynch does is try to scare the audience into believing that what they are seeing is really happening to the characters. One doesn’t know what it is like to be put up against into investigating a car accident, but one also doesn’t know what it is like to be in a car accident, unless if you have investigated or have been in one yourself. Lynch knows this well and uses it to his advantage. By trying to mind-fuck with you at the catchy jig, he wants you to believe that everything will be alright. And of course, it doesn’t. You become scared, paranoid, and equally worried of what is going on to these characters.

In many ways, a lot of the film can be made into a dream. Everyone will come up with their own interpretation of the film, but I feel that the one that the guys over Salon wrote a long time ago was probably the best and most accurate one that came to me. The first two thirds of the film is all a dream. We see this all from a crazy lady’s perspective. She feels guilty. Until the last third of the film, we do not know what for, but we know that while she is acting, while she is masturbating, while she is sleeping, we know that her character is guilty. We just have no idea why it is.

And I feel that is why “Mulholland Dr.” works so well. The audience never receives a clear reason as to why she is guilty until the end of the film. Many people are going to need to think about this film more. Some will have to watch it more than once in order to understand it. I only had to sit through it once to understand what was going on with it, but my original intention was to watch it once where I can just sit down and enjoy the show that was being brought onto me. The next time I would pay strict attention to the film, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. I didn’t have to.

But while many people do understand a lot of the film, when it comes to her fears, her guilt, and her dreams, they ask – why the lesbian scenes? Yes, it is true – Naomi Watts and Laura Elena Harring have one of the greatest and most passionate love scenes together in this film. As much as I don’t want to make myself sound like a pervert, I feel that David Lynch did this to mock misogynistic attitudes in Hollywood.

One of the things I always found fascinating about David Lynch was that one of his favorite films of all-time is “Sunset Boulevard.” The film is about a lady’s way trying to make it big into Hollywood, but the bumps along the way. In that film’s case, it becomes very big bump that could change her life forever. There is a scene in “Mulholland Dr.” where Naomi Watts’s is doing an audition for a film. You can tell that she nailed the part, but something else draws her away from the film – another cast member, one that is much more beautiful, younger, and has a bigger name.

Naomi Watts’s character only wants fame and fortune. It’s what everyone wants really. David Lynch uses this film cliché and develops it into a problem. She becomes jealous that she is older and less-experienced than the younger and more beautiful actor. This sets her up for a problem that will come forth later on in the film, but her audition is so beautiful that if it wasn’t for the younger and hotter actress, she would have nailed the part.

That’s where the lesbian scene comes in. By developing the film into one big cliché, he has now developed the characters into a cliché. Naomi Watts is now attracted to more beautiful women, the same way that we are to them. He has turned the cliché around and made the joke on us instead of on himself. I’ve been noticing that more and more actresses are being casted by the way that they look, instead of being the way that they are looked AT. It doesn’t matter if you are a great and unslutty actress – as long as you have big boobs, nice eyes, wear too much makeup, and give out free blow-jobs, you are allowed to do anything that you want.

The scene where Naomi Watts is auditioning for the role in the film is beautiful. The woman that she loses the role to is pretty and untalented. Throughout the entire film, up to this point, Naomi Watts plays her role as a television actress, using too much intonation while speaking her lines. When this scene roles around, she gives the performance of her life. From this scene on, this is where she feels like she can accomplish anything. She knows that she gave the performance of her life, and if it means that she loses it out to some shitty actress who looks good, well so be it. For the rest of the film, she uses the right amount of intonation. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was to say that Naomi Watts is one of the best actresses, if not, the, in the world.

David Lynch originally intended “Mulholland Dr.” to be a TV show. The film’s first two-thirds are sections that would have been in the pilot, but since ABC gave up on the project, Lynch moved his funding to Studio Canal, and filmed an appropriate ending to this film. He explored more into the relationship of Watts and Laura Elena Harring and gives the film what he believes a satisfying ending. Like his old TV show “Twin Peaks,” he just went on with the story, continuing where he left off after every part. There are traces throughout the film that can even be told that they would have looked even better as a TV show, most notably featuring characters of the director of the film and a few minor but HUGE roles.

Lynch put all of his life through this film. After watching “Mulholland Dr.,” I have a feeling that David Lynch is not only one of the greatest directors in the world, but that he is the smartest and the most unique director. There are tons more that I do not know about, but until two nights ago, “Mulholland Dr.” was just a movie that I heard about from a friend, a movie that I had no interest of seeing unless if it meant me getting something out of it.

I got something.

I got a new film on my all-time favorite list.



Next time on UFC: A random film that I pick from the top of my head. I will review this at whenever the hell I feel like it o’clock.