Rating: 
Summary: David Lynch's Low Point
Review: When David Lynch makes a great film, we get masterworks like Eraserhead and Blue Velvet. When he makes a dud, we get a crock of excrement like Mulholland Drive.The film begins well, to be fair. But soon the sense that Lynch is repeating himself came over me, and I sat there not giving a damn about the characters or plot events. The now famous/notorious plot machinations seem more born of desperation than of any real artistic impulse. This is one of the very worst films ever made, from one of the finest filmmakers alive. Let's hope that next time Mr. Lynch gets it right.
Rating: 
Summary: Lynch Films the Way I Dream While Sleeping
Review: I don't know if everyone dreams the way I do. My dreams are both frustrating and entertaining. This is because they are not linear, do not unfold the way something really happens, 1-2-3, but rather they unfold in any sequence they want. Ultimately, however, there is always some thread that keeps reoccurring in the dream, that is central to it. Often, the dream is showing me something that I can't yet handle in fully conscious, waking mode. The dream is preparing me for my eventually being able to see the same material in linear mode while conscious. I assume this was built into us as a safety mechanism. This is the way David Lynch films his movies. Before him, Alain Resnais of the French New Wave pioneered the idea bringing it to film with "Last Year in Marienbad," "Hiroshima, Mon Amour" and "Providence." There are 2 lead women in Lynch's film. One of them cannot handle knowing consciously a sequence of events in which she participated. So Lynch lets her discover what happened the way she would as if she were dreaming about it. He handles big themes while doing so: love, betrayal, jealousy, fame, talent, sexuality and murder. This film isn't for everyone. I saw it with my friend Joyce and she found it utterly bewildering and incomprehensible. Many people will probably have a similar reaction. Lynch is not for everyone though. I'm a fan of his previous work and if you like his previous work, you'll do well with this one too. If you don't like his earlier work, I don't think this one will change your mind.
Rating:
Summary: Through a glass darkly
Review: "Mulholland Drive" is not a typical movie, so I will not write a typical movie review. Herewith, my five personas, while enjoying the "Mulholland Drive" 'experience': 1. FIVE MINUTES BEFORE THE MOVIE STARTED:
Oh, I wasn't looking forward to this one. Not a fan of Lynch am I. Bored senseless by "Blue Velvet" and "The Elephant Man". Found "Twin Peaks" intriguing, at times stunning, but ultimately vacuous. And the "Straight Story" made me quite sad, but confused me too. Have already planned my escape route out of the theatre, in case boredom sets in before the half hour mark. 2. THE FIRST TWO HOURS:
An over-the-top pretentious opening, that I realize is supposed to be over-the-top and pretentious. A really good start. Ooh, look at that car crash! Lynch captures the power of steel on steel much better than Cronenberg ever could. And now we meet the two girls. Laura Harring (Rita) and Naomi Watts (Betty; she's from Deep River, Ontario, which got a nice chuckle at my Toronto screening) are both sexy, while being two halves of the same coin. The former, dark and mysterious. The latter, light and innocent. They're both great. Uh-oh. There are a couple of scenes that just don't fit. Who were those two guys at the restaurant? And what the heck did they just see in the back alley? I'll admit this, though: it was terrifically frightening. A viscerally charged moment. And then we get a scene of botched burglary that keeps going wrong. And who the heck are the Castigliane brothers, and what do they have against espresso? The Little Man from "Twin Peaks" has a cameo, just to remind you that you were watching a David Lynch movie. Yeah, like I could ever forget that. So now we're wrapped up in a weird mystery plot, surrounded by a surreal Hollywood (What year is this? 1950? 2001?). Now for the lesbian scenes. Coolly erotic, although out of place and creepy somehow. I bet this is intentional. And on we go to Club Silencio. You must have heard about this scene. A master of ceremonies tells us, to our faces, that all we are about to see (and, by association, all we have seen) is pre-recorded, fake, phony. To prove this, a trumpeter comes out to play a few notes, only when the trumpet drops to his side, the music plays on. Ah. And now, out comes Rebekah Del Rio. She's going to sing Roy Orbison's "Crying" in Spanish. Oh my god, this is heartbreaking. And then...(!) I'll not ruin the surprise. Probably my favourite scene from any movie this year. It's supremely appealing on an intellectual *and* an emotional level. And then the Pandora's box opens, and the movie... 3. THE LAST HALF HOUR: ...gets really weird. I'm trying to keep up. My brain is working overtime. Who is that? Is she still Betty? Is she still Rita? Is this all a dream? An amnesiacal remembrance? The visual style and tone of the first half carries forth, only it's all a lot more sinister and surreal. The narrative falls away, to be replaced by a dream-like state. Full-disclosure: dream-like states in movies always feel like self-indulgence to me. The filmmaker obviously couldn't find a cohesive ending, so they throw random images against the wall hoping they will stick. That's usually my take. Here, for some reason, I was into playing along with Lynch's game. Big time. Okay, so now the credits are rolling. And it all kind of makes sense, but not really. I think I'll take a walk to clear my head. 4. THE LONG WALK HOME FORM THE THEATRE: It's starting to crystallize. She was also she, and that was also that, and they were this, and this was that (oh how I wish I could give you the details along with the above sentence; but that would surely spoil your fun). And yet, some things are just too cloudy to forgive. 5. DISSECTING IT WITH MY ROOMMATE: She had just seen the movie the day before I. We talked for a long while, piecing together the puzzle. Ah! Now I get it. It actually makes a whole lot of sense. POSTSCRIPT: Here's my advice. Never think of "Mulholland Drive" as having a standard narrative. It doesn't. Never mind that characters come and go without rhyme or reason (Robert Forster and Dan Hedaya, two fantastic character actors, have two scene and two lines between them!). Try not to think of its genesis as a TV pilot. It never would have worked as an open-ended narrative. It only works thematically, symbolically (I suspect others out there caught the obvious visual reference to Bergman's "Persona"?), and viscerally. And when I say "works", I mean it. This one's a stunner, folks. A pure, cinematic stunner.
Rating:
Summary: Awful
Review: This movie was tedious. The music was very annoying. The plot is childish and ridiculous. I thought it was a comedy for the first half of the movie because I kept laughing at everything the actors said. Then I realized it was serious. How could someone try so hard and end up with something this pathetic? Tried so hard... This is a just a TV movie with actors that sound like horror movie veterans. Bad acting. Stupid metaphors. Stupid symbolism. Watch this this movie and then watch Wishmaster. They compliment one another. Man, if it were only possible to express how much I hated this movie...
Rating:
Summary: Makes other movies look like a Sesame St. Viewmaster disk
Review: Mulholland Drive captures the quintessence of film. It is a picture that moves. Go. Sit down. Watch. Listen. (Try not to let the people tactlessly and too loudly asking their significant others, "What's going on?" for the first 40 minutes distract you). Plot and theme and everything else will come to you after you walk out of the theater. Wait until then to think about those things. Do this and be prepared to have something happen to you. This picture is both sickeningly beautiful and sickening, meaningless and rife with meaning, distant but all about you. This is why we pay [money] to see a movie-occasionally we come across something like this. I'm positive I never have nor ever will come across something like this again.
Rating: 
Summary: I am a disappointed Lynch fan...
Review: Why is it that some of my favorite movies of all time and some of what I consider to be the worst movies of all time were done by the same director? Mulholland Drive was quite a chore for me to get through. I felt the same way about Fire Walk With Me. I'm always enthusiastic about the work of David Lynch . . . but I wouldn't even recommend this film to another Lynch admirer. This movie is fragmented--and even very obvious, which is something that I've never felt any of his work was. It never connects with itself . . . even in the normally absurd ways of David Lynch. In my opinion it's his least succesful work. I love Eraserhead. I love Lost Highway. These films were similar to Mulholland Drive--but they were effective. They used the disconnectness, the stark, surreal moments and the sheer confusion of the characters in a way the truly resonated with me. With Mulholland Drive, Lynch's imagery, the dialog and the normal sense that you are about to be engulfed in utter darkness and doom have all just fallen flat. What you're left with is something quite boring. Not shocking. Not groundbreaking. Not evern really quirky. Just Lynch trying way too hard to be . . . well, Lynch.
Rating:
Summary: It Happened, On Mulholland Drive
Review: Having seen a few other David Lynch films prior to this one I really didn't know what to expect having loved his greats like Elephant Man or Blue Velvet and hating his downfalls like Lost Highway or Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me. However putting that aside I steped into the theater and didn't so much as get up to go to the bathroom this movie was amazing. With it's eventfull plot and amazing acting (especially Naomi Watts and Laura Harring) there wasn't a dull moment in this spectacular piece of art. With a emnesia suffering girl only known as Rita she accidently walks into the home of Diane a girl dreaming of stardom and fame. As their two paths collide they are brought on an amazing adventure together and theirs a difference between your common adventure and your David Lynch adventure.
Rating:
Summary: Babbling Idiocy
Review: Please don't say that this film has no plot. Its plot is tight and sound - you just have to look for it. Once you find it, it's heartbreaking and brilliantly conceived. That's what makes this such a fascinating movie - it allows you to discover its meaning on your own. I haven't had that much fun at the movies in years. And Naomi Watts was robbed by the Academy. She was by far the best actress last year. Mesmerizing in every single scene, she pulled off the last act persona shift without batting an eye. As for Lynch, he always been a technical master and his ability to control such dramatic mood shifts is astounding.
Rating:
Summary: Best Film Of 2001
Review: And it will be one of the top ten of the decade. After the let down of THE STRAIGHT STORY, David Lynch has done it again !
Lynch first developed MULHOLLAND to be the basis of a TV series for ABC that could have been the Twin Peaks of the new decade. But the channel got scared when they received the material and the film was fished back by the french producer Alain Sarde (COCORICO !) who decided to buy back the option from ABC and shoot additional scenes to turn this series into a movie. The result was first shown in Cannes Film Festival where the critics raved about it and where it won the Best Director award (tied with the Coen worst movie ever : The man who wasn't there !, those guys really lost their touch !). When I first saw the movie in Cannes I was struck by its haunting beauty, calling it one of Lynch's masterpiece but I had two small problems : The movie had too many similitudes with LOST HIGHWAY, Lynch Masterpiece from 1997 (And Probably the best movie of that decade !), and the second part of the movie was too obscure leaving little place to understanding.
When I saw it again when it opened here, I was still struck by the genius of it, but it was obvious that trying to explain it could only ruin the complex roughness of its beauty. As for dreams, this movie is only open for interpretation and not for rational explanation.
Yet the second time, it made more sense to me. My explanation for all it's worth is that the second part of the movie is actually the reality and the first part is what we call in psychology "Reves Compensatoires" (compensatory dreams ?) where your dreams are making up for the harshness of your reality. But that is me and don't mind me. Just enjoy the joyride and the highly complex composition of each frame that Lynch builds. Enjoy the work of an artist at the height of his mastery. And that sequence where Rebekah Del Rio sings "Crying" in spanish in that weird theater ranks amongst the best moments i have enjoyed in a movie theater. Don't miss out on one of the last artists !
Rating:
Summary: great film!
Review: A movie that must be seen to be believed. Don't read any reviews (other than this one) or do any research on this film. Just see it. A superb, wonderfully acted masterpiece that makes every other film released this year seem like "Dude, Where's my Car?".
The usual Lynch motifs are in place of course. He introduces characters in the film and never explains their prescence (who was that guy in the wheelchair?) and storylines come and go with no resolution. Pay Attention!!!
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