Rating: 
Summary: less "unusual" than either side might admit
Review: In the love it/hate it debate, I'm in the "like it" group. This is another of the illusion of reality "you need to see it twice" movies that have been popular in recent years -- think The Usual Suspects [the way the Kevin Spacey character made up his story from random details he observed], The Sixth Sense, The Others, Memento, etc. Because much of the action occurs during a dream fantasy, David Lynch can give full rein to his "weird" tendencies with echoes of Blue Velvet--an exotic naked woman, a Roy Orbison song in a surreal setting, the great Badalamenti soundtrack, spooky car rides at night, etc. As such, Lynch isn't being terribly original in his approach here, but he had the good sense to use one of the best actresses (Watts) and one of the most beautiful women (Harring) in the world, which makes re-viewing the film to figure out the plot a pleasure.
Rating: 
Summary: What IS This...and...WHO CARES?
Review: With the exception of Cameron Crowes pretentious and truly abominable "Vanilla Sky", I have never felt quite as much like I wasted too much time trying to figure out an incomprehensible movie plot. That is until I watched THIS even MORE over-convoluted David Lynch film. ............... I think David Lynch has done some fascinating work in his interesting filmography. I thought "Blue Velvet" was riveting, and "Wild At Heart" certainly a fun surreal noir adventure too. Those films had a PLOT. They didn't meander back and forth between reality, fantasy, fancy camera angles and nuances too subtle to fathom. From the weird beginning to the anti-climactic unfinished close that I waited for desperately to arrive, and yet took WAY to long to reach, I wasn't sure what I was watching................. Who are these weirdos? Why do they exist, and how do they connect to eachother? How does a young girl stay at a relatives house, find a strange amnesiac woman naked in her shower when she arrives, and not be alarmed? Does she call the police? NO. She comforts her with a sweetness normal folks reserve for relatives and long time friends. She tucks her into bed, then in the morning, forms a close and lasting relationship with her, houses her, all the while knowing nothing about her. That happens all the time, doesn't it? Loophole? Rita the "amnesiac" also knows nothing about herself, so why should we? She MUST be a safe and trustworthy person to keep close then. Oh yeah! ... That's the least of the confusion. ................ Then there's Billy Ray Cyrus playing some movie casting buffoon who looks like the son of Roy Orbison and Elvis. I know they are both men, but in this kind of film it seems plausible! He's trying to figure out why his money is gone, while his estranged wife or lover, whatever, has men at the house and he shows up for some confrontation. He seems like some space creature with his thick rims and silent demeanor. For a quiet dude, he sure is popular. Even more folks show up looking for him. There's no rhyme or reason for any of it. Someone actually thought a series of senseless scenes that never connect to the big blank picture, like a huge fat guy smashing the wife and lover in the face, and never appearing again, would be artsy and entertaining. Did they really think that viewers would swallow this? Just when you think you know what MAY be happening, the landlady becomes Billy Ray Cyrus' mom at a party that materializes out of nowhere. What IS that? Other characters suddenly take on different meanings too. Meanwhile Lynch takes advantage of the so-called world of "Lesbian Chic" by making the two female lead characters into lovers, one obsessed, and the other, that Rita...who even KNOWS what her story is. Does she have amnesia? Is she a famous star? Does she tend Billy Ray Cyrus' Elvis hair-don't personally? Does she like girls, boys or both? Only David Lynch, his writers, and the heavy hallucinogens they popped while writing this mess, know for sure. Even THEY probably can't remember. I'd want to forget I made this film if I were them too. ............... So go ahead, waste nearly three hours on this senseless pointless celluloid yawn if you like. Just keep some headache medicine nearby, and a free hand to hit "eject" whenever you've had enough. I recommend at the last trailer preview before this movie starts.
Rating:
Summary: Supreme ...but I rather liked it
Review: A group of my friends rented this to pass the time one night, and we ended up being made rather uneasy by the whole thing. We had to stop the movie halfway through to discuss and try to understand what had happened, who was who, and exactly what was really going on. We finished it out, and sat there for about half an hour, stunned by how complexity of the way the ideas had been presentedWhile it may not be the most easily understood movie ever, it's entrancing. The visuals are stunning. Definitely worth the watch, even though you may be up all night trying to figure out every nuance of the film.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice Movie, Bad DVD
Review: "Mulholland Drive" is David Lynch at his best. All in all, an excellent film. The disc, however is horrible. Absolutely no bonus materials of any kind, but given the price, I guess it's not that big a deal after all.
Rating: 
Summary: How can a great film drive everyone NUTS?
Review: That's an easy one--we're bringing Western assumptions to an Eastern film. In interviews, David Lynch has professed a great interest in transcendental meditation. He has some familiarity with Eastern religions and philosophy, and I think it's the key to the film. I have this sneaking suspicion that the frightening bum that appears early in the film is the Hindu god Kali, who is sort of the embodiment of the apocalypse. Kali's name means Black Time, and whenever Kali appears, all the things that separate us as individuals, such as height, width, depth, and any sense of space and time, are destroyed. Kali is sweet oblivion. If the bum is Kali, then this character isn't just a plot device--the bum is the WHOLE plot. Because if the bum is Kali, then suddenly the whole film makes sense. Identities are not permanently affixed to characters. The temporal logic of "this happened, then this happened next" goes out the window. It's irrelevant because linear time no longer exists. The distinction between dream and reality--a pretty important one in any definition of sanity--is also irrelevant. In the presence of Kali, in Black Time, there is no such distinction. Mind-wobbling stuff, to be sure. And there's a second huge hint that Lynch leaves us: it's no accident that this film is set in Hollywood, and features Naomi Watts, who's an actress in a Lynch film playing an actress auditioning for a film. The playful rehearsal with her girlfriend of a banal scene turns, quite startlingly, into a riveting, intense audition for a third-rate film. On one hand, this is a clever comment on the skill of a good actress, the ephemerality of identity in Hollywood,etc. On the other, it just reinforces the notion of Kali's power--that any body can inhabit any identity at any moment, and that the moment itself, coming from a script, isn't even a real moment in time, but a frozen one, that can be called upon whenever and wherever it serves a purpose. This is why any attempt at unravelling this film to find a linear plot, with linear logic, and assign identities to characters or even bodies, is an exasperating, futile effort. It's Western thinking in a film where the operative ideas are all Eastern and unfamiliar to the West. Of course, this also lets Lynch off the hook for plot, logic, character development, any kind of sense whatsoever. So is it a great film? I say yes, because it stays in the mind and evokes feeling--something that Lost Highway, which dabbled with similar themes, failed to do. I think it's his best work since Blue Velvet, which also rejected overt explication, and in doing so, haunted the viewer. If you can give up the urge to approach this film like a Rubik's cube, and for two hours of your life, just GO with it, you just might become entranced with this film. Good stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Enter the Dream
Review: David Lynch has created yet another masterpiece. However, if you buy this DVD with the intention of watching a conventional movie with a standard plot and narrative you will be disappointed. Instead you need to think of it as entering someone else's dream. The movie has powerful images and themes which are best simply experienced and thought about rather than trying to spend your energy trying to put them together in a conventional narrative. When you have a powerful dream, you think about the feelings created and what the images mean but not whether they make sense as a coherent narrative. If you think of the movie this way and you enjoy David Lynch's themes of loss of innocence, corruption, and his expertise at creating feelings of dread and dislocation, you will love this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Virtual or real, what is the world?
Review: This vision of Holywood by David Lynch is a real gem. We never know when we are in reality or in a film or even in some virtual world. Everything gets mixed up and memory is the basic stake of such a life. One loses his or her memory and lives in a world that is kind of a constant adventure where size, time and space become relative and changing. The surroundings of the characters are never very clearly divided between real houses and streets or cinema settings and sound stages. We are constantly moving from inside a film to the outside world that is so far away from the real world that it is no longer real at all. Some elements from this real world become prompters of the imaginary and phantomlike world of the silver screen. We have entirely penetrated this silver screen and we are absolutely living in it. This shows something important about modern life. Modern virtual communication has become such an essential part of our life that it has taken over our minds and our consciousness. We are no longer able to discrimate between this world and that world, this our real world and that our mental world. This leads to the impossibility to build up any kind of system of values : good and bad don't mean anything anymore and we enjoy the adventure of moving from one place to another, from one crime to another, from one experience to another without having to consider if any of them is either real or ethical. In other words this virtual world of our imagination has invaded our real world so much that we seem to be floating in some kind of drugged environment, in some kind of haunted vision where any one can become any one else and where any one can assume any role at all at any moment and time. Just clap your hands and eveyrthing is different, and a monster may appear behind a wall, and a clown on a stage may become the key to another level of virtual reality. What is reality going to be in the next stage of this development ? No one knows but David Lynch tries to warn us about a complete change in consciousness that menaces our sanity. We may all become insane due to this constant shift of references in our mental environment. And this insanity will become our new reality. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Perpignan
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: This film is phenomenal. The first time I watched it I was very confused but once I figured it out I realized how innovative it really is. This is definitely one of the best films I've seen in quite some time. When watching this film, one needs to approach with an open mind. Many closed-minded people will watch once, say it's garbage because they didn't understand it, and never think twice to see what it's really about. You don't have to try and be artsy or sophisticated to enjoy this film you just need to think. If you don't particularly enjoy movies that make you think, this isn't for you! But for those that like a film that challenges you, this is a must-see.
Rating:
Summary: The essence of dream
Review: This film is perhaps the most perfect evocation of the dreaming mind ever created, with the possible exception of Lynch's own "Eraserhead," and Bunuel's "Le Chien Andalou" and "Discreet Charm of the Bourgoisie." It has the only nightmare scene I've ever watched in a movie that was as scary as my own. It refines the elements the director pursued in "Blue Velvet" and "Twin Peaks" while taking a more subtle and in many ways, more troubling approach. In one sense, it is an old story - a young person trying to become a star in Hollywood and failing disastrously. But that is only the tip of the iceberg of madness created by this dark and chilling masterpiece. This is truly a rare work of genius by one of America's greatest living artists in any medium.
Rating:
Summary: Bizarre Waste of Time
Review: Other than the unique style of David Lynch movies this is a waste of film. I thought perhaps it would come together at the end but I think I was more confused when it was over than I was throughout the movie, and that's saying a lot.
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