Others will argue that it�s all about emotion. And really, it is. Buried somewhere in there is a love story- but it�s buried deep. They story, as it is first presented, is of Betty (Naomi Watts) arriving in Hollywood with dreams of becoming an actress. She arrives at the apartment her aunt is letter her use to find an amnesiac who calls herself Rita (Laura Harring), who has walked away from an attempted shooting (which we witness but she doesn�t remember) and a car accident. Meanwhile, young director Adam (Justin Theroux) is being bullied into casting certain leading lady in his latest movie by some mysterious film executives. Half an hour from the end of the movie, Betty and Rita visit a strange nightclub, where they find a blue box. They open the box, and everything- and I mean everything- changes.
While the film is technically very, very good, there was just no way that I could enjoy it. Originally intended as a pilot, writer/director David Lynch decided to shoot a new ending, as well as more scenes for the body of the film, making it into a theatrical movie once it was rejected by ABC. Instead of being a mysterious thriller about Hollywood, now it is really about dreams, meaning both the unconscious state, and our desires. It still retains its themes of the dark side of Hollywood, with blackmail, betrayal, murder and lost love all playing parts, but more than anything it is a dreamlike, arty mindfuck.
I do like a good mindfuck. I think Donnie Darko and Memento are both excellent. But what they hold over Mulholland Drive is, in my opinion, is characters you can care about. I really have should cared about Betty and Rita, but everything is just too strange and muddled for me to have done that.
As well as the story of Betty and Rita, and Adam�s plot, we are treated to a lot of scenes of characters which seem only have very tenuous links to either of the stories. Many of the characters in these scenes we see only once more. Some, we never see again. The purpose of these characters seems as if it would have been revealed had the movie spawned a TV show. However instead of cutting them, the purpose they now have are symbolic at best, useless at worst. And don�t get me started on the cowboy. With every minute spent away from the main plots, and every minute spent with the main plots that don�t make sense, interest decreases exponentially.
I can appreciate Mulholland Drive. If you�re into the really arty side of cinema, there�s a large chance you�ll enjoy it. I think if it were picked up as a TV show, I would have watched and enjoyed it. It at least wouldn�t have had the ending. There�s also a constant sense of unease to it, so it is, at times, effectively creepy. And, of course, there are naked lesbians. There�s your value for money.
So, despite the fact that, honestly, I didn�t understand it on the first viewing, I�ve seen it again, and I get it now. But I still don�t care.
