Mulholland Drive - Movie Review

Actually, Mulholland Drive’ develops in a mysterious and surreal framework. In this film a woman, Rita, loses her memory after an accident and subsequently, a strange young lady, Betty, who is an actress, befriends her in Los Angeles. In tandem they solve a mystery of the lies and eccentricities, and the city is a landscape of magnificent simulacra at every corner. The main themes to be discussed revolve around the concepts of identity, the glitter of Hollywood and the lines between dream and reality. Predetermining and subtly ironizing the genre of film noir, David Lynch achieves the creation of enigmatic and ominous mood. Its fantastical setting puts it in the category of cult films, and seriously questions the clear distinction between dream and the waking world. Love, domination and dualism of human personality are the main messages of the motion picture accompanied by Lynch’s ability to convey cinematographic narration filled with elements that cause disturbance. In portraying Betty, Watt encapsulates the innocence that is slowly eroded in Hollywood due to the shrewd world that comes with such a life. Harring, in particular, provides a real mysterious dimension to the film, giving an interesting tension to the relationhip between the two main characters. Again, even the secondary characters as much as they are sketchy, serve the overruling plot about the mystery of the woman, adding to the otherworldly feel of the film. Particularly Watts – her change of the look was transformational and takes the emotional side of the story to a new level.

This next part deserves a special mention – David Lynch as a director – visionary and realistically dystopic with an eye for detail. Due to his approach that intertwines non-sequential plots with symbolism, ‘Mulholland Drive’ stands out as more than a movie-watching experience. Just like an urban maze, Lynch constructs the roads to and from Los Angeles as the dream of hope and as well as the pathway to sorrow. This way, he doesn’t only force the viewers to think but also compels them to keep focus on movie’s puzzling plot until the closing credits.

Music in ‘Mulholland Drive’ perfectly matches the tone of the movie – like a dark, confusing, and surreal dream. Written by Angelo Badalamenti, the music features both sweet playing mixed with the tense atmosphere, ideal for an eerie experience. Badalamenti does a marvelous job in characterizing the wavelength of the film, creating a kind of musical murmur that spells mystery and poignant emotions. This music adds to the film’s emotional experience and the surreal Maria objectification.… This, in collaboration with the director Lynch, cinematographer Peter Deming, employs neo-noir imagery. The cinematography of the movie offers a lot of contrasts and shares light and shadows with the main theme of the fragmented storyline of the movie. Lynch brings special attention while framing each shot and organizes the viewer’s perception of the film’s mysterious ‘Mulholland Drive’. Each shot is rich with symbolism, in tune with the movie and making it even more complicated and layered.

Everything in the film is a product of production designer whose function is to produce settings that lure and repel the viewer. The portrayal of the city is duality which is so characteristic of the film – bright and blurry, but also creepy and scary at the same time. Penthouses and stairwells, specific uses of space here become reflections of their shakes and stirs inside. The general design elements enhance the themes of dupery and construct the gloomy mood of the movie while the special effects used in the movie are well done sparingly to boost the surrealistic feel of the movie. The effects complement the realistic atmosphere of the film and are used sparingly, so that the technology does not supervene and disrupt the hypnosis. What effects are used give clues to the nature of the dreamlike irrationality and of the uncanny, without ever overloading the story while being part of it.

Mulholland Drive is a film that employs an elaborated editing style, which is designed to be intentionally confusing. They have framed the movie in a completely unconventional manner and created the story based on a rather non-linear structure that resembles a puzzle. Despite chaos that pervades Kiarostami’s film, Mary Sweeney’s action as an editor provides continuity whilst preserving surreality of the scenes that are intertwined. She maintains the precise and the correct tempi which makes the movie interesting to analyze and at the same time marvel at the construction. Despite some people thinking that it is slow, it enables one to really get lost in the haunting world that Lynch has painted. The pacing is calculated to build suspense and increase tension and the anticipation is sustained throughout the novel to the reader’s delight and in some ways discomfort. The pacing of ‘Mulholland Drive’ is essential, culminating at some point and then lasting with you for a while.

Primarily, dialogue is reduced to a minimum in ‘Mulholland Drive,’ but it is driven by the movie’s ideas and people’s actions. Speaking in riddles can make it difficult to comprehend them when lines themselves are filled with metaphors, which contributes to the general mystery. That subtlety in the conversation between characters adds depth to the film’s intellect and, to a significant extent, puzzlement.

Although ‘Mulholland Drive’ refers to modern cinema as an astonishing movie, it can be questionable noticing that the movie will interest only several spectators due to its plot and motifs. It may be exhausting for the audience when it comes to coming up with something exciting from within the complex narrative structure provided by the film. But for those to be ready to accept and decode cryptic codes of the movie, the viewer is in for a deeply enriching experience. Its deliberately constructed as both brilliant and a weakness owing to the fact it breaks a number of rules that many other actual movies stick to.

Due to this very reason, ‘Mulholland Drive’ moved me in a deep manner; it is an opportunity to dive into the world of David Lynch. I have watched films that that have been stunning to look at but the storylines have been rather simplistic and as soon as I left the cinema I had forgotten about them: this was not the case with this film – the beauty of it and its complexity Moss constructed made me think. It is an analysis and portrayal of dreams and nightmares, an account of what the essence of cinema as art can come to. Sitting and watching was an amazing experience, and I would not mind doing it again and again in order to explore its secrets even deeper.