Ooookaayyyy…. So. On Mulholland Dr. L.A.
a woman (Laura Harring) is in the back of a car. In the front seat is a man
with a gun to her head. Before he is able to fire at her another car hits theirs
killing everyone but the woman. She escapes through scrub land and finds
herself in a small apartment complex where she is able to sneak into the apartment
of an old woman who is leaving town for a while. Meanwhile Betty (Naomi Watts),
a young woman with acting aspirations arrives in L.A. and arrives at the same apartment which
belongs to her Aunt. She goes inside but finds the escaped woman in the shower.
The woman is unable to remember her name and after telling Betty all she remembers
is an accident, the two of them set about trying to discover her identity. For
some reason the woman’s bag is full of $100 bills and a single blue key. After
much searching and seemingly unlinked sub plots a blue box is discovered and
opened with the key. After that my internal monologue went a bit like this; “Wait...
No So… That means… No… But… He was… Hang on… Ay?... Huh?... Who’s that?... Oh
of course… Nope.
This is a completely mental film but I thought it was great.
For two thirds it is a mystery with the odd surrealist moment thrown in. I
found this part of the film really interesting and complex and had no idea what
was happening or where it was going. Despite this I was enjoying the ride. Then
it goes crazy. Suddenly people aren’t who they were and characters appear in
strands of the story that they had no connection with. One character goes from
an amnesiac to a lesbian to the partner of a film director in a couple of
scenes while another goes from a vibrant and talented young woman to down and
out prostitute. I don’t know how or why and on further reading it turns out
that the cast didn’t either.
