OTB#22: Mulholland Dr.

I’ve watched this before, of course — last time three years ago. And this movie isn’t new on the Top 100 (it jumped from #75 to #22, though). But I’m re-watching this anyway, because Studiodigital (I think) has done a new 4K restoration, and Criterion has released the bluray.

More pixels! More bandwidth! More mystery!

And, of course, this movie is one that rewards rewatchings. If you consider it a puzzle movie, there’s all these hints to get excited about. But it’s also just so… engrossing to watch even if you’re not trying to decode anything, but just let it all wash over you.

Those are some odd lens flares.

I remembered this movie as doing the switcharoo about halfway in, so when we were getting towards the two hour mark, I wondered whether I was totally misremembering the film.

It’s still a great movie, but this time around, I was just kinda overwhelmed by the last part. There’s so much to process that you want to pause the film and give things a good think-through…

Oh, right: I’d forgotten that this was originally meant to be a TV series, but ABC passed on the pilot:

Most of the new scenes were filmed in October 2000, funded with $7 million from French production company StudioCanal.

Anyway — it’s mostly a delight to watch and re-watch. Some bits are kinda weak, but it’s mostly amazing.

Mulholland Dr. David Lynch. 2001.

This blog post is part of the Officially The Best 2022 series.

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