In 2001, David Lynch released Mulholland Drive It’s widely considered his best movie and it’s my personal favorite of his.

Mulholland Drive follows aspiring actress Betty Elms (played by Naomi Watts) as she makes it to Hollywood. Shen meets an amnesiac woman (Laura Harring) squatting in her aunt’s apartment. She was in a car accident on the titular drive and took refuge in the apartment. The woman takes the name “Rita” after Rita Hayworth and they try to discover her past.

Elsewhere, director Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) is having trouble with his latest film. Mobsters and a mysterious man named The Cowboy are interfering with the production and insist that he cast an unknown actress named Camilla Rhodes in it. His personal life is in shambles as well, his bank has closed his line of credit and his wife is fucking Billy Ray Cyrus.

At the midway point, things get fucked up. I won’t go into details but fucking watch it if you haven’t!!

Mulholland Drive began life as a TV pilot. Lynch shot it in 1999 but it got rejected. So, he shot some additional footage and released it as the masterpiece we know today.

Mulholland Drive was immediately a critical hit. Lynch won the Best Director award at the Cannes film festival and was nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards. Tragically, he lost to Ron Howard for the unwatchable A Beautiful Mind. It launched Naomi Watts to stardom as well. Also, Rex Reed hated it, so you just know that it’s good!

Amazingly, Mulholland Drive‘s stature has only risen since it was released. It regularly makes best movies ever lists and even came in at 28 on Sight & Sound Magazine’s latest poll. It got a swanky Criterion release a few years and was the subject of one of Roger Ebert’s last Great Movies essays before he passed away.

Hope you all have fun posting here tonight and have a great night. Next time, I’ll be talking about Inland Empire.

Roger Ebert’s Great Movies essay: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-mulholland-dr-2001