I caught a sneak preview the other night, and it really blew me away. The story is somewhat difficult to discern, to a degree, and is open to interpretation, again to a degree. Basically the film is centered around a pair of actresses, a director and the Hollywood power structure surrounding them all. I'll let you figure out the rest. The cinematography is quite wonderful, but the sound is what really blew me away. More than any other film in my memory, the sound work really stands out. Many films attempt to blow you away with their high-powered, bass-pumping soundtracks. Mulholland drive sucks you into the film, emotionally and viscerally. David Lynch did much of the sound design himself, contributing eerie and atmospheric music and sounds, much like he did in Eraserhead, and as always, Angelo Badalamente's music works perfectly with the images and tone of the film. If you are interested in sound design, this film is a must.

I agree that the soundtrack was integral to the film and its impact on the audience. I walked out of a theater (got my refund on the way out) that wasn't playing this in digital. It sounded like mono and the volume was so low, I could hear people breathing, several rows behind me! I complained to the manager and he told me "this print isn't digital". I offered to show him the digital soundtrack on the print and he did one of the funniest 3 stooges type double takes I've ever seen. "No customers in the booth!" Ok, no problem. I wrote down the film-tech URL on a piece of paper. Hopefully he will learn a few things here. I went to the AMC Empire 25 on 42nd St in Manhattan, where they had a much better presentation, but their ambient light was way too high. It cut down the contrast too much.

 |  IP: Logged

 |  IP: Logged

I´ve just ordered the upcoming dvd. Anybody can confirm the DTS track and the spanish subtitles?.

This is cinema, this is art.

 |  IP: Logged

Going in, I knew this was not a conventional kind of movie and was prepared for that. Others expecting a totally linear plot with everything happy and wrapped up at the end will be very disappointed. In some kind of sense, I feel this film would play better in an art gallery or museum rather than a standard movie theater.

It is agreed that Lynch did a good job with the sound design on this film. There's not very much noticeable happening in the surrounds, but the soundtrack (at least the DTS track I used) got really really loud on some parts.

Watching this show when you're just a tad bit sleepy kind of helps the drama, IMHO. The dream state is really what the film is about, and really has little to do with plot or even anchoring characters into the same identities. I'm still scratching my head trying to be sure if some other person not even mentioned in the film (or perhaps that one young guy in the restaurant with the really bushy eyebrows) is just dreaming all of it.

Part of the David Lynch legend is how he supposedly sits in a Bob's Big Boy (or Shoney's Big Boy) restaurant eating sugar loaded foods and caffiene loaded drinks and just brainstorming out wild visual ideas on notepads or table napkins. I think he had to have a hell of a sugar rush coming up with some of the imagery in this film.