Mulholland Dr. 4K UHD

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

directed by David Lynch
USA 2001

A love story in the city of dreams . . .

Blonde Betty Elms (Naomi Watts) has only just arrived in Hollywood to become a movie star when she meets an enigmatic brunette with amnesia (Laura Harring). Meanwhile, as the two set off to solve the second woman’s identity, filmmaker Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) runs into ominous trouble while casting his latest project. David Lynch’s seductive and scary vision of Los Angeles’s dream factory is one of the true masterpieces of the new millennium, a tale of love, jealousy, and revenge like no other.

***

Originally intended for TV, Mulholland Dr. is much in the mould of Twin Peaks and Lost Highway. Lynch's characteristically bizarre noir focuses (probably too strong a word!) on a young beauty (Harring) who loses her memory after a car accident and hides out in a house where she's found and befriended by the absent owner's helpful niece (Watts), new to LA in the hope of becoming an actress. Meanwhile, a hot young film director (Theroux) is having trouble with the Mob trying to influence his choice of leading lady. Despite too many detours into nonsensical narrative cul-de-sacs, and too many shots that slowly travel towards corners down darkened corridors to the accompaniment of ominous rumbles, this works well enough as unsettlingly nightmarish suspense.

Excerpt from TimeOut Film Guide located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: May 16th, 2001 - Cannes Film Festival

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Review: Criterion - Region FREE - 4K UHD

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures: Coming to 4K UHD in the UK by Studio Canal on January 31st 2022:
Distribution	Criterion - Region FREE - 4K UHD
Runtime	2:27:20.289
Video	1.85:1 2160P 4K Ultra HD Disc Size: 95,380,836,048 bytes Feature: 94,690,781,184 bytes Video Bitrate: 70.35 Mbps Codec: HEVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate 4K Ultra HD:
Audio	DTS-HD Master Audio English 3873 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3873 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles	English (SDH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Criterion 1.85:1 2160P 4K Ultra HD Disc Size: 95,380,836,048 bytes Feature: 94,690,781,184 bytes Video Bitrate: 70.35 Mbps Codec: HEVC Video Edition Details: 4K Ultra HD disc • None Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray Interviews with • Lynch and actor Naomi Watts (26:44) • Justin Theroux, Laura Harring, Naomi Watts and Johanna Ray (35:38) • Composer Angelo Badalamenti (19:29) • Peter Deming and production designer Jack Fisk (22:09) • On-set footage (24:44) • Deleted scene (Police Station) (2:16) • Trailer (1:42) • PLUS: A booklet featuring an interview with Lynch from the 2005 edition of filmmaker and writer Chris Rodley’s book Lynch on Lynch 4K Ultra HD Release Date: November 16th, 2021 Black 4K Ultra HD Case Chapters 1

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray and 4K UHD captures were taken directly from the respective discs.

ADDITION: Criterion 4K UHD (November 2021): Criterion's first 4K UHD package is David Lynch's "Mulholland Dr." and is cited as being "New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director David Lynch and director of photography Peter Deming." It has Dolby Vision HDR10. Included is their own 2015 Blu-ray (compared to other editions HERE.) The HDR is applied with subtlety - the previous BD was so strong for that format. The colors are generally the same as the strong 1080P perhaps a shade cooler skin tones and the overall image a bit darker. It looks outstanding supporting the textures of the film. You can't beat this 3840 X 2160 resolution and the resulting 4K UHD image is sublime. Colors are richer, deeper and the layered contrast is at Criterion's usual hallmark levels. Depending on your system - you may see varying degrees of superiority of this captivating image. An absolute keeper.

It is likely that the monitor you are seeing this review is not an HDR-compatible display (High Dynamic Range) or Dolby Vision, where each pixel can be assigned with a wider and notably granular range of color and light. Our capture software if simulating the HDR (in a uniform manner) for standard monitors. This should make it easier for us to review more 4K UHD titles in the future and give you a decent idea of its attributes on your system. So our captures may not support the exact same colors (coolness of skin tones, brighter or darker hues etc.) as the 4K system at your home. But the framing, detail, grain texture support etc. are, generally, not effected by this simulation representation.

NOTE: 60 more more full resolution (3840 X 2160) 4K UHD captures, in lossless PNG format, for Patrons are available HERE

We have reviewed the following 4K UHD packages to date: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Hills Have Eyes (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Servant (software uniformly simulated HDR), Anatomy of a Murder (software uniformly simulated HDR), Taxi Driver (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Wolf Man (1941) (software uniformly simulated HDR), Frankenstein (1931) (software uniformly simulated HDR), Deep Red (software uniformly simulated HDR), Misery (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Silence of the Lambs (software uniformly simulated HDR), John Carpenter's "The Thing" (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Cat' o'Nine Tails (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (software uniformly simulated HDR), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (software uniformly simulated HDR), Perdita Durango (software uniformly simulated HDR), Django (software uniformly simulated HDR), Fanny Lye Deliver'd (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, (NO HDR applied to disc), Rollerball (software uniformly simulated HDR), Chernobyl (software uniformly simulated HDR), Daughters of Darkness (software uniformly simulated HDR), Vigilante (software uniformly simulated HDR), Tremors (software uniformly simulated HDR), Cinema Paradiso (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Bourne Legacy (software uniformly simulated HDR), Full Metal Jacket (software uniformly simulated HDR), Psycho (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Birds (software uniformly simulated HDR), Rear Window (software uniformly simulated HDR), Vertigo (software uniformly simulated HDR), Spartacus (software uniformly simulated HDR), Jaws (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Invisible Man, (software uniformly simulated HDR), Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds (software uniformly simulated HDR), Lucio Fulci's 1979 Zombie (software uniformly simulated HDR),, 2004's Van Helsining (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Shallows (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Bridge on the River Kwai (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Deer Hunter (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Elephant Man (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Quiet Place (software uniformly simulated HDR), Easy Rider (software uniformly simulated HDR), Suspiria (software uniformly simulated HDR), Pan's Labyrinth (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Wizard of Oz, (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Shining, (software uniformly simulated HDR), Batman Returns (software uniformly simulated HDR), Don't Look Now (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Man Who Killed Killed and then The Bigfoot (software uniformly simulated HDR),, Bram Stoker's Dracula (software uniformly simulated HDR), Lucy (software uniformly simulated HDR), They Live (software uniformly simulated HDR), Shutter Island (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Matrix (software uniformly simulated HDR), Alien (software uniformly simulated HDR), Toy Story (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Few Good Men (software uniformly simulated HDR), 2001: A Space Odyssey (HDR caps udated), Schindler's List (simulated HDR), The Neon Demon (No HDR), Dawn of the Dead (No HDR), Saving Private Ryan (simulated HDR and 'raw' captures), Suspiria (No HDR), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (No HDR), The Big Lebowski, and I Am Legend (simulated and 'raw' HDR captures).

On their 4K UHD, Criterion offer a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround at a healthy 3878 kbps (in 24-bit). This was similar to their own 2015 Blu-ray - slightly more robust. The surround sounds has some surprising separations and supports the resonating bass of "Mulholland Dr." exceptionally well. The wonderful score by Angelo Badalamenti with surreal qualities (he has done many David Lynch films including Lost Highway, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks- Fire Walk With Me, Wild at Heart and The Straight Story among others. He's also done the score for Tough Guys Don't Dance, Schrader's Auto-Focus, and other films like 44 Inch Chest, The Edge of Love, The Comfort of Strangers etc.) It remains dark, mysterious, suspenseful, and noir-ishly atmospheric with occasional female vocals of Connie Stevens' Sixteen Reasons, Crying (Llorando) performed by Rebekah Del Rio and other eclectic tunes sampled in the film. Criterion add optional English (SDH) subtitle options on their Region FREE 4K UHD disc (see sample below.)

The 4K UHD disc has no extras, but they include a second disc; the 2015 Criterion Blu-ray - which has interviews from 5+ years ago with a pairing of Lynch and actor Naomi Watts for almost 27-minutes, then individually but in one video piece with Justin Theroux, Laura Harring, Naomi Watts (again) and Johanna Ray for almost 16-minutes with some banter about performers (good and bad). Then we get a lovely 20-minutes with composer Angelo Badalamenti and lastly 22-minutes with Peter Deming and production designer Jack Fisk (separately but in the same piece.) So about 1 1/4 hour of comments and it's very interesting to see the reflection from almost 15-years after production. There is 25-minutes of On-set footage, a brief deleted scene (Police Station) and a trailer. The package contains a liner notes booklets featuring an interview with Lynch from the 2005 edition of filmmaker and writer Chris Rodley’s book Lynch on Lynch.

Criterion's 4K UHD release of David Lynch's "Mulholland Dr." is, not surprisingly, the best home theater presentation of this masterpiece. The many fans of the film should rejoice at this new 4K UHD format transfer. The film occasional ambiguities, unique dream-like affectations and doppelganger themes make it ultimately rewatchable as an unsolvable puzzle of cinema brilliance. You don't require my endorsement - this 4K UHD is a must-own for new adopters and to push those over the edge to indulge in this format. Don't hesitate.

Gary Tooze

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