Around 1997 while flicking through cable channels I caught the pier scene in this movie and was instantly hooked. The blonde actress in the wheel chair had an incredible presence even just in profile. I did not know who the actress was but immediately wanted to. I checked and she was Naomi Watts (Jet Girl from "Tank Girl" ?). From that moment I was certain that she was destined to become a star. And it sure looked that way in 1997 as a rising young ingenue.
But then for three years her career lost all momentum and sank into a series of minor roles in forgettable movies punctuated by huge gaps of unemployment before David Lynch pitched her that fast ball over the middle she had been waiting for (at precisely the moment she was set to give up and become a yoga instructor) in "Mulholland Drive" that she hit out of the ballpark.
This is a good, solid, noir film of three people who have screwed up their lives with carelessness and substance abuse desperately seeking another chance. I would like it on DVD. It holds up well with levels revealed with each viewing (the subtleties of the scene where Joe Mantegna first buys the sisters lunch...).
But then for three years her career lost all momentum and sank into a series of minor roles in forgettable movies punctuated by huge gaps of unemployment before David Lynch pitched her that fast ball over the middle she had been waiting for (at precisely the moment she was set to give up and become a yoga instructor) in "Mulholland Drive" that she hit out of the ballpark.
This is a good, solid, noir film of three people who have screwed up their lives with carelessness and substance abuse desperately seeking another chance. I would like it on DVD. It holds up well with levels revealed with each viewing (the subtleties of the scene where Joe Mantegna first buys the sisters lunch...).