‘Mulholland Falls’ A Beautiful Flick That Flows Nowhere
Los Angeles, the 1950s: Everyone wears fedoras and drives a convertible to the Trocadero for cocktails. And if you tangle with the wrong people, your life expectancy is about 15 minutes.
“Mulholland Falls” is set in that world, which is ruled by a violent team of cops who shoot off your face first and file for a search warrant later. Nick Nolte leads the cops, who are based on L.A.’s now-extinct Hat Squad, and it’s hard to tell who is more hateful: the snakey crooks or the cops, who tell an underworld figure, “This isn’t America, Jack. This is L.A.,” and then beat him to death.
Directed by Lee Tamahori (“Once Were Warriors”), the movie is as sleek and beautiful as a Buick Roadmaster. The luxe costumes and sets are gorgeous, and Dave Grusin’s coronet-heavy score sets a jazzy, ominous tone. No expense has been spared to give “Mulholland Falls” a triple-A-list cast that includes John Malkovich, Treat Williams, Melanie Griffith, Chazz Palminteri, Bruce Dern and Daniel Baldwin (and that’s just the stars with billing - Louise Fletcher and Rob Lowe, who have small roles, aren’t even mentioned in the credits).
Unfortunately, this sleek, Buick Roadmaster runs out of gas after an hour. “Mulholland Falls” centers on the death of a party girl whose murder is connected to a plot involving a sleazeball scientist (Malkovich). The movie means to say something about how corruption on a personal level is related to corruption on a government level and, in the same instant that it occurs to you that it’s an awful lot like “Chinatown,” you’ll also realize that “Mulholland Falls” is no “Chinatown.” The filmmakers have taken a lot of care with the details, which are perfect down to the pink and aqua Fiestaware, but the story is too formulaic.
Characterizations are a problem, too. There aren’t any. “Mulholland Falls” feels like it was supposed to be three hours long and that they whittled it down to two hours by removing anything that would tell us who these characters are. Many of the actors barely make an impression (Michael Madsen is billed fourth, and I bet he doesn’t have even four lines), and some who do make very bad ones: Andrew McCarthy is just gross as a limp-wristed, simpering snitch.
But what matters most is that the movie’s central mystery doesn’t hold up. And as falls the mystery, so falls “Mulholland Falls.”
xxxx “MULHOLLAND FALLS” Locations: Lincoln Heights and Couer d’Alene cinemas Credits: Directed by Lee Tamahori; starring Nick Nolte, John Malkovich, Melanie Griffith Running time: 1:47 Rating: R