David Lynch tops The New York Times' 21st century film poll, Mulholland Drive crowned top English-language thriller of our time

David Lynch was a filmmaker who is mostly remembered for his surrealist films that had a dream-like quality to them. Lynch passed away on January 16, 2025, at the age of 78. Some of his popular films include Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, The Elephant Man, Lost Highway, and Mulholland Drive. He also directed the iconic surrealist horror TV series titled Twin Peaks.

Recently, The New York Times conducted a poll, in which Mulholland Drive was deemed the best thriller of the 21st century. The 2001 film was written by Lynch and stars Naomi Watts and Laura Harring among others.

So let us look into the details.

David Lynch's Mulholland Drive tops the best thriller list

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The New York Times recently came up with the 100 best movies of the 21st century. The top thriller on this list is David Lynch's Mulholland Drive. The film is listed second only after Bong Joon Ho's South Korean flick Parasite. Lynch's title is also the highest-ranked English-language film in the entire list.

Mulholland Drive was written and directed by David Lynch, while Mary Sweeney, Tony Krantz, Alain Sarde, Michael Polaire, and Neal Edelstein have produced it.

As per Letterboxd, the synopsis reads,

"Blonde Betty Elms has only just arrived in Hollywood to become a movie star when she meets an enigmatic brunette with amnesia. Meanwhile, as the two set off to solve the second woman’s identity, filmmaker Adam Kesher runs into ominous trouble while casting his latest project."

It was originally intended to be a television series for ABC. But the project was cancelled by the channel due to the executives' dissatisfaction with the final result. David Lynch then approached Studio Canal, which asked him to restructure it into a feature film.

The film had its world premiere at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, where Lynch won a Best Director Award. The film eventually had a theatrical release on October 12.