hey everyone! i totally knew i had to buckle down and go see david lynch‘s latest film (which made its debut at the venice film festival in sept) INLAND EMPIRE (lynch insists it be spelled with capital letters) but of course with a running time of over three hours (oh yes – 194 minutes to be exact) and the promise of overall mass confusion – even being a huge lynch fan – i had a slight sense of dread when i thought about seeing it! so this afternoon i found myself in the mood to deal and marched over to the laemmle sunset five for the 1pm showing (i believe it’s scheduled to play in more cities in january) my pal nathaniel from film experience told me it was worth seeing although it made no sense yet there were plenty of great sequences – he was definitely right on both points! there was a loose plot (an actress making a film – here’s a longer synopsis) but it all quickly becomes very surreal & dreamy as layers of reality are stripped away – it’s one of those puzzles you’ll never figure out – you have to just go with the flow on this one – the tagline sums it up best…a woman in trouble…
this is lynch’s big screen follow-up to the awesome mulholland drive (both naomi watts and laura harring have small bits in ‘inland’) and if you thought that film was a bit confusing – INLAND EMPIRE tops the cake of confusion! all his usual symbols and motifs were present and accompanied by an eerie & excellent score from long-time collaborator angelo badalamenti! yet all the dizzying questions aside – it’s one of lynch’s best works and probably the most bizarre film i’ve ever seen! i totally enjoyed it although it did spook me out a bit (i jumped a few times) and i’m sure i’ll have a few lynch-induced nightmares tonight – yikes! the cast was incredible and included such director favorites as grace zabriskie, harry dean stanton, justin theroux, and diane ladd but the film is really carried by the AMAZING performance of laura dern (she’s also credited as co-producer) who certainly is no stranger to mr. lynch’s films! it’s a really long film yet for the most part my attention was held tight and thankfully i didn’t have to get up once plus i sat through the entire credit roll!
i highly recommend this film if you are in fact a lynch fan – if you’re not then i suggest to sit this one out! it’s a total mind fuck and hauntingly beautiful (i would have preferred to seen it shot on proper film rather than digital video – he actually swore off using film ever again) i for sure would love to see laura dern nominated for an oscar for her super raw & genius performance (as does lynch who had a roadside ‘best actress’ campaign) at one point ms. dern’s character states i don’t understand what i’m doing here and i felt the same exact way but i was quite content with my trip to INLAND EMPIRE! popbytes over & out for now…xxoo!
PS if your a lynch-phile like myself – make sure to check out davidlynch.com where for a small fee you can subscribe to his experimental videos and web series – like rabbits (who do make an appearance in ‘inland’)
