DVD Artwork
Actress Nikki Grace wins a part in a remake of a Polish film that was never completed due to what some call a “curse”. After that, your guess is as good as mine, since Inland Empire seems to operate on several levels of fantasy and reality, including Nikki’s life and the film in progress.
Inland Empire is probably the closest David Lynch has gotten to a pure, uncompromised personal vision. In addition to being the director and sole writer, he’s behind the camerawork and the editing, and has a big enough budget to make a good-looking film with name actors like Laura Dern. The result is rather like if Lynch had been able to think his ideas directly onto film (or digital video, in this case) without the intermediary of any material processes like assembling the cast and crew and actually playing out the scenes. Which means the viewer is in for an atmospheric, disorienting, occasionally hilarious and exhilarating experience, not for Lynch neophytes, or even the more casual fans, who will balk at the film’s three-hour running time. The more hardcore Lynch fans will be almost as bewildered as everyone else, but will note the recurrence of Lynchian motifs like dysfunctional families, the double/doppelganger, and the mostly harmful influence of Hollywood, as well as new elements like a fetish for Polish culture. Those familiar with the offerings at Lynch’s website will note he makes extensive use of the human-like rabbits found in the “Rabbits” serial there. Just why, I can’t exactly tell.
Lynch’s filmmaking process—intuitive rather than “A causes B causes C etc.”— has never been in vogue, and those who tend to lash out at movies not easily comprehensible—“Pretentious!” “Emperor’s New Clothes!”— should know by now not to bother with this kind of stuff. I tend to prefer Lynch’s work that, while still quite strange, is still recognizably set in our world—Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart. I still felt awed at many points throughout Inland Empire—Lynch seems to have really written his own new rulebook for making movies, and should at least be respected for that.
