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USA 2006
Directed by
David Lynch
172 minutes
Rated MA

Reviewed by
Andrew Lee
3 stars

Inland Empire

Synopsis: Nikki (Laura Dern) is an L,A, actress who wins the lead female role in 'No More Blue Tomorrows', a film whose production history is allegedly cursed. Sure enough, she slips into madness and parallel realities of some sort as the film consumes her and everyone else.

“Actions have consequences” is a line repeated several times through this long and meandering film and it’s a thought that should have been considered long before delivering it to an audience. Digital Video is not everybody’s friend, and it certainly is not David Lynch’s. For a filmmaker renowned for deliberate, stage-like compositions that push the limits of how dark a screen can be, the freedom of a lightweight, easily hand-held camera, coupled with the temptation to experiment with wacky camera angles is going to be a danger. All too often Lynch runs amok with the camera, demonstrating every single mistake that first-generation DV filmmakers indulged in ten years ago when it was still a novelty. Adding to the frustration is that when Lynch, (who was the film's uncredited cinematographer) does get a handle on himself he works the camera like a master, pushing the DV format into places it was never designed to handle, pulling off extraordinarily tense and moody sequences made more impressive for the dark graininess of the medium. But  or the most part Inland Empire is self-indulgent at best, incomprehensible at worst (unsurprisingly Lynch was also its editor) and that’s really disappointing.

Laura Dern’s performance is exceptional as she slips effortlessly between various screen personalities and in one sequence gives the creepiest walk this side of Sadako in the original Japanese version of Ring (1998). She is the reason to see the film, some of her monologues are outstanding and the definition between the personalities she inhabits is just the right kind of blurred. The other performances are mostly just a support to her, though Jeremy Irons and Harry Dean Stanton perform a good double act that brings in the laughs. And a bizarre scene of hookers line-dancing to Little Eva's 'The Locomotion' is baffling fun.

The title apparently refers to place around Los Angeles but given the content of the film it seems more about a journey into the contradictory and multiple visions of the self and the dark and ugly things that surface though such an exploration. Given Lynch’s love-affair with Transcendental Meditation this doesn’t seem a very big stretch. But at three hours, the film definitely is, easily by an hour. Entire sequences are pointless, lacking the Lynchian vibe that made many of the irrelevant parts of Mulholland Drive (2001) so fascinating (if only it had got off the ground as the television series it was intended to be!). Adding in the unconventional camerawork and the intermittent shots behind the camera the film is both fascinating and a chore. But there is plenty to appreciate, and Lynch’s incorporation of parts of his web TV serial Rabbits into the film is a fun thing for people who were unwilling to pay the subscription to his website.

If you like David Lynch, you’re going to enjoy Inland Empire even if some parts of it may disappoint. But it’s unlikely to change your mind if you’re not a fan. Just make sure you go the distance and stay for the end credits. It’s one of the best (and strangest, and that's saying something) parts of the film.

 

 

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