1175 Inland Empire

[Matt]

In the Lynch 2 documentary, Diane Ladd says that David Lynch is one of the top four directors she's ever worked with (or something along those lines). I'd like to think the other three are herself, her daughter, and Alan Smithee. Or maybe Roger Corman.

[Tommaso]

I find myself aligned with the posters here who resist fixed interpretations or getting caught up in the minutiae (or the need for either). I never really understood the intense back-and-forth and dogged theorizing about MD on many boards when it first hit – I mean, would that really alter the experience of the film itself?

Definitely not, but coming to an interpretation that makes 'sense' for yourself might enhance your admiration for the intricate ways in which Lynch structures his narrative and might add one or two possible layers of meaning that you possibly do not have if you simply let yourself go with the 'flow' of apparently unrelated or at least explanation-defying scenes. So I must say that I quite enjoyed the various attempts of making sense of MD, and probably the same goes for me with IE, though I tend to think that whereas it is indeed possible to come to a 'logical' conclusion with MD, this is much harder or perhaps impossible with IE.

Moreover, I have never really struggled with his more “difficultâ€

[Cinesimilitude]

the 'face' made me such a wreck. It was terrifying. the sound being at the most '11' I've ever heard probably made it so.

[exte]

I'll admit that face was pretty scary when I saw it in the theater, especially because of the slow buildup directly preceding it... (And it's little things like that slow motion that I wonder how Lynch did it in post - was it just with FCP, or with the 24p process, or both?)

[chaddoli]

It looked like the slow motion was done in FCP. There were also some digital zooms in there as well.

[cubebrick]

One scene that I found particularly impressive was when Laura Dern's character, after being stabbed by the screwdriver, fell between the homeless woman and the couple. After the long sequence of dreamlike transitions in and out of rooms, time and roles, I really had no idea whether what I was seeing was real. My favorite moment came when the camera from which we were given perspective pans backward, away from Laura Dern (Nikki?) only to reveal another camera filming the Blue Tomorrows movie. The dimensional complexity of that scene really got to me. I wasn't so much puzzled as I was satisfied by being brought back to a familiar yet bizarre track of recognizable narrative. (Imagine that dialog about broken vaginal walls in a Hollywood movie!)

I was also pleased that when she was finished with the scene, after the director cut, she was still very much out of it. Seemingly, the story she was acting was so reminiscent of or blended to her life that she reached a point where she wasn't acting. The compliments she received for her performance almost seemed to haunt her. The "Well done, Nikki, you were amazing" took on a new meaning in the context of such blurred character roles. Overall, it stands as just one of many overlapping elements in a crazed and beautiful myriad of stories and emotions. I genuinely think that Lynch sees the world in more dimensions than most artists.

[Tommaso]

Haven't seen the film again, but watched the two 'unrelated' extras on the R1 yesterday night. "Ballerina" may not be an overly significant film, but I really loved the calm but eerie mood it exudes. A very nice, atmospheric and beautiful little film.
But the real highlight was Lynch cooking Quinoa (whatever that actually is). I never thought that a cooking lesson could actually enthrall me that much. The way he 'organized' it to the minute and especially that weird Yugoslavian story he tells in between is priceless. I really wondered whether he is just a perfect actor performing a stage act, or whether 25 years of Transcendental Meditation made him that way... In any case I couldn't help thinking that what we see could come straight out of one of the more weird scenes from "Twin Peaks"
So if anyone in Europe has still doubts whether he or she should take the extra effort to get the R1, this bit should settle it. Almost worth the price of the disc alone.

[Sanjuro]

Am I the only person here who could totally relate to the way Lynch cooks his dinner? I always figured I was a bit weird for timing everything to the exact minute (tell me when it's 3:27 so I can add the tomatoes...). Now I really know I'm twisted.

I loved this short, like a mini Lynch film by itself. Normal everyday life but strangely quirky with a mystical tale of coca cola and deserts in the middle. Good stuff.

[Doctor Sunshine]

I don't think Lynch has quite mastered the art of special features. Lynch 2 was just a collection of outtakes/an advertisement for Lynch, the documentary; Quinoa and Ballerina are tangential; and the interview often skips over context. Any Lynch is fascinating and I'm glad to have it but he probably should have meditated a little more on what to include.

[Oedipax]

I'd love to see a 'Cooking with David' style show featured regularly on Lynch's site. Quinoa is hands-down my favorite bonus feature on the DVD.

[Michael]

I'd like to see him making a cherry pie to go with his coffee.

[Matt]

I'd like to see him making a cherry pie to go with his coffee.

Judging from the way he makes quinoa, I don't think Lynch knows the first thing about baking pies. Good lord, did you see him scraping around in that $235 All-Clad pot with a knife?

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

Putting the pies on the back burner for a moment.....I was talking to a friend of mine who's involved with Camera-image in Poland who said that he saw a 4 hour projected print of IE at the Camera-image festival.
Anyone know if this did the rounds anywhere else??

[devlinnn]

I don't think Lynch has quite mastered the art of special features. Lynch 2 was just a collection of outtakes/an advertisement for Lynch, the documentary; Quinoa and Ballerina are tangential; and the interview often skips over context. Any Lynch is fascinating and I'm glad to have it but he probably should have meditated a little more on what to include.

I'm dancing way on the other side of the fence here Sunshine. Ballerina, after the fifth viewing, is a mini-masterwork that perfectly blends movement, shadow, light and music to sublime effect. Lynch 2 may be just a teaser for Lynch 1, but if only all my daily teasing was like this. Considering how little footage we have of the master directors from the past actually doing the work, it's a rare privilege to see, front and centre, how the main man does his stuff. Just watch his face as he enters certain rooms - you can see the ideas and dreams popping out all over. Quinoa is funny. Groucho Marx funny. Groucho Marx dropping his pants funny.

But best of all - Stories. Life affirming stuff as Lynch reels in thoughts, dreams, attitudes and personal views that should set off firecrackers to anyone with a heartbeat. 'Get fucking real' is the new mantra round these parts.

All this, plus the movie, plus 90 more minutes from the Empire, plus three spooky trailers. I've had trouble for the past week wondering how and why I should be so lucky to even have this wondrous work in the house. But as a song once went, 'Just be thankful (be thankful), for what you've got.....'

[Doctor Sunshine]

I'm not saying it's bad but for my money I'd rather have Lynch 1 and be taught how to levitate.

[dadaistnun]

'Get fucking real' is the new mantra round these parts.

Ha! Around my place it's been, "That's better than a fuckin' disco ball!"

[Magic Hate Ball]

Holy shit. Holy shit. I mean, holy shit. That was fucking terrifying. And amazing. I feel like my head is filled with mud. I'm shocked. I'm trying to come down to earth after flying like that with an episode of Friends. I'm just out there right now, jesus christ. Someone called this "Mulholland Drive on acid" and that's exactly what it is. I actually did a twosie today, boguht Mulholland Drive and IE. MD is amazing, fantastic. I only half-watched it when I got it on Netflix, and it didn't leave a lasting impression, but it sure did this time. The steam shooting up from behind her bed at the end was a nice touch.

IE is just fucking scary. Every little bit of MD that could possibly have been scary (man behind Winkie's for example) was magnified to an extreme degree here. Jesus fucking christ. I mean, I though the second hour was scary but then the last fifteen minutes were just I mean jesus fucking christ. I get what people mean by David Lynch experience now, I questioned nothing in this one, I doubted nothing I saw onscreen, and jesus, what an experience.

I've never seen a scarier film. Not since The Ring have I tried to hide behind my hands. I watched most of this alone and in the dark, with only my computer light with me. Fuuuuck.

[colinr0380]

A nice DVD Verdict review.

I'll need to see this a lot more before I can make up my mind about what the film is about - I got a bit lost in the second hour before seeing the beginning of some of the scenes (the connective tissue) turn up in the third hour! What a performance by Laura Dern though! I also like the look of the film, the feeling of being intimidated by the enormous close ups of characters and the way the camera roamed across the faces as if it were exploring alien landscapes! (I did get hung up on noticing the way people kept doing the 'Groucho Marx' eyebrow movements at points though!)

I know it is stupid to try to put concrete interpretations onto the film, but I love theorising! Does anyone else get the impression that when at the beginning of the film Grace Zabriskie points out the chair Dern will be sitting in when she receives confirmation of being offered her film role the next day that the whole bulk of the film takes place in the moment that Dern glances across the room at the chair? It might explain why everyone comes together in the same room for the final scene - the coda after the various plotlines have been brought together in Dern's confrontation with the Polish girl in the hotel room - could it be that the whole film is created from that conversation, their talk has brought all the cast of characters in the story to life around them?

I'd also like to imagine Zabriske as the younger Polish girl years later, which can help with the DVD Verdict review's theory that the young Polish lady chooses Dern's character to help her and her friends.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

That same interpretation came to me also. Not saying I'm that smart, but I got that impression, too. The film can take as much theorising as it can and that's a joy of it.

[Magic Hate Ball]

I'm just gonna say that after, what, three weeks of thinking about it, I still love this movie. It's right up there with Requiem For A Dream and Punch-Drunk Love as my most memorably intense movie experiences. If someone were to show RFAD, PDL, and IE in that order, back-to-back-to-back, the audience would die.

[Macintosh]

I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon with everyone else here, and say that i found this to be one of the most self indulgent messes i've seen in a while. And this is coming from someone who considers The Brown Bunny a masterpiece. I should cite Ray Carney's writing about "puzzle films" as an example. Films like this and Memento seem like they are flattering the audience so they can pat themselves on the back when they come to their own conclusion about the film. I suggest some people on here read this. Not to come off as some Carney fanboy but he is a great writer and makes some excellent points.

[Robin Davies]

I apologise if this has already been mentioned before, but I'm intrigued by the scene in the nightclub where the arm of the woman in red seems to float in front of the camera as Laura Dern goes through the red curtains. This image seems naggingly familiar. Has it been used in a previous Lynch work? Or maybe it's been used by another film-maker. It seems a bit Jean Cocteau-ish but I can't place it.

[Michael]

I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon with everyone else here, and say that i found this to be one of the most self indulgent messes i've seen in a while. And this is coming from someone who considers The Brown Bunny a masterpiece. I should cite Ray Carney's writing about "puzzle films" as an example. Films like this and Memento seem like they are flattering the audience so they can pat themselves on the back when they come to their own conclusion about the film. I suggest some people on here read this. Not to come off as some Carney fanboy but he is a great writer and makes some excellent points.

INLAND EMPIRE is not a puzzle film and yes, you missed the whole point of the film.

And please don't tell me that Vincent Gallo is not out to flatter the audience with his blowjob film and also that The Brown Bunny is not self-indulgent. Give me a break.

[Michael]

Can we all agree that IE works merely on the intuitive/emotion level or should I say, plane (like Kenneth Anger)? I resigned from figuring out the logics of IE and that helped me to tune in to the film better. How those images, image after image, make you feel is the key. Collapse your brain and open your heart to the spirit world of IE. It is a very spiritual film - incredibly organic and raw with most of the most awesomely beautiful renderings of images and sounds/music ever. At this very second, I can't shake the moment when the camera creeps into the Rabbits' now-empty green living room and then glides along the archway of the room (after the shooting of the Phantom). For some, it may be pointless but I think it's a master stroke because it expresses (at least to me) a scary sense of apocalypse, yes all that from the shot of the archway.

Or what about the whores running giddily through the hallway, leading Dern to liberate the Lost Girl? The Lost Girl now found. Peace, serenity and joy overwhelm the rest of the film.

There's a Buddhist saying.. I can't remember from where but probably from an Asian film - it says that coming through dirt (shit), a flower comes to life and I think that can also apply to IE.

[Magic Hate Ball]

Can we all agree that IE works merely on the intuitive/emotion level or should I say, plane (like Kenneth Anger)? I resigned from figuring out the logics of IE and that helped me to tune in to the film better. How those images, image after image, make you feel is the key. Collapse your brain and open your heart to the spirit world of IE. It is a very spiritual film - incredibly organic and raw with most of the most awesomely beautiful renderings of images and sounds/music ever.

I would think this is obvious. IE is more of a funhouse kind of movie (in more than one respect). You don't link things together, you just see what happens and hopefully some good things come out of it. If terror and awe are good things, then IE works really, really well.