Oct 04 2008
David Lynch’s new movie
This post will definitely generate some negative feedback; I would like to discuss David Lynch’s last film INLAND EMPIRE. To describe it as “weird” would be an understatement; my initial reaction after seeing it was that of total confusion.
Now let me backtrack before the negative backlash ensues. I AM A DAVID LYNCH FAN. I loved the TWIN PEAKS series, I loved basically every film he did in the 1980’s(except DUNE), THE ELEPHANT MAN is a work of art, BLUE VELEVET is on my top greatest films of all time list (which I will finally post come the end of October), WILD AT HEART was definitely provocative and his little beauty of a film called ERASERHEAD, is the penultimate textbook on surrealistic and baroque film. His films in late nineties revolutionized again how we look at Cinema, with the very rich and deeply layered Bill Pullman film LOST HIGHWAY and later in 2002 with another bizarre entry yet very entertaining film MULLHOLLAND DRIVE.
Lynch’s films usually take the viewer on a magical journey inside his mind or another dimension. Which ever is the absolute truth is up to each interpreter. But to me his films are so rich and exciting as you follow a character’s path through one universe to another to witness a transformation into someone else or a metamorphosis into the beginning character the narrative started with. These deep, dark transformation films are incredibly difficult to produce, direct and write and David Lynch is probably the master of this kind of a cinema. I applaud the man for being evasive with interviews by saying that the meaning for his films are in his films, that is a mark of a true artist. However, some may call him a pompous ass for creating such impossible films to both watch and interpret. The average film viewer doesn’t want to process what he’s watching and think about it. However his latest film I feel goes to overboard with the interpretation button.
INLAND EMPIRE is about an actress played by Laura Dern, who goes in and out of two dimensions. To me this film felt like one hour of Laura Dern walking around from set to set and another two hours of the camera just staring into the face of Laura Dern.
I mean maybe I’m being too naïve and not receptive enough, but I have been through the David Lynch washing machine a multiple times of cycles and I consider myself almost an expert in deciphering his films. This film seems almost too hard on purpose. Probably because of the length, at almost three hours it’s hard to keep the narrative abreast in the mind because there is just a long time of the character just staring into nothing. Grace Zabiriske makes a cameo as German woman in the beginning, which echoes some cool throwbacks to TWIN PEAKS. But this film just seems that he’s just being odd to be odd, and to me that’s not art that’s just plain being annoying.
I ask the question of anybody to please explain the film and I will post it on my blog in full detail.
