The Hippest Kids In Town

David Lynch has never been a man that has followed convention, and his most recent pursuits in to oddly chilling electro-pop, and the directing of a Duran Duran concert webcast, can certainly attest to that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go98Oa10QR4

And while I admire the quiff-haired mad man’s passion for music, painting, and transcendental meditation, all I really want is the guy to pick up a camera and make another film, for that is where I believe he excels the most.

Lynch’s last film was released in 2006, INLAND EMPIRE, and it is well worth exploring again until David decides to return to film-making.

Lynch’s Box of Tricks

It’s never easy to describe a David Lynch film, especially one that seems to thrive on being such a befuddled barrage of disconcert. Clocking in at an impressive three hours, INLAND EMPIRE is a constant bombardment of sights and sounds, undeniably and unmistakeably Lynchian. Not since Eraserhead has Lynch produced a film that practically has his sweat dripping from every pore. From inception, to creation, to distribution, INLAND EMPIRE is Lynch’s baby, only this time he isn’t attacking it with a pair of scissors.

I advise Lynch-virgins to avoid INLAND EMPIRE, at least until you have familiarised yourself with his previous work. This is not an easily accessible film, Lynch does not pull any punches; unrestricted by his production company, Lynch empties his box of tricks all over the floor, and finds a use for every single one of them.

Lost the Plot

Trying to make logical sense of the plot will only frustrate and anger the majority of movie-goers. On the surface the film’s conciet seems recognisable, especially to Lynch fans, we have a film-within-a-film: a well-known actress, Nikki Grace, lands a role in a remake of a German film, On High in Blue Tomorrows, based on a cursed Polish folk tale. The original was never completed because the two leads were murdered. In the process of making the film Nikki becomes confused, as her real life begins to resemble that of her character’s life, “Damn! This sounds like a dialogue from our script!” After this realisation things begin to take a turn for the weird, as we are introduced to doppelgängers, alternate time-lines, mixed narratives, and split personalities.

INLAND EMPIRE is a non-stop waltzer ride, spinning through realities, moments, and encounters, each containing their own applied dream logic. The object is not to figure out a mystery, but instead to feel moved.

Going Digital

You can question many things in a David Lynch film, but never questionable is his passion and excitement for the medium itself, a passion that appears to have amplified now that Lynch has found a new toy to play with.

Lynch shot the entire film in digital video with a Sony DSR-PD150, and like a child with a remote control car, Lynch is getting to grips with the features, testing the boundaries, and pushing the limits. Every now and then he may crash and burn, but rest assured, he’ll have fun while he’s doing it.

Lynch gets up close with the camera, freely moving in and out of the action, invading privacy, and creating a voyeuristic experience for the viewer, allowing us to become perverts of the mind. Many films use digital to create a heightened sense of realism, such as The Blair Witch Project or Cloverfield, with the shaky hand-held camera contriving a documentary experience. But realism is not something Lynch is interested in, his use of digital is one of exploration, invasion, disorientation, and distortion; creating a heightened sense of confusion.

“Hollywood, California, where stars make dreams and dreams make stars!”

Those familiar with Lynch’s work will know by now that analysing the film for meaning is futile, and often unnecessary, instead we must focus on the film’s thematic importance. Thematically this film shares many similarities with Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (number two in my list of all time favourite films), in fact, INLAND EMPIRE could be Mulholland’s demented older sister.

Both films tell stories of actresses trapped within the falsity of Hollywood. Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive portrays a young actress at the start of her career, in INLAND EMPIRE, Laura Dern portrays a successful actress attempting to recapture past glory. Both explore the loss of identity, dual personalities, and the blurring of realities.

David Lynch films can be about anything you want them to be a about, and in INLAND EMPIRE I choose to believe we are witnessing the mental deterioration of Nikki Grace, brought on by a mix of guilt and fear. Actions in her real life become tangled in her subconscious, and manifest themselves as dreams and macabre thoughts, leading to a complete loss of self.

Lynch Motifs

INLAND EMPIRE contains the recurring Lynch motifs: empty rooms, red curtains, clicking fingers, lampshades, dramatic pauses, haunting melodies, and I’m sure someone sips a fine cup of Joe along the way. The film is also littered with frequent Lynch castmates, such as Grace Zabriskie, Justin Theroux, Harry Dean Stanton, Naomi Watts, and Laura Harring, the latter two voicing the female rabbits in the sinister sitcom featured throughout. But the film really belongs to one cast member.

Laura Dern Shines

If you’ve only ever seen Laura Dern in Jurassic Park, then you’d be understanbly mistaken in thinking she is simply an average actress, incapable of a leading role. But in INLAND EMPIRE Laura Dern swallows up the screen in her career defining role(s), and I use the plural of role because it feels like Dern is playing a multitude of characters; Dern’s range is spellbinding. Whether she’s a prostitute on the streets of Poland, a glamorous actress on a LA chat-show, or a foul-mouthed bitch delivering a no-bullshit confessional (of which the film was born out of), Dern absolutely owns her performance.

Dern has worked with Lynch in the past, appearing as the sweet, romantic sidekick to Kyle Maclachlan in Blue Velvet, and as the naïve but tough, romantic sidekick to Nicholas Cage in Wild At Heart. Dern’s performances in those films were no less than perfect, but she took a back-seat to the male protagonists, however, in INLAND EMPIRE, Dern takes the front-seat, the back-seat, and even the trunk in the back. She can turn a simple smile or facial contortion it to something deeply unsettling. It’s a mesmerising performance that once you have witnessed you will realise why Lynch travelled around America campaigning for Ms. Dern’s Oscar nomination.

The Success of an Empire

INLAND EMPIRE perhaps lacks the cinematic beauty of your typical motion picture, an effect of digital video, but this is not intended as a neatly packaged, polished for Hollywood film. Instead we have a gritty intrusion in to the mind-state of an actress lost in the machinations of Hollywood, searching for identity, meaning, and safety.

The film is visually stunning in a bleak sort of way. One particular stand-out scene is a group of disheveled prostitutes performing a choreographed dance routine to “The Loco-Motion,” a situation that only Lynch could turn into something seriously unnerving (http://vimeo.com/12043461). INLAND EMPIRE is a flick-book of emotions, varying from one scene to the next, as it flips narratives, characters and realities, making you laugh one minute, and fear for your life just seconds later.

If Mulholland Drive was a mystery to be unraveled, then INLAND EMPIRE is a mystery never to be solved, but rather a haunting journey through the inner-workings of the mind, and one that you should let move you, rather than try to figure out.

Mr Lynch, please make another film soon!

by Martin Holmes