DEJA YOU: THE ULTIMATE REDUCTIO AD ABSURDA
PopcornReel.com Movie Review: "Inland Empire"
By Omar P.L. Moore/February 10, 2007
Grace
Zabriskie in "Inland Empire".
It all starts with this mysterious seer . . . who has news for . . .
What do eight dancing whores, a mysterious
seer, three humans with bunny rabbit heads, 9:45, a hypnotized woman, "after
midnight", the letter "A", and the number 47 have in common? All play a
significant role in the brilliantly confounding and stunningly artistic
cinematic abstraction that is "Inland Empire", directed by none other than David
Lynch, arguably American independent cinema's most original talent to emerge in
the last three decades.
For three hours you can be frustrated, flummoxed, fascinated and freaked out by
"Inland Empire". The film, whose title defines an inland region of
Southern California that includes the cities east of Los Angeles, including San
Bernardino, Riverside, Ontario, Victorville and Temecula -- is set ostensibly in
Hollywood, but could be taking place anywhere your mind allows it to. The
film was also shot in Poland for good measure. It would be easy (and
perhaps lazy) to say that "Inland Empire" like previous Lynch films, is either a
like or loathe film but because of the detail, non-linear imagery and sequences
contained therein, the verdict on this film should not be so black-and-white
(although some of the film's images literally are.)
Challenging though "Inland Empire" may be, things in it do make sense -- for the
most part. The film is a jigsaw puzzle, best enjoyed for its aesthetic
sensations rather than its narrative content. Mr. Lynch has painted a
picture of impressions and Rohrshach-like inkblots that sear the mind,
occasionally jolting, jarring, disjointing and discomforting. Mr. Lynch's
films will always put audiences through their paces -- a refreshing notion in
American cinema -- and "Inland Empire" is no exception. (On the second
occasion that this reviewer saw it, one woman was heard to say at the film's
end, "oh my God!" A mixture of groans and applause accompanied the first
viewing -- at San Francisco's IndieFest.)
While "Inland Empire" will make little "sense" to many on first viewing, it
ironically is the best on its first viewing because of the power of its illusion
as a series of images that represent fear, sex, exposure, vulnerability,
surprise, astonishment, shock, dreams, nightmares, banality, death, reality or
fantasy. On a first viewing even at three hours (well, two hours and 59
minutes to be exact) an audience can witness and experience "Inland Empire" for
the incredibly maddening mission of mayhem and mastery of cinematic devices that
it is. And if audiences are curious, intrigued or fascinated enough to
endure, exalt or entreat a second viewing, the film might actually be less
enjoyable as the mysteries and elusiveness of its meaning and structure become
clearer. But why make sense of it? Why not open your mind to
different cinematic possibilities? Maybe "Inland Empire" is not meant to
be understood, just experienced. Like a Jackson Pollock painting -- an
attempt to find meaning may destroy the mystery of the work in its context.
Laura Dern as Nikki Grace.
. . . this woman, who has several transformations
in this entrancing film.
Or, on the other hand . . . "Inland Empire" may just be a riveting kaleidoscope
of impossibilities, replications, repetition, perversion and subversion of a
precious commodity called time (in the film's story's notion of time -- not the
three hours in the theater) and the inversion and spectacular end run that the
film does on itself -- on the second go round. A further irony: if the
film was only two hours long it may not have been as good as it is at three
hours. And in all seriousness (and due respect) you could actually watch
this film if you are tired -- and you might enjoy it better that way than if you
are in a lucid, non-drug-like state of being. Some will say that Mr. Lynch
was high on hallucinogens or other psychotropic substances when he directed
"Inland Empire", but if he is high at all, it is on creativity, originality and
a keen sense of the oddities of coincidence, fate, fear, desire, mystery and the
human condition in its alter ego states. Mr. Lynch knows how to make films
and make them exceedingly well and he makes this one more seductive on each
passing viewing. All this genuinely striking artistry without a hint
of pretentiousness.
A mystery wrapped in a riddle wrapped in an enigma, "Inland Empire" is a
Pandora's Box of entertainment. Suspense, sex, scandal, humor, assorted
oddities and b.f.m. frame the events. You will have to see the film to
know what "b.f.m." means. (Hint: it's three words that one of the women
pictured in the photos above says early on.) This film is dazzling and
unquestionably hypnotic. (What other film can one see on two different
days at different times of each day and still unconsciously close one's eyes for
a fleeting second or two at the same points of the film during both viewings??)
A brief bit about the film - which should be watched with as little prior
information as possible - its story involves a once-top actress whose
now-flagging career is revived by winning a part in "On High On Blue Tomorrows",
a film that was once made before in Poland, but was never finished. Laura
Dern is beguiling and spectacular in her multi-dimensional role-playing in
"Inland Empire". Among Ms. Dern's roles are the ones of playing the
actress Nikki Grace and character Susan Blue in "Blue Tomorrow", which is
directed by one Kingsley (Jeremy Irons). Nikki is on a mysterious mission
to uncover the truth (or falsity) of a seer's promise that something unsavory
will happen to a woman. The way this initial exchange between Nikki and
the seer (Grace Zabriskie) is shot feels as if both actors (pictured in the two
photos above) are shot in a mirror, or reversed, or had their features - Dern's
hair looks as if it has been deliberately styled and combed backwards or
opposite from her normal.
Nikki's co-star in the weirdly wonderful film that Kingsley (a shallow and
highly pretentious director) is orchestrating, is Devon Berg (played by Justin
Theroux, a Lynch alum), who says that Nikki is "not my type." There is so
much going on (and not going on) between these two and the many bizarre and
unhinged characters in the film-within-a-film. "Inland Empire" is shot
predominantly with hand-held digital video cameras which lend a heightened
authenticity to the film and the episodes around and within it. Sometimes
the cameras are attached to the actors' bodies, making for a creepy feel.
Extreme close-ups add to the film's oddities, deja vu's and unsettling aspects.
Ready for a close-up: Justin Theroux as Devon (he
also plays Billy in the film), and "Inland Empire" director David Lynch.
("Inland" logo and all photos of the actors seen in this review: 518 Media/Absurda)
The prior paragraph is a starting point for "Inland Empire". From there,
the rest should be seen to be comprehended. In each of Lynch's last few
films there is a nod and wink at Hollywood and its banalities, as well as an
examination of staginess and theatricality. (Watch Mr. Lynch's films
"Mulholland Drive", "Blue Velvet" and "Wild At Heart" and you will see operatic
themes and movie star dreams throughout.) "Inland Empire" is distinct, in
the same way that Stanley Kubrick's films "Eyes Wide Shut" (1999) and his
classic "2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) -- with its two-and-a-half hours-plus
length with just 43 minutes of dialogue -- are. Michelangelo Antonioni's
"Blow-Up" (1966) is also a film that should be seen for its power of illusion,
mystique and open-endedness. If this reviewer were holding a "Stranger
Than Truth" film festival, Lynch's "Mulholland" and "Inland" films would be
included with the two Kubrick films mentioned, along with Antonioni's film and
Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo". The late Derek Jarman's "Blue" (1993), a
film whose 79-minute duration is entirely of an unchanging shade of blue that
fills the screen as various narrators speak, would also be an indispensable
entry to the STT festival. All unique, these films belong to the same
species, and "Inland Empire" fits right in. Most, if not all of these
films have to be seen at least twice to be appreciated. (Some will say,
"why bother making the investment?" Cinematic purists might say, "of
course!, with pleasure -- 'Inland Empire', take two!" Oliver Stone's
"Natural Born Killers" would also be a distant cousin to these films.)
Among "Inland"'s other performers, Harry Dean Stanton is amusing as Kingsley's
assistant, Mr. Theroux gives an oddly detached dynamic to the role of Devon (and
Billy), and Diane Ladd, Ms. Dern's mother, is also enjoyable in a take-off role
as a late-night entertainment television talk host. (Ladd also appeared in
"Wild At Heart".) There are, as previously indicated, surprises in "Inland
Empire" including in cameos during the film and in its end credits, credits
which consist entirely of the classic song "Sinnerman" by the late, great Nina
Simone. Audience members who have been patient enough not to walk out on
Mr. Lynch's epic extravagance of a film will enjoy this excellently haunting
song, fitting for such a terrific original satire on Hollywood, the media and
unrestrained vanity and indulgence.
Mr. Lynch's "Inland Empire" is released by his Absurda company (the d is
reversed in its logo), via 518 Media. Mr. Lynch holds a tight reign on his
film, which he has been almost exclusively self-distributing and promoting (with
518's help). His name appears at least seven times in the end credits.
He wants to get the mood, feel and foreshadowing right, and all counts he
triumphs.
"Strange things . . . that love does . . . "
WELCOME TO INLAND EMPIRE, CALIFORNIA
"Inland Empire" is rated R by the Motion
Picture Association of America for language, some violence and sexuality/nudity.
Some of the images in the film may be disturbing or shocking for some audience
members. The film's duration is three hours and contains some dialogue in
Polish, with English subtitles. The film opened in New York City on
December 6, 2006 and in Los Angeles on December 15, 2006. Yesterday
(February 9) it opened in San Francisco, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Atlanta and in
Italy. Next week (February 16) it will open in Huntington (New York),
Minneapolis, and San Antonio. Over the next few months "Inland Empire"
will make its way around the rest of the United States and to other countries,
including Iran, Spain, England, the Netherlands, Japan, Germany, Poland, Russia,
the Czech Republic, and Finland. David Lynch also wrote "Inland Empire".
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