INLAND EMPIRE

Continuing my mini blog series on films overlooked by the Academy Awards...

INLAND EMPIRE
Written and Directed by David Lynch

Is it really possible to review a David Lynch film? I think the only film in his cache that I was able to clearly describe to someone was THE STRAIGHT STORY , and that's because it was, oddly enough, a pretty straight film.

Which doesn't mean Lynch's films aren't brilliant, because they definitely are. He is America's other greatest living filmmaker (Marty Scorcese being the other), and he has assembled a body of work that represents the inner America, the hidden beast, the devil under the mask. Lynch's surreal nightmares shock us not just for their horrific, painterly beauty, but also because as an audience we somehow connect to his characters. It's strange when you think about it- how can we possibly connect with psycho midgets, nympho lesbians, sociopath geniuses, and the utter depravities of the flesh?

It's because these are still people- people who feel pain, like you and me.

INLAND EMPIRE has no shortage of the aforementioned motley crew, and it amps it up tenfold (there is a suburban family in the film with...well with bunny rabbit heads...I'm not kidding). Weirdness aside, INLAND EMPIRE is a stunning dissection of the chaos of hope. Now if that sounds abstract, that's because it is- it's about all I could infer as to what this movie was actually about. All I know is that at any given point in the film, I had no idea what was happening (from a logic base), but I sure as hell knew what I was feeling.

INLAND EMPIRE begins straightforward enough, sort of picking up where MULHOLLAND DRIVE left off....midway. Struggling actress (Laura Dern, still as amazingly gorgeous as she was in WILD AT HEART) auditions and is accepted in a film production in Los Angeles. Once the read-through of the script begins, the film's producer (Harry Dean Stanton in classic creep mode) warns his cast and crew that the script they are reading might be cursed. How does he know? The people who last worked on it all died. Worse yet, they were all killed.

The story from there on gets murky and is difficult to summarize, but like MULLHOLLAND DRIVE it delves into the dark, molested twin brother of LA, exploring its filth and its fury. The "story" weaves from dream to dream, fucking with our minds, and even replicating the mechanics of a brain that doesn't really know what it wants to do when in times of peril. Anthropologically we have two responses to danger, fight or flight. INLAND EMPIRE is a tortured mind weighing its options between the two, trying to figure out what's worse. Lynch submerges us in worlds of sexual and sensory deprivation, instilling within us a realization of what we really are: soft machines.

And taking us on this improbable and indescribable journey is Laura Dern, giving perhaps the best performance of the year. Helen Mirren has nothing on Dern, and never since Monica Bellucci in IRREVERSIBLE have I seen an actress give a more fearless performance. Dern's character goes through many metamorphoses in the film, and Dern sells us on every incarnation, plumbing the depths of each character, looking for that element so desperate, so hopeful, and so completely and utterly lost. It's a performance that has to be seen to be believed, and it too defies description other than sheer brilliance.

I don't know. Perhaps I'm not doing the best job of selling this film, but believe me, it is not unwatchable despite its lack of outward cogent structure. INLAND EMPIRE is one of those cinematic treats that allows us to get lost in another world without it being frustrating. These films are rare and only come maybe once every two years, and the last film to wear this ubiquitous crown was THE PIANO TUNER OF EARTHQUAKES by The Brothers Quay, and before that it was the random works of Peter Greenaway, Stan Brakhage and Chris Marker. What these films also have in common is an unheralded artistry, a mastery of framing and composition that completely envelopes the viewer. Lynch is to be applauded because he achieved such magic without the benefit of an extravagant budget. Lynch shot the entire film himself on a consumer grade digital camera (a Sony PD-150 for all you gearheads) and edited it on Final Cut Pro. The film was shot for over three years in LA and Poland, and is a clear demonstration that ingenuity will always prevail over budget. This is a magical experience, a more lucid dream than PAN'S LABYRINTH, and something so inextricably weird that it never once fails to hold our curiosity.

We need more films like this, films that know no boundaries and make us question our social and biological logic. Films like INLAND EMPIRE make us question everything, and rare is the art that can do this on such an utterly comprehensive and absurd level. It also reminds us that there really is no such thing as normal- there are a lot weird people out there. And you don't need to see a Lynch film to find them- just get up, go to your bathroom, and take a long look in the mirror.

Do you like what you see?

Snubbed Oscar Nomination: Best Actress in a Lead Role (Laura Dern)