In every thinking person's life, there comes a time when one is captured by particular states of tension that reveal new aspects of reality. The atomic carpet composing existence reveals itself like a sheet from which arise occasional folds, tears, and depressions. Those who know these kinds of sensations will have sensed that the material composing things (all things) is flimsy, despite its basic objectivity and being definable, delineable, and traceable. Being able to describe something is not enough to make it a unique entity, to empty it of meanings, and render it inoffensive and enjoyable by everyone. It is interpretable, yes, but one can dominate it. One can compare it. It can be referenced. It can be projected into the future. Every sensitive being at some point experiences and crosses the doubt of the fixity of things. Pure pragmatism is not enough to make an object or a sense a mere void of experience. A realm of experience previously unused but rediscovered, to be used now as a container of past, referenced, mistaken things. Describing and gifting it does not render its essence inoffensive.
Let's make it clear that Lynch, and particularly the later Lynch (from 'Lost Highway' onward), is not for everyone. The average viewer often has as their sole and final interpretive weapon the tool of the review; a reading, in every sense, which, willingly or not, despite its being a second-hand perception, further mediated by the canon of writing, entails and can express (must express) on various levels of interest and participation. You may have experienced this, but trying to find a decent review of 'INLAND EMPIRE,' 'Mulholland Drive,' and 'Lost Highway' is a very arduous task. These three films have most often been described as "experiences" to be enjoyed without too much questioning, almost as if they were the personal "trips" of a mad artist to be pitied. Exegeses too often reveal horrible subtexts, as if the writer were discussing "things for their own sake but which still require unconditional respect (or unconditional rejection) because of their auteur provenance." I've always defined this attitude as defeatist; and most of the time, it revealed a fundamental incompetence. Suffice it to consider one thing: six years after its release 'Mulholland Drive' is still defined by many as a mockery. A film without a plot, senseless. A whim. I assure you that none of this is true.
Normally, Lynchian cinema requires an audience free from interpretative prejudices, forced rationalizations, exegesis at all costs, references as if they were raining down, and subjective intuitions at the plot level. But you could also forget this last sentence and replace it with this: "the cinema of David Lynch requires an audience without expectations." His ideal is, in fact, an audience that is asked for just one thing: attention; and which is capable of not betraying the film, its vision, its pact. 'INLAND EMPIRE' is a film made of multiple elements and layers, rich with atmospheres and very particular environments full of mystery, most of which are even aural. Despite the premise of exclusivity that shuts out of his world the die-hard consumers of puzzles, Lynch's cinema is made precisely of these elements: references, rationality (albeit on a subjective level, indeed, psychological if not even physiological), inter- and intratextual references, subjectivity, intuitions. Despite appearances, it is always a 100% narrative cinema in which every plot can be summarized at most in a couple of sentences. Be aware that I am asserting a concept that is unfortunately opposed by much of cinematic criticism. This is because few have still accepted that the beauty of a film lies not only in the reassurance that comes from having everything that's happening in view, and that what differentiates Lynch from his colleagues is represented by the fact that he is not only interested in showing you the story, but considers it more important to make you feel the same emotions that cross his protagonists. And you can be sure that the difference is significant.
Indeed, this is the mistake that the "reader" (intended as the viewer of the filmic "text") or even professional reviewer usually makes. Abandoning prior any attempt at interpretation in front of a material that reveals itself difficult for one's own interpretative categories. Categories, however, it should be clarified, not personal and a result of experience, but only suggested and shared by the spectator community and codified by the film industry of the past and present. Hollywood cinema has taught us that everything always corresponds to something, from shots to the transitions between them. A certain type of image will thus mean "memory," while another will mean "dream." The most conservative and reactionary audience watches films like a cynical cadastral employee from too much zeal in applying the rules of his trade. What does not satisfy these rules might still be interesting, but it would be better not to take it too seriously.
Lynch is still a victim of this prejudice.
'INLAND EMPIRE' is essentially the story of a betrayal, an escape from reality, a battle with oneself and one's past. Throughout the film, we are repeatedly told that every action has consequences and that all loose ends eventually come together. A girl in a darkened room watches her life on a television and cries. We witness some scenes of an unsettling drama in which the protagonists are rabbits. "Sooner or later, I'll find out," one of them states. The other two look at each other. There is no peace; the music has a strongly satanic air; recorded laughs come between us and the rabbits as if they come from behind us as inappropriate comments from a nonexistent audience. An actress, during a downward phase, is given a part in a renowned film which is actually a remake. An elderly and strange woman visits her at home, causing a perceptual gap that projects her a day ahead. We enter Nikki's life (the aforementioned actress), who must play Sue in the film "The Dark Tomorrow Sky." Everything seems fine, the part is hers. The working environment seems calm, but a strange atmosphere surrounds the film, her husband is intensely jealous and possessive. And he is sterile. Nikki is hosted in a horrendous talk show along with her co-star in the film, Devon, and the host makes heavy insinuations that the two will set the sheets on fire. Before rehearsal begins, the two are told that "The Dark Tomorrow Sky" is actually a remake of a Polish film, "47," never completed due to an accident on set. The original two protagonists were indeed killed. Devon is urged by Nikki's husband to be careful about how he behaves with his wife to avoid "terrible" consequences which, of course, will indeed happen.
At this point, I could go on and reveal everything to you, but I'd prefer you see it for yourself and discuss it afterward. There are many changes (of locations, actors, roles, names) in this film, so much so that upon first viewing you will feel lost and unable to find the thread. If this happens, you will no longer be able to enjoy 'INLAND EMPIRE' and you will end up hating it as the second hour of the film strikes. As I have already stated, the film is very layered. For most, it can be daunting (the duration is 3 hours), and the viewing is scattered with traps (mostly visual) designed to literally lose orientation on what is happening. I personally discovered a trick, the second time I saw it, which allows understanding the plot for sure even from the first viewing. You need to pay attention to the dialogues without being enchanted by what happens on video. Finding a "video" explanation is indeed only possible by understanding the film, and to understand the film you must understand what happens. For the first time in a Lynch film, everything is explained in the dialogues in an even linear way. Everything, absolutely everything, in terms of plot, is explained in the dialogues. Once this is done, upon second viewing, you can enjoy both images and text simultaneously, and deepen your understanding of this monumental work.
This is David Lynch's first digital film, and he also appears among the camera operators. It's clear that the DV format has struck him, thanks to its ease of use, the lightness of the support, and the enormous manageability and flexibility of the format. In this area, I've noticed with pleasure how Lynch does not belong to that neoconservative school that uses the digital (which is a light format) as if it were film (which is a heavy format and requires and expresses itself in the fixity, maximizing it). You will thus see a large amount of dirty, grainy, shaky images, seemingly photographed with little care compared to his past films. In reality, it is not about little care but simply another way of making films, suitable for this new format, an incredibly modern and expressive style.
The soundtrack is by Angelo Badalamenti and a Polish musician whose name I don't remember, but whose style is very similar to Ligeti's. The soundtrack obviously gives the film that incredible touch of latent mystery and malevolence that has become an essential trademark of Lynchian cinema.
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Other reviews
By easycure
Where, therefore, a film like ‘Mulholland Drive’ inspired a type of projection... ‘Inland Empire’ drags in a totally abstruse operation that doesn’t inspire, but rather demands that the viewer, at all costs, finds something in it.
Lynch remains one of the greatest directors around... But it’s something that suits aesthetes, who probably won’t notice that as the film entirely loses the thread of the plot.
By poetarainer
A game of overlaps and digressions seemingly devoid of a narrative 'plot'.. the compass of the filmic story.
The viewer can never be passive: they must extract and weave the threads of an intricate and polysemous plot on their own.
By C.H.A.R.L.I.E Nokia
With Inland Empire, Lynch removes the subject as a unique entity to make room for the plurality of sensations.
The film states clearly that true and false do not exist and have never existed; only death exists.
By O__O
"Lynch, undisputed master, has once again managed to tear my heart apart. He did it with kindness, unsettling and destroying me."
"In front of those 172 minutes of pure cinema the viewer cannot react: they are incapable: losing orientation from the first 40 minutes and never finding themselves again, lost in an abstract and irrefutable limbo."
By LKQ
"David Lynch is not what transpires from his films or his paintings. The artist-Lynch and the person-Lynch are two completely separate entities."
"It's so exciting when you fall in love with ideas... And getting lost is wonderful."