INLAND EMPIRE

Few filmmakers these days have such a distinctive and singular style and vision as David Lynch. Following up his 2002 masterpiece Mullholland Drive he has, this time, pretty much abandoned the entire Hollywood system, instead crafting the film on the fly on a consumer level handheld Digital DV camera over the past few years. Working closely with Laura Dern the film started as a series of shorts for his website, but quickly evolved into something much bigger. Against this background of unusual development and the freedom that the DV camera allowed him, Lynch could instantly think of something, grab the actors and just go film it, the film somehow remains a masterfully crafted and haunting experience. A three hour fractured narrative INLAND EMPIRE's (Lynch has insisted the films title be capitalised) spiralling logic and frequent tangents all make up part of the bigger whole, negating the usual filmic conventions in lieu of smaller moments, the films emotional resonance is in the experience, the twisted unease that Lynch so wonderfully creates even without his usual bag of stylistic tricks. More than any other of his films since Eraserhead this feel like his true vision, the world according to Lynch with its inherent nightmare visions, but also its moments of comic lightness and absurdity.

The film starts following Dern as an actress looking for a way back into the big time, being offered a role in a new film called On High in Blue Tomorrows. The film is a remake of a Polish film that was based on a legend; however that film was shut down as the two stars were murdered. As she starts to inhabit the part of a cheating woman the lines between the film and reality blur and her sense of self and identity are tested as her world crumbles and vanishes. The first hour slowly builds the basis for the remaining film in which Laura Dern, whose work in the film is stunningly brave and who helps ground the entire story, plays a number of characters, switching effortlessly between them trying to find herself, or her purpose. Of course as well as this we get other storylines thrown in, flashbacks of what could be the original basis for the legend in Poland, a group of prostitutes who hang around smoking and do the locomotion and a barren sitcom starring rabbits with banal dialogue and inappropriate laugh track. What amazes me about Lynch is not only the images he creates but the way he manages to tie the disparate threads of the story together, creating a narrative that may seem random and unintelligible but that manages to remain watchable and progressive, building towards a masterfully crafted finale.

As usual there are no easy answers here, compared to this Mullholland Drive feels like a walk in the park but this is not weirdness just for the sake of it. Identity is a theme Lynch frequently looks at and the story is more about how it is told, and the journey than a satisfactory neatly tied up conclusion. Once you learn not to expect this and to enjoy his films for what they are, a unique, disturbing and fascinating experience, then the images take a hold of you and stay with you for days afterwards. The low budget constraints of the film initially jar, like some amateur home video, but as the story continues Lynch uses this to his advantage, stripping the world bare of this decoration and his actors too, there is no hiding behind technology; the dark corners of his mind are laid out for all to see. But whilst the film has intense and dark elements, in some ways it remains an optimistic film with an almost happy ending, the closing credits take place over an oddly staged dance routine whose mood feels like one of relief, to be past the confusion and into the light, the reward for enduring Dern’s journey into herself.

Of course there could be endless hours spent analysing the film, some will dismiss it as cold and nonsensical, and many will echo these thoughts, there are a lot of seemingly redundant scenes and editing that could be done, and the film does drag a little in the middle where some of the less memorable scenes occur, but still for fans of Lynch or those seeking a unique cinematic experience this is a must see, if only to expand your minds to what cinema could be, to take you out of your comfort zone and show you the one guy who continues to rail against the system and who seems rejuvenated by the freedom modern digital technology gives filmmakers. This film is the exact opposite of those safe, conventional Hollywood blockbusters and like it or loathe it cinema is better off with people like Lynch stretching the boundaries and telling stories in new and challenging ways.

A deep and dark mystery that delves headfirst into itself, this is a challenging and disjointed film that is difficult to get into but that rewards those who do with a myriad of memorable scenes, characters and moments that are unlike anything else you would have seen. Unique, meticulously crafted and inspired this is Lynch at his most baffling, but also at times, his absolute best.