April 24, 2008

Inland Empire (2006)

So I was a little worried about the new Lynch. His latest shit was out 6 years ago and all he did in between were some shorts for his website (downloaded a copy of the Rabbits shorts and while they were a nice little entertaining piece, it seemed more like Lynch was playing around in his sandbox while waiting for something that was worth his time to materialize). Now he puts out Inland Empire and its all shot in digital and he's distributing it himself AND he's including clips from Rabbits in it. So of course I'm like 'oh shit, I hope he didn't just make another 30 episodes of Rabbits and call it 'Inland Empire''. But then looking at the cast reassured me a little (just a little, since Rabbits itself also had a pretty amazing cast considering its nature, though they were all inside Rabbit suits). And then it started, and it was great. All the usual Lynch stuff was there, the curtains, the lights the Laura Dern and the Justin Theroux... it was like a Lynch retrospective all compressed into one movie. The fact that it was filmed in digital was a little disorienting at first, and I guess it's normal since Lynch held out for the longest time before succumbing to digital (though I think he did a pretty good job in adapting to the medium) but in the end I got used to it. It's not an easy film, and it makes sense that he would produce/distribute it himself without having to worry (too much) about big studio execs, but it really is a must for any Lynch fan. It is not a commercial film at all (not in the sense that Mulholland Drive was anyway if you can call that one commerical) but rather more suited to arthouse audiences. In the end I get the impression it really makes no difference who it's targeted at or if it's targeted at anyone at all. Lynch does what he wants and what he likes and this is the result.