![]() It’s reminiscent of the mesmerizing duality of Naomi Watts’ performance in “Mulholland Dr.,” and it’s a great showcase for Dern’s versatility.) (Dern, who previously starred in Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” and “Wild at Heart,” is amazingly effective, by the way, in two extremely different parts: the classy Nikki and the crass Sue. Eventually it’s hard for them (and us) to tell whether they’re Nikki and Devon or their characters, Sue and Billy, as people and places, art and life bleed into one another. Soon after shooting begins, though, Nikki begins an adulterous affair with co-star Devon Berk (Theroux), and their off-screen conversations start to resemble their on-screen dialogue. “Inland Empire” stars Dern as Nikki Grace, an actress who’s just been cast as the lead in a movie she hopes will serve as her comeback. ![]() ![]() In a cinematic landscape where so much is cautious and derivative, you at least have to appreciate Lynch’s maverick streak, his unique vision and unmatched voice, if not the lucidity of his storytelling techniques.Īnd, yes, there is a story - buried somewhere. Who knows if it’ll ever even play in the vast area east of Los Angeles that provides the movie’s title? So it may be coming to a theater near you, or it may not. He’s also chosen an unorthodox method of releasing the movie: He’s distributing it himself, without the help of a studio. Lynch shot the movie using digital video, which can at times be inscrutable, and wrote the script for each day’s scenes as he went along. (At a recent press screening in Los Angeles, several people got up and walked out in the middle. It’s almost as if Lynch is challenging us to stick it out, to stay in our seats and try to solve this puzzle to which he teasingly withholds the answer. “Inland Empire” is more like a maddening montage of moments that circle back on themselves. If his intention was to recreate the surreal sensation of dreaming, with characters, images and dialogue that originate deep within the subconscious and make absolutely no sense, he’s accomplished that.Īnd yet the movie runs a solid, sometimes insufferable three hours and is even more defiantly plotless than any of the previous work in his long and bizarre filmography. It is at once totally familiar, with its cast of Lynch favorites (Laura Dern, Harry Dean Stanton, Justin Theroux) and collection of disjointed, nightmarish visuals that have long been the filmmaker’s haunting trademark. And anything that powerful, that penetrating, simply cannot be dismissed. One thing that’s clear (the only thing that’s clear, actually) is that “Inland Empire” will seriously change your mood for hours afterward. “Inland Empire” might be David Lynch’s masterpiece - or it might just be a total mess.Įither way it’s vintage Lynch and designed exclusively, it seems, for hardcore fans - or perhaps solely for the director himself.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |