Review of Inland Empire (2006) by Blancoa. — 06 Dec 2006
I consider myself a HUGE Lynch fan, with the Twin Peaks film/series, Mulholland Drive, and Wild at Heart being among my faves of all time. I'm sorry to say that Inland Empire, while visually and aurally stunning, is just wholly unacceptable.
At the LA Film Festival, none of the actors involved could explain to the audience what actually happens in the film. Lynch himself explained that he filmed a single scene with no story in mind, a couple of weeks later, he filmed another scene - completely unrelated to the first.
Eventually, after following this organic process, a film developed out of this tapestry and Inland Empire was the result. I'm paraphrasing here, of course, but at about 3 hours, sitting through this sucker was BRUTAL.
And it pains me to say so. Laura Dern is amazing in this film. Ideas here and there are provocative. But as a whole, it's unacceptable. Non-linear? Yeah. If nobody involved with the film can tell you what the film is about or what happens in the film, you've got problems.
One day, I wish Lynch would go back to telling stories, where at least 80% of the film is comprehensible and maybe 20% is "Lynchian" or odd - a la the Black Lodge in Twin Peaks, etc. But this one is about 10% comprehensible, and the rest is just nice to look at and listen to.
Please, David, come back to us... I can see you in there, but you're too far away at the moment.
This review of Inland Empire (2006) was written by Blancoa. on 06 Dec 2006.
Inland Empire has generally received positive reviews.
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