Review of Inland Empire (2006) by Eric H — 21 Oct 2011

Inland Empire is good to watch for the experience. It's about three hours long and can sometimes feel exhausting, but it's extremely unique. However, I don't think it's as good as something like Mulholland Drive and I wouldn't lump it into the category of David Lynch's best work.

Laura Dern's wonderful in it, but that's to be expected. The first 40 minutes are awesome, and after that it gets extremely weird (as expected) but in a good way. In a David Lynch way. I feel that the movie could've been a lot worse had it not been shot on a digital camcorder.

It gives the entire thing a real perspective. Even when the weirdest, most random unexpected things are going on, it almost feels like a screwed up home movie that someone's obsessively filming, while another is obsessively watching, and the viewer is seeing all of it.

It's no wonder that David Lynch is the first billed camera operator. I couldn't imagine him sitting back and watching a monitor the entire time for this one. As previously mentioned, it's no surprise how unique this is; it's a Lynch movie.

I can honesty say the atmosphere created is something I've never imagined or seen on film. You get a weird sense that all these people in Los Angeles are just driving by, preoccupied with themselves, ignoring all the little things that are going on.

At night, the city is still alive, and even as cars come and go, none stop to check if the lady who just got stabbed and is currently limping across the street is okay. And even though that scene turns out to be just a part of the movie they're making, there's a certain genius balance of crazy and real that only David Lynch could create.