Review of Inland Empire (2006) by Daniel K — 07 Aug 2008

The opening sequence is absolutely unmistakable and one immediately suspects they are in for a wild and visionary ride. No one can make anything even remotely like David Lynch. There is no confusing his films with any other director.

He immediately assaults the ear, the eye, and the mind simultaneously. It is deliriously funny, violently emotional, and incredibly disturbing all at once. Lynch is the absolute master of the strange and bizarre.

The incongruity, and yet the harmonization, between the music and the images is hypnotic and astounding throughout. He knows how to pull a cinematic punch. I love good films about Hollywood and Lynch seems to have a fascination with the subject.

It is rare that one sees manipulated imagery and sound such as Lynch uses in feature length films. We can be thankful that Lynch has risen to his current position and is able to essentially make whatever he wants to make.

Dern gives a spectacular performance, as does the rest of the cast. He certainly seems to latch onto actors that give him what heâ??s looking for and bring them back again and again. Anyone that tells you they understand everything in this film after one viewing is lying to you.

Lynch films are perhaps the densest and rifest with riddles of any director I am familiar with. They are puzzles one can come back to again and again and still not fully understand. Instead, it is usually better to surrender to the form.

One must accept his films as fascinating oddities of the art form and often should leave it at that. I will admit it can be fun to decrypt the puzzle and argue endlessly about the underlying meanings, but this is certainly not necessary in order to enjoy and appreciate them.

The film is like one long trip down the rabbit hole (except itâ??s a living room sitcom). What a title as well; it reverberates on many different levels for me now that Iâ??ve experienced the film. There are some truly disturbing and practically impenetrable scenes here, but they are wonderful.

The ending approaches, if not reaches, perfection. It is beautiful. It is enough to blow one away and leave them stunned and smiling. This could turn into a 4.5. I think I need to see it with a Cabernet.

I bet I could go on writing about this film for hours. The special features confirmed my long held impression of David Lynch; he is a bit crazy and a bit dedicated to his art.