Inland Empire (2006)

I actually got to see a prescreening of Inland Empire in an old theatre about a year ago and I must say I have mixed feelings about this new Lynch endevor. My feelings are so mixed in fact, that I had to take some time to digest it to put up a fair review. The stroy starts out fairly linear and intense, Laura Dern's character is up for a role in a new film and is visited by a gypsy "neighbor" who tells her prematurely that she has already gotten the part. While filming, she realizes that it is a remake of an old Polish film (named 47) that was never finished due to "horrible incidents" on the set. The film begins to mimic Dern's own life, her infedility, violence, and her background, among its themes.
The first hour is fairly solid, but the remainder soon begins to lose focus, and swirls into repetiton with undefined characters and situations. At first, I was a little angry about sitting through a 3 hour marathon and coming out of the theatre more confused than satisfied, but soon focused on the few moments of brilliance in the film. Empire takes from its predecessors, "Lost Highway" and "Mullholland Drive," in that Lynch uses dreamlike sequeces to bend reality, and juxtaposes charaters, names, and several storylines to mask what one might try to piece together into a coherant plot. I'm not opposed to this type of direction, but it seems that Lynch has gone much further than before, and as a result, really lost me in the fold.
In contrast, the cinematic techniques and the photography of Inland Empire are some of the best that I have ever seen. It is a beautiful film, from its black and white and vivid color sequences, to its overexposed and underfocused portions, Lynch really shows us the future of what filmaking should and hopefully will be. The lighting is phenominal and there are recurring characteristics of previous titles: the red theater curtains and stage and the shots which slowly reveal movement out of the darkness, which mark his earlier efforts, "Blue Velvet," "Fire Walk With Me," "Lost Highway," and "Mullholland Drive."
What Lynch does so well artistically, he gives up in substance, and as a result, I found myself leering at people who clapped at the end--feeling that in some way they had to make others think that in some way they "got" it. It seems that Lynch has reverted back to his earlier film school days, since "Inland Empire" reminds me more of "Eraserhead" (an early artistic venure) than of his later works, which melded the strange with substance and cinematic beauty. It's unfortunate that a second, third, etc. viewing will have to include a notepad so that I can somehow seperate the storylines and determine what parts/characters match, or possibly match with the others. I don't think its wrong for a film to be abstract and thought-provoking, but in my opinion, Lynch has crossed the line a bit too far. It's a film worth seeing if you're a Lynch fan, but if your new to his work, I'd suggest soething a bit more concrete.
Kudos go out to Laura Dern's exceptional performance (though with a bad Southern accent), a prostitute dance sequence using "The Locomotion," and a decent montage of action using Beck's "Black Tamborine."

2 out of 4