INLAND EMPIRE

Let me say straight off that I am a David Lynch fan. I think Twin Peaks was a milestone for television and Blue Velvet is one of the most powerful movies I have seen. Mulholland Drive was masterful. I was petrified at the end of that movie and I had no idea why. It awakened a deep, subconscious fear in me like only a really bad nightmare can. I am firmly in the camp that is prepared to give Lynch the benefit of the doubt when he wanders off into strange and seemingly inexplicable territory. His films are increasingly geared towards the subconscious. I have to admit though that INLAND EMPIRE tested even my patience. It is three hours of almost completely un-explainable cinema, with no discernable narrative or theme. One unrelated scene flows into the next and it seemed to me that an awful lot of time was spent slowly moving down dark passages or in cropped close up on the face of our heroine/victim?

It is only in retrospect that I can begin to appreciate this film, which I think may indeed be a masterpiece well beyond my ability to truly appreciate in one sitting. The film stays with you for long afterwards. Even now I find myself thinking back on it at the oddest times. While watching it I felt the occasional chill run up my spine, a chill seemingly quite unrelated to what I was watching on the screen. I can’t wait to see this film on DVD. I believe there is much that I missed on the first viewing. It is ill-advised to dismiss any of Lynch’s work as opaque and non-sensical. He said himself that INLAND EMPIRE is meant to make perfect sense. I just don’t think he meant for that to occur at the level of consciousness.