Never before have I finished watching a film and felt less certain of what I have just experienced than I did with Inland Empire. David Lynch’s 2006 low budget mind-bending film takes the audience on an unexplored journey, causing you to question reality and the human mind.
As the tagline for the film states, the overall storyline is about “a woman in trouble”. The woman, an actress (played by Laura Dern) gains the lead role in a film and as they begin shooting, it is revealed that the film is actually a remake of another production that was never finished due to mysterious events. Her life then takes a curious turn as the ‘real’ world and the fictional world of the film begin to merge and reality is questioned. The abstract nature of the film is enhanced by the occasional cut away to a TV show featuring three anthropomorphic rabbits.
Inland Empire was shot on a low budget with a DV camera making it look like a poor quality student film. If it were made by anyone but Lynch it would have been immediately disregarded. The problems I had with this film were its unnecessary length, how visually bland it was and the complete lack of any coherent narrative whatsoever. This film is certainly a unique experience, it intrigues me but at the same time I don’t think I could sit through it again for a long time. Perhaps if you go into the film not expecting any form of coherent narrative or film conventions then it would be easier to immerse yourself into this mysterious creation from Lynch.
I enjoyed this review of the film...
http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s2081564.htm
