INLAND EMPIRE

for those of you who have seen my MySpace page or those who know me personally are probably familiar with my fascination with the are-house film director David Lynch (eraserhead, blue velvet, mulholland dr.). this fixation has never been made more clear than with INLAND EMPIRE (all capital letters, no one really knows why). Despite the fact that it is only playing at the IFC center on 6th ave. in Manhattan, i have already seen the film twice and plan to see it at least 2 more times. Clocking at just under 3 hours, this film is by far one of the most experimental i have seen outside of Museums and the (semi) commercially released Matthew Barney piece (The Order). The story is, plain and simple: An actress named Nikki Grace (Laura Dern. Also starred in Lynch's Blue velvet and Wild at heart)receives the chance to get back to top as Susan, the female lead in a new film entitled 'On High for Blue Tomorrows'. The leading man in 'Blue Tomorrows' is Devon Burke (Justin Theroux who also played Adam Kesher, the director in Lynch's Mulholland Dr.), a notorious Hollywood playboy, who is playing the role of 'Billy'. 'Blue Tomorrows' is the story of a love affair between the married Susan and the married (with children) Billy. However, what appears to be a simple script holds a dark secret withheld from the cast as well as the director. 'Blue Tomorrows' turns out to be a remake of a Polish film that was never finished on account of the murder of the two leads. In the Polish version, the film was called '47' and was said to be cursed. After establishing these guidelines for the film, Lynch lets your imagination and speculation take over. The line between the cinema and the reality of the film blur and Susan/Nikki fall deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole (ironically so, since the film features 3 actors in rabbit suits.) The films ultimate message seems to deal with Mysogyny in Hollywood's casting of vapid blonde female actresses, although i can't see how the film can have an ultimate underlying message. it's just too full of meaning(ful/less) vignettes that have so much to say on every topic imaginable. In summation: the film is much more than the sum of it's parts, and yet it's parts hold a vast ammount of meaning on thier own. 'See it twice, at least' is the best advice i can give. There's no telling what you may have missed.
In attempting to compare EMPIRE to any other film, the obvious choices are the experimental works of David Lynch himself. Anyone can see the obvious similarities between EMPIRE and Lost Highway, Eraserhead, Mulholland Dr., etc. However from a technical standpoint, this is Lynch's first time using DV (digital video) in lieu of film. The switch is very visible to any fan of Lynch's work. The cameras are less fixed and, in that respect, more closely resemble the almost voyeuristic style of Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier (Dogville, Breaking the Waves)
The storyline, however, reads like Mark Danielewski's experimental novel 'House of Leaves', the story of a book inside a book and the character who picks up this book becomes a part of it, falling through rabbit hole after rabbit hole after rabbit hole, not unlike the character of Nikki Grace.
In summation, the beginning of the DV usage stands out like the end of an era. Yet his latest work stands out a head above the rest in scope, imagination, storytelling, and visual artistry.

The King is Dead, Long Live the King!


to see the short film 'Rabbits' which preceded the film, and is also sort of teaser trailer for EMPIRE, go to blog.myspace.com/six_men_getting_sick

for more information, reviews, trailer, forum, etc, go to INLAND EMPIRE