I went into the screening of Inland Empire having been forewarned that it lacks anything resembling a conventional narrative structure, so watching it was something of a liberating experience, as I allowed myself to soak up the arresting images before me without trying to connect the dots. At times, it felt like a caricature of a David Lynch film, or as though someone was taking the more, um, offbeat elements of his oeuvre and placing them onscreen before me, all the while neglecting the complex interweaving of relationships and glorious visuals that anchored projects like Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive. Here, we are given glimpses of both these things, but they’re (for the most part) too fleeting to make a lasting impression (though Laura Dern’s incredible performance will be burned on my brain for ages). Some have argued that one of Lynch’s preoccupations in this film is showing the uglier side of what it means to be an actress in Hollywood, but quite frankly, he takes so much pleasure in showing them being chewed up and spit out by the system that I’m skeptical as to where his sympathies truly lie.
Leo and Jenny’s far more articulate thoughts can be found here and here.
by Beth Gilligan | Source: 35mm print
11 Dec 2006 1:48 PM | Submit Comment
