Inland Empire

David Lynch reconfigures film noir again in his latest digital epic starring Laura Dern as, surprise, an actress. Cinema is noir, a shadow land of two-dimensional life flitting across a silvered screen. Feelings of deja vu abound, as the dream logic unfolds. Not only are the many landmarks of Lynch’s imagination here, the mysteriously lit fifties interiors, the industrial soundtracks, immeasurable depths of darkness punctuated by blinding light, but the feeling of dream deja vu is captured. Dern and Justin Theroux are being directed by Jeremy Irons in a film called On High in Blue Tomorrows. Lynch explores the spaces created by the actors, in the darkness and magic of Hollywood. The underworld they inhabit is unredeemable yet filled with spiritual light. Dern becomes other characters in her own passion play revealing the self and its countless reflections and reverberations. Lynch replaces his typical structures with a sort of elegant shorthand as he references everything from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Sunset Boulevard, and The Three Faces of Eve.

A further step away from the deconstructed cinema of Mulholland Drive and Lost Highway, Inland Empire is neither a collection of vignettes and thoughts nor a cohesive whole. It is more like the outline to an imagined feminist manifesto that achieves epic proportions in spite of its willful failure as entertainment. Lynch’s fascination with the anima and the energy of thanatos is discernible yet undecipherable. The film attempts to come full circle as Dern, portraying multiple parts in what seems to be many films, arrives in a vintage movie theater, watching herself play the character she was moments before. The theater becomes the launching pad for the unconscious, branching out into sets the viewer has seen previously, exploring the contents of mind and its forgotten secrets.

Baroque in set and sound design, yet minimalist in approach to content, Inland Empire will certainly appeal to long-time fans, with its many references (and new additions) to Lynch’s rich cinematic history.

As any Lynch fan would agree, quality bonus features in regards to his DVD releases have been few and far between. Tight lipped about his projects, Lynch isn’t the most candid subject when it comes to insight into the genesis of his films. However, with the DVD release of Inland Empire, Lynch himself is in the driver's seat, and the two-disc set comes loaded with goodies.

The most intriguing for fans of the Inland Empire feature would be the 75 minutes of bonus footage not included in the theatrical release. While these extra scenes reveal no new insight into the complexity of Inland Empire as a story, they do provide more instances of damaged interpersonal relationships which are the heart and soul of this (and really any) Lynch film. Be sure to catch the scene between the character known as The Phantom and a young prostitute for possibly the creepiest, most predatory scene yet in the Lynch filmography.

Also included are just over seven minutes of photo stills backed by a beautifully ominous white noise-cum-industrial-terror soundtrack. Most of these are screen captures from the film itself, however, there are some nice behind the scenes shots as well.

Beautifully, Lynch walks the viewer through a cooking lesson in the fine art of preparing quinoa. How this relates to Inland Empire in any way is beyond me. However, this peek into Lynch’s home and his retelling a story of traveling from Greece through Yugoslavia in the late summer of 1965 should be on any Lynch fanatic’s must see list.

In Ballerina, what seems to be an experiment using the new digital format medium, Lynch features a single dancer in a red dress dancing to the now very familiar Inland Empire score while fading in and out of smoke. While not completely satisfying as an extra, it does provide some time for me to stop and wonder when Absurda might release Industrial Symphony, No. 1 on DVD.

Stories, similar to an inclusion on the Eraserhead set, provides Lynch an opportunity to tell several stories about the creative process while opening up about his opinions on many of Hollywood’s inner-workings. Definitely some great stuff included here. Make sure you check out Lynch’s rant on the technological advances in films being streamed via the Internet and over hand-held devices. Classic.

However, the most valuable of the extras would have to be the Lynch 2 micro-documentary that provides a true behind the scenes look at the production of Inland Empire. As opposed to a prepared and thoroughly edited BTS, this documentary shows a cross section of the director at work and reveals the depth at which Lynch is willing to go for his art. From his true hands on production nature, to his frustration in trying to do it all Lynch is by all definitions a renaissance man capable of speaking in many mediums to present the vision he has as an artist.

As a whole, the Inland Empire two-disc set is a real treasure for fans. While a complicated and challenging film, the set is worth every penny and should be added to your collection.