I still don’t believe I can write much about David Lynch’s Inland Empire, a nearly three-hour long smorgasbord of image and sound that to the linear-minded will prove completely incomprehensible. Any semblance of conventional storytelling or character development has been thrown not just out the window, but from the 90th story of a really tall building, bouncing off the street before being run over by a truck, dragged to the river, flung into the water, getting caught on some sort of mutated toxic life form before being ripped apart by an even larger sea monster. And yet, as Lynch delves deeper into his recent thematic exploration of shifting realities and uncertain identities, all housed within the metaphorical image of infinite reflection represented by his repeated settings of films within films within “normal” life within films, the “wha????” experienced from watching Inland Empire is far less one of confusion than fascination. Layered on top of these ideas he’s been exploring as far back as in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and continuing through Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire turns Lynch’s eye inward, playing even more with these shifts while also specifically exploring and referencing the journey Lynch himself has taken to arrive at this point in his career. More than any other film that comes to mind in recent history, Inland Empire deserves and requires multiple viewings before any true and valid opinion regarding its artistry, form and content can even begin to be explored. A rush to call Inward Empire either a masterpiece or a disaster is quite impossible, regardless of the enjoyment or suffering one experiences during a first viewing. Its lengthy run time is both a blessing and a curse. I am one of the most time-sensitive film viewers I know, and yet I’ve seen plenty of 100 minute films that felt much longer than Lynch’s near three hours. The run time is necessary: Lynch needs to keep his audience captive for this extended period to even begin the process of letting his work seep in; but on the other hand, when bombarded with so much information over such a long period of time, is it even possible to accept and retain it all?
I hope I have the chance to see Inland Empire again, maybe more than once. As of last week’s screenings, there was still not a distributor for the film, however during a press conference when asked if the film had distribution, Lynch responded, “Technically, no.” Since then I’ve read it would be Magnolia Pictures and then that it wouldn’t be Magnolia but rather Lynch would distribute it on its own. But if anybody out there is currently working on a Cinema Studies Ph.D and needs a dissertation project that could probably sell as a book deal, I’d get going on rewatching the entire Lynch canon and settling in for multiple viewings of Inland Empire. Now there’s a book I’d pre-order.
Out of Focus 