Gonzo Genius of Lynchworld

Inland Empire finally made it to the top of my Netflix queue this week...


A lengthy quote from City of Absurdity...

Some of the secrecy behind "Inland Empire," which stars Lynch favorite Laura Dern as well as Jeremy Irons, Harry Dean Stanton and Justin Theroux, stems from Lynch's filmmaking process. According to news reports, Lynch began filming without a script, writing each scene the day before the shoot.

In an interview with Village Voice last August, Theroux spoke candidly about the making of the movie.

"You're so used to directors who have a clear idea what they want, but with David, you have to be flexible enough to trust him," he said. "I couldn't possibly tell you what the film's about, and at this point I don't know that he could. It's become sort of a pastime -- Laura (Dern) and I sit around on set trying to figure out what's going on."

Speaking to the publication Healthy Wealthy -nWise about his interest in transcendental meditation, Lynch confirmed his approach to the film.

"I've never worked on a project this way before," he said. "I don't know exactly how this will unfold."

Here's the review I wanted to put on Netflix, but they wouldn't give me enough characters to write it:

Sheer genius, Lynches work, even when it's painfully incomprehensible. (Which Inland Empire frequently is.) This is a film I would expect to polarize people - there'll probably be a lot more 1-star ratings than 5-star, and more 5-star than 2-to-4-stars. I gave it four because it's less approachable, and less entertaining, than Lost Highway or Blue Velvet. But as far as understanding his body of work, Inland Empire is more vital, more significant, than either of those.

If you're not a Lynch fan, don't start with Inland Empire. IE is best as a endcap to a protracted study of his work. Lynch himself is at his best when taking a more-or-less standard linear plotline and twisting it with his own particular brand of breathtaking perversions. That's not what he did with Inland Empire, yet all 3 densely imagined hours of it are "required reading" to understand the body of myth which he tells.

Every film interconnects - as if Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Wild At Heart, Fire Walk With Me, Lost Highway, and Inland Empire were all set within the same wacky universe. Our own, but with this dark place, The Black Lodge, that bends time and can suck us in if our courage is "imperfect". Even Eraserhead ties in to the mythology of that place, with it's zigzag floors that later appear in the Lodge's waiting room in 'Peaks, where rich red curtains sprout that later recur in every film. Only Elephant Man, The Straight Story, and Dune seem to be set elsewhere... and Dune's sandworms are kept in a drawer in Eraserhead, so perhaps that divide is artificial as well. It's all Lynchworld.

This is a thing Lynch fans have suspected for ages, but the closing scene of Inland Empire lays it out on the table for us. We may find ourselves in California, or Poland, or Canada, or Lumberton, or even the merry old land of Oz, but the truth is, we never set foot outside the Lodge. Once you've entered, there is no going home.

I have to watch Blue Velvet and Wild At Heart all over again, now, because Inland Empire changed their meanings.