Thursday, September 20, 2007

A Woman In Trouble

INLAND EMPIRE (David Lynch, 2007)


The movie's tagline says "A woman in trouble". Aahhh seems harmless enough, ain't it? Maybe it's just about a woman dealing with abuses or something. But no. A big fat NO. Not in a David Lynch movie it ain't. Hell, that tagline is probably the most plausible thing that can be related to the film itself.

Inland Empire cares nothing about making any sense or coherency. It's almost impossible to make heads or tails of it. Scenes after scenes of seemingly disjointed plot and surreal circumstances. The very definition of an all-out weird arthouse film. The sequences could very well be plucked out of somebody's nightmare. Then again, so does almost every other film made by the ever enigmatic David Lynch, the only American surrealist filmmaker. But never has he done something in this measure. A cinematic amalgam equivalent to the experience of jumping headfirst into the rabbit hole, but never coming out. And I love it.

I'm having a really hard time in describing the film, in putting it on paper. Still, it's one of the most unique cinematic experience(I do stress 'experience') I have or will ever encounter. Inland Empire is for David Lynch as 8 1/2 was for Federico Fellini. A summation of the artist's themes, style and passion. And check out the end credits, a "reunion" of sorts of Lynch's past films. From Blue Velvet to Mulholland Drive.

Verdict: 4.5/5

Sunday, September 9, 2007

QUOTE OF THE DAY


"I despise stories, as they mislead people into believing that something has happened. In fact, nothing really happens as we flee from one condition to another ... All that remains is time. This is probably the only thing that's still genuine -- time itself; the years, days, hours, minutes and seconds."

- Bela Tarr