Sunday - March 30, 2008
Inland Empire
So I got this new HDTV last week & I got a DVD player that "upscales" 480dpi to 720p or 1080i. I've set about now to watch all the movies that I've had on the shelf for so long (and haven't watched). I have tended not to watch too many movies since I've been over in this apartment. For the most part, I get stuck watching Law & Order:SVU, American Justice, and Cold Case Files among other things. I guess I've been taking advantage of my "freedom" to watch such things. My wife is scared to watch those serial killer/cop shows for some reason. Maybe fear isn't the best way to describe it. She just describes it as a "funny feeling". The cool thing about this is that I haven't watched these shows for 10 years or so.... that's makes all these reruns NEW to me. So that's been kind of cool.
*****
David Lynch films have appealed to me since I saw Eraserhead. It's something of a cult classic now. When I watch it, it still freaks me out. The whole "lady in the radiator" thing.... all of it. My wife calls it "creepy baby movie"... but I think she's missing the point. After all, In Heaven Everything Is Fine.
*****
Anyhow, Inland Empire is in that fine tradition of the theater of the absurd. Or at least it appears that way on the surface. There's really no way I can explain this movie.... or even my take on this movie. There's just too much to deal with. There is an synopsis here that does a very good job of at least laying out what actually happens in the film. Mostly it's about "a woman in trouble" - to use Lynch's phrase. And boy is she in trouble! She is in major trouble as it relates to her place in reality, space, and time. I eat that kind of shit up. Anything that questions reality or our place in it just turns me on like I can't even describe.
*****
Laura Dern was just fantastic in this movie. One of the coolest things about the film, though, is that it was all shot on DV cameras.... pretty much the same things you can run down to the Best Buy and get for yourself. There is so much darkness in this movie - LITERALLY - a good deal of the film has little or no picture on the screen at times. All in all, it's a film worth seeing. Be warned, though. It's disturbing, it's odd, and unless you've seen Lynch's movies before (and even if you have!), it doesn't make a lot of sense. It leaves a lot open to interpretation within the bounds of what actually does happen in the film. I enjoy that. Obviously, one can interpret it any way one would like... but the plot of the film actually does exist. So there is a framework that must be respected before the interpretation can really happen. I enjoy that, too. Lynch is a masterful storyteller. Go rent it. It's cool.