My brain is now mush.

Discussion of INLAND EMPIRE

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Fatso the wombat
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Posts: 15
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2007 3:00 am

My brain is now mush.

Post by Fatso the wombat »

Hello! Just joined. I thought to start with I'd post my thoughts on IE (cross posted from one of my blog entries from a week ago);
Today, I saw INLAND EMPIRE. If you were to ask me what the movie was about, I could not tell you. I sat through a three hour film, and by the end of it, I had not a clue what it was I had just seen. I just felt deflated, and in a complete sense of unease.

I mean, I love David Lynch. I adore the chap. I bow down and worship the ground upon which he walks. But this... this... I just could not get on with it. It had lost me within a half hour of it starting. I found I didn't give a monkey's for any of the characters, so I didn't care what was happening to them.

Now, weird things go on in Lynch films all the time, and damn fine it it too, but in all there does appear to be - even if you can't quite put your finger on it, or even quite understand it - some kind of internal logic to it all; here it just seems to be a mish mash of scenes, bearing little relation to eachother, with scant pay off.

In vast swathes of the film, it doesn't even feel like Lycnh. Normally there's a sense of Lynch going through it all, like words through a stick of rock. But here this seems lacking. And the picture occasionally looks, frankly, awful; sometimes you see the line structure of the DV - this has tobe an intentional thing, but it just looks rubbish (it's not always present). Some of it looks like home movie footage, also.

The wife just said to me upon seeing me type this post; "you have put at the start of this that there may be spoilers...?"... Oh, if only; that would mean I'd have a clue what was going on...!

I absolutely hate to slate a Lynch movie, but frankly I think it's going to take a heck of a lot of determination for me to pluck up the strength and will power to watch it again. I found myself sighing and groaning in places, and I just couldn't get on with the film at all.

And that really depresses me.
sloclub
RR Diner Member
Posts: 119
Joined: Thu Jan 25, 2007 11:51 pm
Location: Austin, TX

Post by sloclub »

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. And if IE didn't do it for you, then it didn't, fair enough. I have 1 suggestion though. Check your mood. In my experience my mood can have a tremendous effect on how I view a film. When I'm in a low mood, it is hard for me to get into the story no matter who the film maker is or what film it is.

With DL I find it is even more important. I loved IE even though I couldn't tell you what happened either. Part of the reason for my positive reaction is that I went into the film expecting to be entertained and I was. Also I think DL's films are like puzzles and part of the fun of going is seeing them again and again and figuring that puzzle out. I didn't expect to understand the film on first viewing so I wasn't disappointed by that. I love IE, I feel I had an experience watching the film of going on an emotional journey even if I don't know everywhere I've been. True of life too if one is honest about it.
Through the darkness of futures past,
the magician longs to see
One chants out,
between two worlds,
fire walk with me.
Fatso the wombat
New Member
Posts: 15
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2007 3:00 am

Post by Fatso the wombat »

I had no expectation that I would understand it on first viewing; I was expecing something challenging that I'd have to think about, and really mull over, and probably see a few times before I got a handle on it. I remember leaving the cinema after watching Mulholland Drive having no idea what had gone on, but having loved every minute of it. Ditto Eraserhead. Ditto (to a lesser degree) Lost Highway. And even some parts of Twin Peaks.

But any confusion there didn't seem to matter; I enjoyed the experience. And I love the idea of puzzle; movies that make you use your mind to fully appreciate them.

IE is, I think, literally the first thing of Lynch's I've seen that I disliked. (There's the odd thing here and there I've not seen; Dune, Hotel Room off the top of my head.) I don't think my mood was negative at the time or anything; I'd been looking forward to seeing it since... well, since the title was announced what seems like ages ago.

I'll certainly buy the DVD when it comes out; maybe I'll appreciate it more then.
sloclub
RR Diner Member
Posts: 119
Joined: Thu Jan 25, 2007 11:51 pm
Location: Austin, TX

Post by sloclub »

FtW the mood thing was just an idea. At times my ability to enjoy a variety of projects has gone up and down with my mood. I hated JACKIE BROWN for years for instance until I watched it a couple of years ago and found that I liked it fine. So for whatever reason your appreciation of a film can change over time.

And if you don't like the DVD there's always ebay.
Through the darkness of futures past,
the magician longs to see
One chants out,
between two worlds,
fire walk with me.
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