INLAND EMPIRE in the UK (aka Things You May Want To Buy)

Discussion of INLAND EMPIRE

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FaceInTheLeaves
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INLAND EMPIRE in the UK (aka Things You May Want To Buy)

Post by FaceInTheLeaves »

Just a few bits and pieces about INLAND EMPIRE in the UK...

So far there are four different versions of the DVD available

- the standard 2-disc edition in a generic plastic box with the same artwork as the UK quad poster (pink picture of Laura Dern at the top and blue picture at the bottom)
- the HMV edition is the standard UK edition in a card slipcase featuring the same artwork as the DVD inlay. It also includes five artcards
- the Virgin edition comes with an exclusive sleeve that slips over the case (again I'm guessing it's the standard UK DVD release inside). It uses the US poster artwork, printed on silver card (very beautiful)
- the Play.com edition DVD apparently also uses the black and white artwork from the US poster and comes with a scanty (and therefore useless) poster.

There's also a 1 disc edition available for pre-order at HMV, Amazon etc.


And I've come across two magazine reviews/articles

DVD Review (September 2007) includes a one-page review and a two-page interview with Laura Dern. The review gives the film 3 stars out of a possible five and the extras are rated 4. The reviewer writes things like 'What Inland Empire lacks in beauty it makes up for in immediacy' and 'An untamed, fractured companion piece to Mulholland Drive, Lynch's weakest film since Dune is still challenging and fascinating.' I don't actually agree with anything the reviewer has written but it's generally positive and pretty fair. What I really take exception to is 'The Selection' - a small box with three recommended DL films. Someone saw fit to recommend Mulholland Drive (okay they can have that one since it's near perfect), Wild At Heart (not a favourite among long-term Lynch fans) and DUNE! What about Fire Walk With Me? Blue Velvet? Lost Highway? Fortunately the Laura Dern interview justifies forking out £3.99 for the magazine. It includes a full-page picture and 8 questions.

DVD Monthly (September 2007) includes a one-page review and a six-page overview of DL's films. The reviewer gives the film 7 (out of 10)and the extras 6. I thought this review was spot on. It concludes 'INLAND EMPIRE feels like half a dozen puzzles have been mixed up in the same box. Some of the pieces are just never going to fit together' which I totally agree with. The 'Postcards from David Lynch's weird America' article is a very general overview of DL's plots and themes. There's nothing in it for Lynch fans and we've seen the pictures thousands of times before but as an overview for non-fans it's pretty good.
biotron
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Post by biotron »

four different versions, and none with the one thing we all want : More Things That Happened. the extras on the disc are ok, but it is lucky that die-hard Lynch fans are probably happy to listen to him repeat himself about TM and the creative process over and over in different contexts.

still drumming my fingers waiting for the US import to show up in my mailbox... and so far managing to avoid the discussion on here about those deleted scenes - looking forward to read / contribute soon though.

in other news - the Lynch documentary had its premiere here in Scotland at the Edinburgh Film Festival last night, but sadly i was unable to attend and grill the producer (who was in attendance for a Q&A) - however, i'm going to see it on Friday and will report back with anything that may be of interest.
DarkGlobe
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Post by DarkGlobe »

Here in the UK, I bought 2 versions of IE on DVD. The UK edition from Play.com -it comes with the same cover as the HMV version (but not the cardboard slipcase) ie pink photo on top, blue one underneath. It also has an exclusive 'poster' but as this is only A4 size and folded up to fit inside the DVD case it's not exactly a strong selling point.
I also bought the US edition from Playusa.com. Completely different extras as I'm sure you're aware (US extras much more interesting) and it comes in the amateurish looking US cover design (the one with 2 washed out stills from the film) though the website shows the dark cover with Laura Derns face (which is what I wish I had got)
In hindsiight I wish I'd got the Virgin exclusive UK packaging and a US edition with the better cover -but hey its all about the content not the packaging.
Some observations on UK and US differences - the UK edition has a runtime which is about 8 minutes shorter than the US edition - nothing is missing - this is due to PAL speedup. Though I wonder whether the film might have been shot in PAL format anyway (PAL is favoured by many filmmakers shooting DV due to its higher resolution and the fact that its framerate is closer to film). Anyone know if Lynch shot PAL or NTSC?
The US edition has a slightly darker picture and also has a screen calibration feature (which if you follow it, will very likely make your screen a lot darker than you probably have it set up at present).
The subtitles are much sharper and easier to read (to me anyway) on the UK version (perhaps because of the higher picture resolution?)
So to sum as a UK Lynch fan I'm happy to have bought both.
adamus
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Post by adamus »

I bought the HMV one with the art cards and cardboard slipcase, all very nice apart from no "more things that happened". I really want to see those outtakes, can you see them anywhere else like davidlynch.com? it seems only fair that we should get to watch it too.
cubist
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Post by cubist »

adamus wrote:I bought the HMV one with the art cards and cardboard slipcase, all very nice apart from no "more things that happened". I really want to see those outtakes, can you see them anywhere else like davidlynch.com? it seems only fair that we should get to watch it too.
Region free DVD players go for around £40 all over the net. R1 DVDs via play.com International arrive in about 3 days because they ship their R1 stock from within Europe. You can have everything you need potentially within a week. Or you can matybe have your DVD converted at your local TV shop - in many cases it is just a factory setting

Differences between different region releases will never cease because it is all mixed up with who has the rights to release in a particular region. Its big business and the only way to beat it is to go region free.

Lynch DVDs seem to be particularly prone to this problem. The R1 for Blue Velvet & INLAND EMPIRE are the best, The R2 for Lost Highway & FWWM are the superior ones, The South Korean R3 is the best for Straight Story. As for Twin Peaks - look there for marketing & Region gone utterly mad.
FaceInTheLeaves
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Post by FaceInTheLeaves »

It's sad that Optimum didn't include the extras from the R1 disc on the UK release because Optimum was very supportive of Inland Empire on its theatrical release. Since my R1 edition arrived the Optimum DVD has become redundant. It wouldn't have been so bad if the interviews had covered new ground but with the exception of the Fondation Cartier interview they just repeated everything DL had discussed in the press interviews for The Air Is On Fire and INLAND EMPIRE.

I bought my multi region DVD player years ago when DVD hadn't quite taken off and the players were still expensive so I didn't have to worry about regional encoding. For a few years the only R1 DVD I owned was FWWM but now I have over forty Lynch related DVDs and most are imports. If I didn't have a credit card and a multi region DVD player I'd have something like ten R2 DL DVDs, including multiple versions of FWWM, Dune, Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive.
Douglas_Fir
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Post by Douglas_Fir »

cubist wrote:
adamus wrote:I bought the HMV one with the art cards and cardboard slipcase, all very nice apart from no "more things that happened". I really want to see those outtakes, can you see them anywhere else like davidlynch.com? it seems only fair that we should get to watch it too.
Region free DVD players go for around £40 all over the net. R1 DVDs via play.com International arrive in about 3 days because they ship their R1 stock from within Europe. You can have everything you need potentially within a week. Or you can matybe have your DVD converted at your local TV shop - in many cases it is just a factory setting
You don't neccessarily need to spend any additional money making your dvd player multiregional or buying another dvd player.

Unlocking dvd players making them region free can be as simple as holding down the stop button for 5 seconds (god blessGrundig dvd players!!)

Take a trip over to http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks to see if you can easily unlock yours and make it multiregion!!
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