Inland Empire

Review by Anthony Morris

Probably the best way to describe Inland Empire is to say that David Lynch - one of the most dream-like directors working today - has finally managed to make a film that feels like a dream you might have after watching one of his films.

Only you're not dreaming - it's happening right there, on the screen. 

The story makes not enough sense - and way too much: Laura Dern plays Nikki Grace, an actress about to start work on a film that turns out to be a remake of a film that was never finished thanks to some mysterious deaths. 

The original source material for the film was even creepier and there's some strange things going on around the set, and when Dern goes to investigate she falls into the film, or behind the film, or into a parallel world - it doesn't really matter. Let's just say that what follows sees her playing various different versions of herself living various different versions of her life, or the role she was meant to be playing, or dream sequences, or nightmares. 

Meanwhile there's strange things going on in Poland, plus a weird sitcom-like thing involving rabbits, and Lynch isn't even trying to hide his obsessions here. Fortunately, his obsessions mostly revolve around film and at times this feels like some idealised version of pure cinema, a movie that's about nothing more than itself. Which would usually push it into the grim realm of video art, but Dern gives an astounding performance here no matter who or what she's pretending to be, firmly grounding the weirdness on a human level even as she's tearing herself apart. 

There are parts of this film that are about as close to Hell as you'll see on a cinema screen; there are scenes that are almost absurdly uplifting. 

Whatever this is, you won't see anything like it anywhere else, and if you're even remotely on Lynch's wavelength this is easily the film of the year.

3 out of 5

Inland Empire
Australian release: 15th November, 2007 (Limited Release)
Cast: Laura Dern, Jeremy Irons, Justin Theroux, Julia Ormond, Harry Dean Stanton, Diane Ladd, Cameron Daddo, Grace Zabriskie, Laura Elena Harring, Naomi Watts, Scott Coffey
Director: David Lynch
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