Editorial Review:

Product Description:
A magikael, fairy dusted ride through the darkest realms of our collective imaginations. Terrifying!

Amazon.com:
Though Inland Empire's three hours of befuddling abstraction could try the patience of the most devoted David Lynch fan, its aim to reinvigorate the Lynch-ian symbolic order is ambitious, not to mention visually arresting. The director's archetypes recognizable from previous movies once again construct the film's inherent logic, but with a new twist. Sets vibrate between the contemporary and a 1950s alternate universe crammed with dim lamps, long hallways, mysterious doors, sparsely furnished rooms and, this time, a vortex/apartment/sitcom set where rabbit-masked humans dwell, and a Polish town where women are abused and killed. Instead of speaking backwards, mystic soothsayers and criminals speak Polish. Filmed on video, the film's look has the sinister, frightening feel of a Mark Savage film or a bootlegged snuff movie. Constant close-ups, both in and out of focus, make Inland Empire feel as if a stalker covertly filmed it. A straightforward, hokey plot unravels during the first third of Inland Empire to ground the viewer before a dive off the deep end. Actor Nikki Grace (Laura Dern) is cast as Susan Blue, an adulterous white trash Southerner, in a film that mimics too closely her actual life with an overbearingly jealous and dangerous husband. When Nikki and co-star Devon (Justin Theroux) learn that the cursed film project was earlier abandoned when its stars were murdered, the pair lose their grasp of reality. Nikki suffers a schizophrenic identity switch to Sue that lasts until nearly the film's end. Suspense builds as Nikki's alter ego sleuths her way through surreal situations to discover her killer, culminating in Sue's gnarly death on set. Sue's actions drag on because any sign of a narrative thread disappears due to idiosyncratic editing. Nonsensical scenes still captivate, however, such as when Sue stumbles onto the soundstage where she finds Nikki (herself) rehearsing for Sue's part. In this meta-film about identity slippage, Dern's multiple characters remind one of how a victim can become the hunter in their fight for survival. Lynch's portrayal of Nikki/Sue's increasing paranoia is, in its own confusion, utterly realistic. Laura Dern has created her own Lady Macbeth, undone by her guilt over infidelity. Even though Inland Empire is too long and too random, Laura Dern's performance coupled with Lynch's video experiments make it magical. --Trinie Dalton



More Films from David Lynch

Wild At Heart

Mulholland Drive

Blue Velvet

Stills from Inland Empire (click for larger image)























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Rating: - Some Kind of Modern Masterpeice
Lynch really out-did himself with this film.
1 minute short of 3 straight hours of abstract, non-linear, mind opening, mind blowing darkness...
Laura Dern's performance was astounding, and really shook my senses. The only reason she hasn't been recognized for this role, that I can think of, is that this film is so much to take in, that some people would find it hard to sit threw...mostly for 2 reasons. Because its sooo long and intense, and because it is honestly twisted and difficult to catch on to on a first-viewing basis. BUT, David Lynchs' work (with the exception of "Wild At Heart" and "Blue Velvet") is pretty much made to be watched more than once...
This is his most abstract film since "Eraserhead". It is honestly a modern masterpiece...especially after watching "Lynch (one)" and "Lynch 2" (2 is featured on the second disk of this film).
The second disk alone has enough mind bending features and featurettes to keep your brain boggled for hours.
Great Film and Great purchase!!!

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Rating: - Dreams woven into a movie
This movie is experimental fiction in nature, closer to Eraserhead than Blue Velvet or Twin Peaks. As always, Lynch uses confusing imagery and haphazard plot direction throughout the movie, but this time he seems to be testing how far he can push the audience. This movie is both confusing, shocking, and at times, rather comical.

The number of complexities involved in the branching (and somewhat parallel) plot lines, and the fact that the movie itself is at least partly about making movies, make a synopsis virtually impossible to relate. I would be hard pressed to describe what this movie is about to a friend except to say that it is loosely about an actress in a movie that loses her ability to determine whether she is experiencing reality or in a movie.

The whole movie seems a lot like a series of dreams (or nightmares) that were woven together with a fictional backdrop in order to create a connection between the dreams.

This movie needs a few glasses of wine to go with it and it is somewhat enjoyable, especially if you like a movie like Eraserhead or Muholland Drive. If such movies only frustrate you, you may want to steer clear of this one.

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Rating: - poor sound bad picture
It is odd how few reviews mention the sound quality of this DVD: it is barely audible and you will have to turn it up maximum to actually hear something. Once you have sorted out the sound and sat through about half an hour you may note that you are not seeing much either: this is because it is either dark, or blurred or simply so obscure that there is simply not much to see. I do like David Lynch, I love Mulholland Drive and am a fan of Twin Peaks, but the sound and image on this DVD are obscure to say the least... leave alone the actual meaning of the movie, on which is it is hard to focus.

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Rating: - Meaningful. Beautiful. Magnum Opus.
Firt off, I need to say that I would never insult or ridicule anyone for liking or disliking this or any other film, nor would I put anyone down for not understanding a film(especially one such as this).However, to insist that this film means "Nothing" would seriously make me doubt your cognitive abilities.You can dislike a film, not understand it, even dislike it BECAUSE you didn't understand it, but you should at the very least be able to recognize and admit that repeating symbolism, imagery, and themes JUST MIGHT mean "Something" despite your inability to grasp it."I don't get it therefore it can't mean anything" is really quite infantile.
Now, as for the film itself, it's really quite difficult to describe the plot more concisely than the review and product description on the site.But suffice it to say, If you're a Lynch fan there is no reason you shouldn't love this film.However, I can see how the average non-Lynch fan might get a bit frustrated with this.This is a three hour cinematic delirium dream, filled with all things bizarre,intense and disturbing.This demands your full attention and is sure to engage the intellect and emotions, ultimately leaving you exhausted on both those fronts.At least it did me.This flick blew me away.I watched nearly all three hours of this with my brow knit,my jaw slack, and my hand over my mouth, my mind working doubletime to piece this awesome puzzle together.As exhausting as it was, it made the payoff at the end that much more intense and rewarding.
Now I'm in no way saying that I understood this movie completely, or even mostly, but complete intellectual understanding isn't necessary to connect with a movie like this on an intuitive and emotional level.
This is definitely a movie in need of repeat watchings and definitely worthy of them. David Lynch has produced a challenging movie worthy of the word "Epic". I wish I had dreams this haunting.

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Rating: - Not his strongest but still great!
David Lynch is a true cinematic genius. That said, I will say that this is not his strongest work, but that doesn't mean this film is bad, or not worth the time. Quite the contrary. I just simply walked out of the theater thinking that it could have been about 30 minutes shorter. But even if this film misfires a little. It is still way more interesting engrossing than 90 % of all the films that come out today. If you where new to David Lynch I would probably reccomend "Mullholland Drive" to you. But those who are already familiar will want to own "Inland Empire".