Mark Kermode Reviews INLAND EMPIRE

Mark Kermode reviews the new David Lynch movie INLAND EMPIRE on The Culture Show.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• mark
• kermode
• david
• lynch
• inland
• empire

[Zaothus]

I loved it, and I'd like to watch it again, but I can't bring myself to. It scared the bejeesus out of me.

[JLitBakerstreet]

I'm really excited to see this. I really wish it would come to DVD or theaters soon.

[Nowhereman90]

Just saw Inland Empire... I tried to understand it and give it a logic to it at times, and other times i just tried to watch it and let me be in it. But booth ways didnt worked... I just didnt liked it, didnt enjoyed it. Its just random weirdness.

I think Mullholland Drive is much better film, because I could get into it, and then I found the way to intellectually get it together like a puzzle.

[MrHarrylime79]

A completely mental movie but incredibly interesting and thought provoking as Lynch's films all are.

[cujimmy92]

The inland empire is the space inside your head that David Lynch tries to get into. Why he is doing this and what he does once he gets in there - you'll have to ask the man himself, but he aint talkin.

[secretmiggles]

@Bassbait Well it's all down to opinion, at least were both fans of his work.

guardian.co.uk/film/video/2008­/apr/06/david-lynch-bfi-southb­ank

About 11:10 in this interview he talks about naming the film.

[Bassbait]

@secretmiggles Eraserhead wins because it's the most visionary of his films. The filmgoer gets a really clear sense of what he was trying to do. It also helped inspire The Shining, so there's that.

But he called it Inland Empire because this film, Mulholland Drive, and Lost Highway are all about life in LA and Southern California, and they each represent different aspects of that.

[secretmiggles]

@Bassbait I dont think David Lynch perceived the film to be about Inland Empire he just called it Inland Empire because he thought it's a good title. It came about because of two coincidental instances that happened during the making of the film. And yes it's a good film, and No Mulholland Dr. is his best imo :)

[Bassbait]

I live in the Inland Empire (for those who don't know, it's a real place), and I felt like this film had NOTHING to do with the real inland empire. If you want to see a movie that feels like the REAL inland empire, I couldn't help you any, because I don't know myself. But that said, this was a GREAT movie with a GREAT director and although it's not visually incredible (like Eraserhead), it's Lynch at his best (besides Eraserhead.)

[paintballing489]

I bet the whole time she's nodding along she's thinking, who's David Lynch?

[terratrema]

@suprcam

I agree. When I first heard that Inland Empire would be a 3-hour Lynch movie, made completely by the man himself with little or no outside interference, I thought I would be in for the time of my life.

Instead, I was bored and/or exasperated, depending on the scene. Never felt any pleasure.

Perhaps Lynch is a director who always actually benefitted from a producer breathing down his neck. Maybe reining him in a little made him great.

Mind you, Eraserhead is a beautiful piece of work...