Lynch again here with his most recent effort, Inland Empire, a slow-burning psychological mystery film. Laura Dern stars in the performance of her life as actress Nikki Grace, a woman who helplessly descends into utter madness. The parallels to Mulholland Drive are evident and numerous, making for a similarly nightmarish experience. Inland Empire is a film that requires great patience and relies heavily on atmosphere. Derns character seems to fade in and out of sanity, with severe mood-swings aplenty, and the movie follows suite. It seems to be chronological and even borderline comprehensible for chunks at a time, before it jumps into completely bizarre, nightmare-like sequences. Some such sequences include splices from Lynchs web project, Rabbits, an eerily slow and quiet vision of people with rabbit masks. Its at such times of madness where Inland is most engaging, and also most terrifying. Its ability to jump in and out of sanity so suddenly is what makes so hard to forget, and this is best exemplified by moments of madness from Dern. A tough three-hour watch, but not easily forgettable.
Joe is a television junkie. A film fanatic. A pop culture know-it-all. An interactive media masters student, and a bass player.
22 years old and Irish. Thinks Netflix is a Godsend.
