I had the wonderful opportunity to see the premiere of this film, INLAND EMPIRE, due to the sheer awesomeness of my friend Matt. The premiere took place at Walter Reade Theater this past Saturday and was followed with a Q & A with David Lynch and cast. As an excited audience, I was pleasantly pleased by the additional premiere of Lynch's own brand of coffee, which was passed out for free by his company. Know I know why this guy loves coffee so much!!
The movie begins and all I can say, other than my review below is what an awesome ride it was. I was incredibly impressed and thought that a DVD camera was perfect for the man known for his blurred out darkness and terrifying close ups of his main characters. After the movie I pratically run into Laura Dern and Ben Harper on my way to the bathroom - as a girl you need to go when you think the line is the shortest and I must say what an attractive and adorable couple they make.
The Q & A begins and I totally understand why I have loved this director for so long. He spoke quite genuinely but with the succintness of a bitter grandpa. Dern gushed on how wonderful a process this project was for her and Justin Theroux, her costar, explained the path he went on working with Lynch. After a few silly questions from the audience and one touching on the role of meditation not only in Lynch's daily life but its obvious reach now into his art, Lynch pretty much explains his entire catolog and career. He says that there are two kinds of people out there, those who need everything in a movie to be explained to them and those who love leaving a theater without questions. He himself, he says, is the latter and believes his audiences is as well. And I have to say that after being a fan of his for so long, I bleieve this man has changed me into the latter in a lot of aspects of my life.
But the ultimate part of the night was being able to meet Ms. Dern and Mr. Lynch, with some waiting around and dorking out. Matt left to head downtwon for the midnight shoew of LOST HIGHWAY so I was left alone and not thinking about who was gonna snap my pics with these guys. Well Ben Harper was nice enough to oblige me for a pic with his wife and a lovely audience member helped out with Daivd's. When the pic was taken, Lynch took the camera from me to make sure the photo came out well" He also invited a few bystanders to a meditation lecture early in the next year. Lynch after all this time is an approachable, witty and comfortable being. And Dern is super pretty in person.
See my pics below and read the review. INLAND EMPIRE premieres in NYC Wednesday, December 6th. EVERYONE NEEDS TO CHECK IT OUT!!!!
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INLAND EMPIRE REVIEW
All I can say about INLAND EMPIRE is thank you for inviting me on the ride Mr. Lynch? The reality blurring and intense three hour journey is one that has not easily left my mind and made me exited about cinema again. Shot with a Sony digital video camera and without a script, Lynch manages to weave in between reality and surreal dreams with ease. INLAND EMPIRE begins with a comedic view of Nikki, played beautifully by Laura Dern, and her new role as Sue in a Hollywood movie. Jeremy Irons plays the all too cliche director brilliantly and Harry Dean Stanton as Irons' right hand man on the set makes me thankful this man still works. With Justin Theroux as Dern's costar Devon, we watch the cast film a movie that might be all too real for the stars.
Per usual Lynch, the next two hours drag you out of the Hollywood we see on the screen and brings us into a world only this man can create. With chorus style breaks given by a rabbit headed sitcom, voiced by some of Lynch's previous stars and fairly haunting story about a Polish young girl leaked through Sue's unconcious, we arent sure whether Nikki or Sue are the real main character. With frequent changes between nowadays smutty Hollywood, winter wonderland Poland and a working class backyard, Dern connects us with whomever she is portraying at the moment. She easily convinces us she is a murderous hooker one moment and a confused starlet the next. Dern proves to us in this film why Lynch found it fitting a few weeks to park himself and a cow on the corner of a busy LA street and market for the much deserved Oscar nomination.
Through the eyes of pieced together digital video art, Lynch brings us his most artistic film to date. While the viewer cant figure out where EMPIRE has been nor where its going, we do see a beautiful version of a city that has fueled much of Lynch's recent work as well as it being destroyed. I felt a sense of Lynch's personality shine through this movie, where it begins as almost a campy 50's film glorifying the industry that has become more difficult for Lynch and his kind to maneuver around and merges with a dark, mysterious and often times terrifying glimpse of surrealism. When the endearing, yes I said endearing, credits role, the viewer isnt able to sum up what they just viewed in a few sentences. David Lynch has managed to make sure the viewer leaves pondering what just happened and the man loves it this way. If you are looking for a movie which not only leave you curious, but entangled in multilayered world of "is this really out there?", you must see this film.
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