SCREENING IN THE BERNARD OSHER FOUNDATION AUDITORIUM
“‘Inland Empire’ isn’t interested in coherence. There’s no symbolism, and you’ll drive yourself crazy if you go looking for it… but the film is nevertheless a work of profound, unnerving impact.”
180 minutes. Not Rated. Directed by David Lynch. In English & Polish with English subtitles.
Shot on consumer-grade digital video with a script written on the fly, David Lynch’s Inland Empire is the boldest and most experimental feature from a director whose name is a metonym for the eerie, inscrutable collision of dreams and reality. Laura Dern stars as Nikki Grace, an actress who receives a big break on a film project that is rumored to be cursed. After the shoot begins, the line between Nikki and her character, Sue, begins to dissolve, and so do Lynch’s inclinations toward narrative handholding. Mirrored themes and images recur on the streets and stage sets of Hollywood, as well as in period Poland and on a bizarre domestic sitcom about a family of rabbits. Inland Empire is the director’s most liberated tumble through the rabbit hole and a bracing, multifaceted examination of identity and representation. Long unavailable for home viewing outside of a 2007 DVD release, Lynch personally oversaw this new 4k remastering of one of the few landmarks of early 21st century digital cinema.