This Savage Art

As I was entering the theater to see Inland Empire at the IFC Center yesterday, a woman emerged with a friend saying, “I wish some things could just resolve themselves.” Now, I’m not sure if she was referring to the mindfuck that is the new film from David Lynch or something else going on in her life but if it’s the latter, sorry sister, your $11 bucks just bought you the wrong ticket.

Spoilers don’t exist when reviewing Lynch’s films, they are bulletproof. There is nothing I or anyone could say that would give the film meaning for the meaning is in your head, your subconscious, your dreams and nightmares. Like Jean Cocteau the subliminal is all that exists. Inland Empire plays with similar themes as Mullholland Drive; parallel universes, doppelgängers and the Hollywood dream doubling as a nightmare. Multiple storylines overlap and come at you out of order. Like 21 Grams you ask? No, not like 21 Grams. The mind is in overdrive when putting the pieces together and then suddenly you realize it is pointless, just sit back and watch. The information will get to you through osmosis.

As was the case with Mann’s Miami Vice, all of a sudden every critic has an opinion about the aesthetics of digital video. On a technical level, I think Lynch’s use of a first generation mini-DV camera (Sony PD-150) actually benefited the film. For me the degraded, soft focus look added to the sense of voyeuristic terror. It doesn’t matter that you are watching a shot that takes place in the early half of the twentieth century or one in the modern world. You are in a constant hypnotic dream state where nothing is ever what it seams. No one can simulate the dream world like Lynch.

I salute David Lynch for drawing up his own blueprint for how the next twenty years could potentially play out. He bends and breaks film grammar and language to suit his own needs and if we ever needed deconstruction in film, the time is now. I know there are naysayers that are convinced that this is a step backwards but it is truly a step ahead. Taking control of your vision and putting it out there. Shit, we haven’t seen this much innovation and balls since the 70′s.

All this and I got to see Crispin Hellion Glover not once but twice in one day. He is in town to promote his film.