Though Inland Empire's three hours of befuddling abstraction could try the patience of the most devoted David Lynch fan, its aim to reinvigorate the Lynch-ian symbolic order is ambitious, not to mention visually arresting. The director's archetypes recognizable from previous movies once again construct the film's inherent logic, but with a new twist. Sets vibrate between the contemporary and a 1950s alternate universe crammed with dim lamps, long hallways, mysterious doors, sparsely furnished rooms and, this time, a vortex/apartment/sitcom set where rabbit-masked humans dwell, and a Polish town where women are abused and killed. Instead of speaking backwards, mystic soothsayers and criminals speak Polish. Filmed on video, the film's look has the sinister, frightening feel of a Mark Savage film or a bootlegged snuff movie. Constant close-ups, both in and out of focus, make Inland Empire feel as if a stalker covertly filmed it.

A straightforward, hokey plot unravels during the first third of Inland Empire to ground the viewer before a dive off the deep end. Actor Nikki Grace (Laura Dern) is cast as Susan Blue, an adulterous white trash Southerner, in a film that mimics too closely her actual life with an overbearingly jealous and dangerous husband. When Nikki and co-star Devon (Justin Theroux) learn that the cursed film project was earlier abandoned when its stars were murdered, the pair lose their grasp of reality. Nikki suffers a schizophrenic identity switch to Sue that lasts until nearly the film's end. Suspense builds as Nikki's alter ego sleuths her way through surreal situations to discover her killer, culminating in Sue's gnarly death on set. Sue's actions drag on because any sign of a narrative thread disappears due to idiosyncratic editing. Non-sensical scenes still captivate, however, such as when Sue stumbles onto the soundstage where she finds Nikki (herself) rehearsing for Sue's part. In this meta-film about identity slippage, Dern's multiple characters remind one of how a victim can become the hunter in their fight for survival. Lynch's portrayal of Nikki/Sue's increasing paranoia is, in its own confusion, utterly realistic. Laura Dern has created her own Lady Macbeth, undone by her guilt over infidelity. Even though Inland Empire is too long and too random, Laura Dern's performance coupled with Lynch's video experiments make it magical. --Trinie Dalton

jeez, this is a scarey film! ok its not hostal, but its a paranoid, nightmarish fantasy, and i suggest you dont watch it with a hangover. if anyone said to you..'there was this scene with a paranoid girl walking towards a cabin, and a guy with a red lightbulb stuck in his mouth came out from behind a tree, and she got a bit freaked and ran away, via a tree stump where she picked up a rather large screwdriver...'you would just think..david lynch. its mad, it doesnt make any sense, its really horrible, its long..but, god, its cinematic heaven.
you either get lynch or you dont..
if you dont, then this is literally a nighmare..
if you do..its a brilliant, stunning piece of film with amazingly memorable scenes, but still a nightmare...
this is not for the faint-hearted!
but i loved it.
the horror..

After the masterpiece that was Mullholland Drive, comes Inland Empire, David Lynch's worst film. The first half hour is semi-coherent, as Laura Dern plays an actress living in a very wealthy mansion in California (and with a very jealous husband) set to star in some film. Her costar is Justin Theroux and the director Jeremy Irons. The feature seems to have been made in the past, but it was reportedly stopped after its main actors were murdered. This is the start, and as the half hour approaches, the films collapses into absurdity, full of unconnected surreal vignettes that test the patience of the audience. For instance, Dern's character suddenly becomes a street hooker (is the actress dreaming she was a hooker or is it the other way around? does anybody cares?). As a twenty minute short, this material might be OK, but as a three hour feature this is simply unbearable. Even Lynch's previous bizarre feasts (Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Lost Highway) look like a model of lineal clarity as compared to this.

I have a few problems with this film, but they are minor when compared with the good points about INLAND EMPIRE. The acting is flawless throughout - particularly from Laura Dern, without whom this film probably wouldn't hold up so well. It is shot beautifully, and Lynch's eye for strange and captivating images is reason enough to watch. And it is has people in rabbit suits. And any film with people in rabbit suits in a sit-com buys you time with me. And now for the problems... It's 3 hours long, and even going by how great this film his, it's still too long, and could have done with some cutting here and there, mainly in the middle section. It's also quite dark in places - not really making it atmospheric, but making it annoying you can't see what's going on. Apart from this, I think INLAND EMPIRE is very good, if a little draining to watch. I'm sure it does make sense if you think about it enough, but I'm happy to have just watched and enjoyed it for what it is.

I loved this film when I caught it at the cinema, and appreciated it more when watching on DVD. The reviewers who understandably didn't like it can hopefully respect that David Lynch is still doing his own thing though - unable to get funding in the US, his films are funded by French backers who allow him to do his own thing. Yep, I can see why people think Lynch is just indulging himself and being wilfully mysterious / incomprehensible, but I think Inland Empire is his best looking film yet and an incredible piece of work.

For those who bother to stay til the end, the final scene - various young starlets dancing away to 'Sinnerman' - easily stands comparison with the jazzed up music vids of today, while Laura Dern gives the best performance ever seen in a Lynch film (yes, better than John Hurt, Naomi Watts etc etc). I certainly didn't see a better female performance in 2007.

For what it's worth, I took the film to be a critique on Hollywood's attitude to actresses of a certain age - around Laura Dern's age actually. Lynch seems to be highly critical of the lack of quality roles available to the plus 40 actress, of the emphasis on vacuous lookers, of the pressure put on them by agents and producers etc.

But that's just what I thought. Clearly I'd recommend the film to anyone, but I suspect a flick over the reviews here would let you know if you'd like it or not.

this is the first Lynch film I had to give up watching after a very painful hour. It feels like a bad nightmare and coming from a pretentious would-be- nouvelle vague director, with too much money on his budget and 50 years later. Fake and unsubstantial, perhaps it is time to retire!Don't bother