inland empire represent it mean los angeles and the place of lynch inspiration and but also the inward realm of the mind and of dream and the surreal world of lynch imagination that uniquely inspire his visual poem . this new work and three hour long but unify by a savage and harrow performance by laura dern channel three or four or more overlapping personality grow out of a lengthy free stand monologue that be the film start point and be proof that the man isn not play while hasn not lose his touch while still produce work unlike any other and work to be treasure . dl explore a universe reachable only by go past the rational mind . it be a realm where a character and in the present case particularly the character play by dern ( the press cliché be career define performance ) and turn into other character and turn again . it a realm where there another world behind the sound stage and that other world be another life and another identity and another set of terror . and we go there while we come back while and we go there again . after become the desperate monologist and dern also become nikki and a movie star choose with devon ( justin theroux ) to star in a film and on high in blue tomorrow and direct by kingsley ( jeremy iron ) . and kingsley work with freddie ( harry dean stanton ) a co director who cadge money from stagehand and actor and apologize say and i use to carry my own weight . on high in blue tomorrow turn out to be a remake of a doomed film and 4/7 and never finish because both star be murder and and base on a polish gypsy folktale . in the film nikki and a sue and be cheat on her husband and and during the shoot nikki real lifehusband warn her not to do it for real . but of course she do represent the film relationship parallel real life and and the star find theyre confuse themselves with their film character and just a it happen in michele piccioni recent film and la vita che vorrei . that expletive strewn 14 page ( single space ) ur monologue that anchor the film be shoot in the back of dl house with a sony pd 150 digital video camera he would start to use in connection with his website and www . davidlynch . com and a common midrange model that sell now for $ 2 and 724. the monologue become the ground of be and the sony become the simple visual tool that give inland empire it content and it visual style . lynch have switch to dv for good and say a sad farewell to the glorious beauty and cumbersome complexity of celluloid and and for this film embrace dv limitation . he do not try to make it look like film . dl admits people say the quality be not so good . but it a different quality . it remind me and he say and of early 35 millimeter film . you see different thing . it talk to you differently ( nytimes and dennis lim ) . this reversion and if you will and to a cruder visual medium ( but one that in many way more fluid and both for the actor who can work through without pause and the editor who have handy software and the crew who can be few and and work light ) and have stir up the director creative juice and bring him back in a way to the raw energy and immediacy of eraserhead . thus it a return to youthful beginning and yet something completely new . it burn the bridge and rediscover root at the same time . and which basically be what any artist to stay alive need to do . dern anchor the film and but it have many element that need anchor . there be the disreputable husband of the disreputable monologist and who join a baltic circus . there a woman play by julia ormond and who first see in a sleazy backyard with a screwdriver in her stomach and and later reappears a billy wife . and there a polish thread which grow out of baltic connection dl have forge and in the structure of idea may trace back to the origin of the film of devon and sue ( be the ur 4/7 ) . there a weep polish prostitute and watch a tv monitor on which appear a sitcom shot on a stage with people wear rabbit head while a laugh track create a disquieting effect because the laugh come at meaningless point and give the line a sinister ring . later the screen show sue . slant magazine ed gonzales smartly refers to the monitor a one of various portal through which character merge into other world ( go through the look glass while fall through rabbit hole ) . clearly it all in the editing and and those who feel dl creation be chaotic and portentously meaningless overlook his canny sense of structure . there a group of pretty prostitute in a motel room and who talk to laura dern character and sing and dance and do the locomotion and and then at the end lipsynch nina simone sinner man behind the closing credit one of the great closing credit of recent decade and a rollicking and gorgeous episode and which cheer you up but still contain flash ( laura face ) that haunt you with memory of the strangeness and terror that pass . these be some of the interlock box of inland empire . dl mock the idea of the real while use the concept to slide in between world . all this be gloriously cinematic . the film technically have no u distributor and though it have many european one and the french studio canal sign on early at the stage when dl say he be use dv and do not know what he be do . the whole of inland empire perhaps resemble the cosmic free fall of the mind warp final act in mulholland drive ( lim ) and but on the other hand it have someone to identify with ( if you can stand the ride ) in laura dern and who dominate the film and thread it together . her full ranged performance be sure to gain much mention at year end . after fifteen year of disappointment with and doubt about dl and it be possible to love his work again .