Initial Glances at Inland Empire.

Essentially, I could sit here and vent my frustration on attaining a David Lynch film from a multi-billion dollar give-a-damn corporation (Walmart, who else?). The problem doesn't just exist with the employee's apathy for actually, you know, providing customer service or like, knowing how to run a computer system or at least attempting to have some faith in an individual saying, "Yes, I know you received shipments for the DVD--will you just check for me?". Hell, it extends all the way up the corporate ladder where board rooms are assembled for increasing customer overload as opposed to amiability, customer connections, etc; Mom-and-Pop stores bear most of the weight, but we're next in line. Anyway, it's all rather moot considering that I eventually put up with all of the faux-red tape and grabbed my copy of Inland Empire and started heading home--to sleep. In fact, as I type this at 4:00 in the afternoon I have yet to watch my DVD copy. Part of it was because I've already seen the film and wanted to wait 'til I was fully awake for my next viewing, but mostly it was the unavoidable knowledge that I was going to have to prepare myself again to watch this film. Oh, rest assured I'll be spending my night funneling my ways through the various functions of Lynch's latest cinematic vehicle; I'll be frightened at every turn. Preparation means absolutely nothing. I thought of something fantastic on the drive home: Lynch's films don't breathe, they function. They are defined by a cerebral process and their extincts are not compressed by a fleeting romanticism. Because nothing about Inland Empire is fleeting.

This is going to be an exciting month for film fans because no matter what your stance is on David Lynch, you have to admit that the man does inspire some absolutely breath-taking metaphors, encirclements, tangents,..you name it. In the 6+ years since Mulholland Drive (which, btw, I'm not a gigantic fan of. But more on that later or by request) we are still getting some insanely detailed critical analyses; few film-makers, if any, tend to polarize its critics and viewers quite like him. I remember having a discussion with another user on the ability of his films to be "cracked", which more or less says something about the viewer than the actual system which his most quintessential films are governed by: they can't really be cracked. But alas, I'm sort of skirting amongst several of the things that the film will better answer or confound (I'm not entirely sold on which one is more beneficial) and the real point of this particular post is just to explain some of the initial vibes I got from the DVD box, the title menus, and also, how much 2-Disc Special Edition really does pack.
[Note: Initial responses from DVD reviewers and fellows users is that the UK DVD release has a significantly less number of features. However, I've been pointed by an IMDB user that DVD Beaver claims the image quality is severely lacking on the American release in comparison to the European version. Europe, especially France, are more appreciative towards Lynch, nonetheless.]




First Reactions:




The front of the DVD box is pretty much the same as the above poster without the credentials, Los Angeles distanced behind Laura Dern, and with the addition of the wonderfully-phrased "A Woman in Trouble" right below the words INLAND EMPIRE. It's still a fantastic poster and the back side is fillwed with all sorts of wonderfully screencaptures--a red/orange lamp, an incandescent light bulb, and ominously lighted silhouette, Axxon-N, and quite perfectly, the frightening shadow of a rabbit against a door. The back cites that DISK ONE contains the film and DISK TWO contains 211 minutes (!!!) of special features: "More things the happened", "Ballerina", "Lynch 2", "Quinoa", "Stories", "Trailers", and "Stills". I'm not going to go through these right now simply because of my schedule and because I think these most likely warrant a separate blog entry but the initial thought of 211 minutes of bonus material is pretty fantastic.




The covering of DISK ONE is the infamous red lamp and DISK TWO is decorated with rabbit family situated in their apartment just like the sitcom within the film (We've all seen that clip, so I really don't think I'm spoiling anything. )

Upon starting DISK ONE you get the promotional image of Absurda ("A David Lynch Company) over some expected ambient/creepy music. Next we are led to a main menu highlighted by even more experimental audio and a POS record player--awesome. [see above]

DISK TWO starts out the same way as the first disk with the promotional image of Lynch's production company. The main menu is the same imposed image of an emotionally distraught Laura Dern in a blue tint--in other words, the same image on the poster. [see below]


Special Features -

Stills - Pretty much self-explanatory: A very pretty montage of the film's various images and production shots.
Quinoa - David Lynch teaching cooking lessons. Pretty much expect every 19 year-old student filmmaker to be eating "quinoa" for dinner.
More things that Happened - A disturbingly empty red-shaded room. I'll have to check this one out later.
Ballerina - An attractive red-dressed girl dancing on ice to some wonderfully inspirational music. Note: one of these observations is false.
Trailers - Don't get your hopes up. Then again, don't get them down they still are quite impressive.
Lynch 2 - David Lynch being a churlish, condescending OCD control freak. Laugh out loud.
Stories - Lynch talking straight to the microphone. I haven't given it a listen yet but I'm sure there's at least a few good things to be extracted from this, expectedly.

In the spirit of brevity/I've actually come under the impression that my desire for brevity sort of disregards my status as a "serious blogger"...but in this instance, can you expect an individual to write tirelessly about something he hasn't been able to soak up yet?/I'm going to just end it hear and await your thoughts and pray for slight anticipation for what is to come of this film and its features. As I promised earlier, I'll be working--along with half of the film-obsessed web--on my reactions to the film and hopefully trying to penetrate the thickly-coated layers of what is Inland Empire. There's no harm in trying.