Inland Empire (David Lynch)

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by AnamorphicWidescreen

And, even after a second viewing - IE is definitely Lynch's densest & most incomprehensible movie. Essentially, the whole film just seemed like one big mind-#$#%, without any kind of rhyme or reason to connect anything together.

That's because it was a bunch of unrelated short films he just stitched together. It DIDN'T make sense, for most of it. Truly unwatchable, and I love everything else Lynch did, with maybe the exception of FWWM. That awful digital video didn't help make it watchable even visually.

[drterror666]

Lynch is seriously something else, but in a good way, of course. I think you have to watch his films a number of times; if you don't have the patience, then they're not for you. I've been hooked since Eraserhead all those moons ago!

[Arch Stanton]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

That's because it was a bunch of unrelated short films he just stitched together. It DIDN'T make sense, for most of it. Truly unwatchable, and I love everything else Lynch did, with maybe the exception of FWWM. That awful digital video didn't help make it watchable even visually.

This isn't really true. It initially began as a possible web-series project, mostly stemming from a combination of Axxon-n and a monologue he wrote for Laura Dern. He then got funding to shoot individual scenes in Poland, which he wrote on a scene by scene basis. It was only the early days of shooting that the film had no clear theme or goal - everything from then on was interconnected and written to work as an overall whole with an overarching theme. There are no unrelated "short films". Even Rabbits, which he made in 2002 and then appears again in IE, was reshot to match the new plot of the movie.

The digital aesthetic is incredible and I think what Lynch did with the low-grade image was remarkable. Far as I'm concerned it's the greatest explore of consumer video ever.

[Eibon]

It's a great movie but I think undisciplined because it was his reaction to the constraints of big-budget film making. I haven't made the leap to Blu Ray because it was shot in standard definition but I'll get the UK release one day since it has different extras to the US 2xDVD I have. I want to revisit it because I think that Episode 8 of Twin Peaks last week was just about the most incredible thing I've ever seen. I simply cannot get the imagery out of my head since I saw it. Possibly the greatest piece of audacious TV programming I've ever seen. Please God it turns out to mean something in the bigger picture.

[Lutz]

I have the US Absurda DVD and the German blu ray and the blu is definitely better resolved and refined than the up-res-DVD. Not to mention the soundtrack.

[Arch Stanton]

Were there not also motion issues on the DVD that were fixed on the Blu?

I've got the US disc for the sweet extras tho, although for some reason they're presented in a bizarre aspect ratio.

[DarknessBDJM]

Not sure if this was answered, but does any blu release have More Things That Happened in it, or is that exclusive to the dvd?

[Arch Stanton]

The Concorde release on the German box-set definitely doesn't, don't think the UK disc does either?

[Dougling]

Originally Posted by DarknessBDJM

Not sure if this was answered, but does any blu release have More Things That Happened in it, or is that exclusive to the dvd?

Just checked and it's not listed on the case.

[Arch Stanton]

More Things That Happened seems to be in pretty poor quality on the DVD though, and like I said in a strange cropped aspect ratio. Hopefully IE goes to Criterion at some point so all the extras can be sorted out on disc 2 (with others hopefully from DL.com too).

[Si Parallel Universe]

Originally Posted by drush9999

I know people who like Blue Velvet and maybe Twin Peaks (not the new series..) but struggle with his other output. So don't think he's very marmitey

They most probably like those popular works that just happened to be by Lynch .. Blue Velvet was one of those film posters that must have hung on every Uni Student's dorm walls around the time for instance.

Twin Peaks was liked by all sorts of people , again would have had little to do with most people's perceptions of who may have directed it.

[AnamorphicWidescreen]

I first saw Lynch's Inland Empire when it first hit theaters in Spring 2007, and recently re-watched this again.

I have seen all of Lynch's films. And, even after a second viewing - IE is definitely Lynch's densest & most incomprehensible movie. Essentially, the whole film just seemed like one big mind-f$#%, without any kind of rhyme or reason to connect anything together.

The only things I really "got" from this was the following:

The Laura Dern & Justin Theroux characters were an actress/actor on a film set, and off the set they were having an affair. LD's husband (in "real life") warned off the JT character from seeing his wife.

There were a couple of scenes that appeared to take place in Poland?!

There was a Hollywood street scene that showed the LD character getting stabbed by a fellow?! prostitute, and then slowly dying on the street - however, this didn't "really" happen & was actually part of a film, given that at the end of the scene, you saw a film crew panning back from the scene & LD slowly stirring. It also seems that the character LD was playing here was not the same character she was playing in the scenes she had with JT.

The final scene was the most bizarre - it took place in the drawing room?! of an old house, with women just walking around in a daze. Was this supposed to be hell?! Purgatory?!

The film had several seemingly unconnected dance sequences - including the final scene in the film.

I suspect that if I watch the film a 3rd time it won't make any more sense.

That all being said, as with much of Lynch's work I found this a fascinating viewing experience.

[Purploros]

Does the top menu trick work on this release?

[Purploros]

Originally Posted by Purploros

Does the top menu trick work on this release?

To whosoever may have shared the same question, I purchased it off of Amazon UK to test for myself, and it does.

[A113]

Wish I had a region-free player so I can pick up a copy of this but I found the closest thing to the Blu-ray. A cheap copy of the oop DVD for $30 but with Lynch uploading 4K versions of Rabbits on his YouTube channel, I'm wondering if that might lead up to a Criterion announcement this year. Does anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

[Spiderwalk]

Originally Posted by A113

Wish I had a region-free player so I can pick up a copy of this but I found the closest thing to the Blu-ray. A cheap copy of the oop DVD for $30 but with Lynch uploading 4K versions of Rabbits on his YouTube channel, I'm wondering if that might lead up to a Criterion announcement this year. Does anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

The German Concorde Video release is Region Free, or you could import the Japanese disc which is Region A.

[CRB]

Does this have a slipcover ?

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by CRB

Does this have a slipcover ?

No.

[rainbowbattlekid]

So what's the best official way to get the special features for this in Region 1? I have a decent rip of the film itself so I'm holding out for a US blu there, but would snag a physical copy in the meantime if i could get those supplements

[CelestialAgent]

Originally Posted by rainbowbattlekid

So what's the best official way to get the special features for this in Region 1? I have a decent rip of the film itself so I'm holding out for a US blu there, but would snag a physical copy in the meantime if i could get those supplements

Get a region free player?

A couple of the extras are on the Criterion BD or StudioCanal 4K UHD for The Elephant Man

Lynch and Kermode is on the Guardian website... but it requires Flash player so maybe not much use

https://www.theguardian.com/film/vid...009819,00.html