Like all other David Lynch films I’ve seen, the disturbing awe and confusion that accumulated throughout the course of INLAND EMPIRE slowly faded away as I retreated to try and put the pieces together. It was here that my appreciation grew – but only when I realized that the less I tried to scrutinize the puzzle pieces and determine symbolic meaning, the easier it would be to swallow the film as a whole.

INLAND EMPIRE was shot entirely on DV, running nearly 3 hours, and is so representative of the stark complexity of Lynch’s imagination that no distributor would touch it. Think Mulholland Drive multiplied by a hundred. This film completely abandons narrative linear progression in favour of a nightmarish journey. We don’t know if we are in past, present or future, and neither does our lead character.

Nikki (superbly acted by Laura Dern) is met in her home by a bulgy-eyed European woman (Grace Zabriskie) who lives “just down the way,” where the notion of time is first called into question. The woman advises Nikki that she will get the role she’s after, then asks if it is about marriage and murder. Nikki is shocked and confused, but as we follow her gaze across the living room we find ourselves in tomorrow, where she receives word that she’s just gotten the part in a movie that will re-launch her wilting acting career.

Nikki stars in the film “On High With Blue Tomorrows” opposite Devon (Justin Theroux), a slick womanizer who is repeatedly warned to stay away from Nikki or bear serious consequences from her rich and powerful husband. Their characters, Sue and Billy, engage in an adulterous affair on-screen, but as the film progresses the distinction between “reality” and “movie” becomes impossible to distinguish. The producers also reveal that the script is a re-write of an old Polish movie, based on a gypsy fable, and was never completed because the two leads were brutally murdered. They warn that people consider this story to be cursed, but the actors decide to soldier on.

The filming of “On High With Blue Tomorrows” is the one coherent narrative thread within INLAND EMPIRE, but soon becomes entangled within the web of rabbit-holes that Lynch constructs. He drives the anti-plot into a horrific labyrinth, peppered by an obsession with a screwdriver, a formula etched onto doors, hookers who lounge about and laugh incessantly, and literal journeys through dark hallways and stairwells. I initially took the repetition of these elements as clues to be deciphered; narrative film teaches us to analyse recurring events, but Lynch subverts this rule by leading us nowhere down these roads.

One seemingly unrelated branch features three people in rabbit suits on a sitcom set, where empty dialogue is followed by inappropriate audience laughter. Likewise, the absurdity of the Hollywood empire seeping into the lives of viewers and skewing their perspective extends into Nikki’s life as she accepts the role of Sue. She allows herself to rely on the most superficial industry to bring excitement and meaning back into her stale, controlled married life. Illusions like these allow us to escape from reality, but this is a fragile and dangerous glass house, as Lynch demonstrates in the last third of the film.

“Inland Empire” is a cluster of suburbs south of LA, so it fits that he places his characters within comfortable looking homes throughout most of this film. In the land of Lynch, home is not a safe haven; home is where ugly, unexpected things occur, and you couldn’t escape even if you tried. I think Lynch’s take is that we are trapped by our domestic lives, and when we try to compensate for this by leading a double-life – “acting” – struggle and disassociation with the self ensues.

If you are already a fan of David Lynch, INLAND EMPIRE will take you deeper than you’ve ever been before. But if you are a newcomer, I recommend starting with a more manageable bite. As you progress throughout the varied works of this acclaimed director and artist, your perceptions and expectations will dance circles around you and eventually culminate around this ground-breaking film.

INLAND EMPIRE screens at the Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour) daily at 7:30pm, May 3-8. www.vifc.org

INFAMOUS MAGAZINE, MAY 2007 ISSUE