http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460829/

Holla!

I've waited for four years for this news. A new Lynch full length feature. Apparently he funded the film himself (with Studio Canal), so expect this one to be Lynch at his most Lynchian (no major studio backing = total artistic freedom). I seriously can not wait. I kid you not, I will drive to LA to see this film opening weekend. It's gonna premiere at Cannes next year. I'll bet you anything Lynch gets the Palm D'or.

Some articles i've found on the film....

Lynch invades an 'Empire'

Digital pic details a mystery

By ADAM DAWTREY, Variety, May 12, 2005

David Lynch is making a new movie with StudioCanal. In fact, he's already been shooting it under the radar for two years.

Titled "INLAND EMPIRE" (in capitals, though Lynch doesn't explain why), it stars Laura Dern, along with Justin Theroux, Harry Dean Stanton, Jeremy Irons and a host of others Lynch won't specify.

In fact, there's still very little the enigmatic Lynch is comfortable to reveal about the movie.

"It's about a woman in trouble, and it's a mystery, and that's about all I want to say about it," he comments diffidently.

The title refers to the bleak residential area on the edge of the desert near L.A. -- the antithesis of the tony locale of his last movie "Mulholland Drive."

Lynch has shot much of his latest film in Poland with local actors, after making friends with the organizers of the Camerimage festival in Lodz. He's now back shooting in and around Los Angeles.

Even at this relatively advanced stage of production, Lynch is cagey about when it will be finished. But it's understood that StudioCanal is aiming for a world preem at Cannes next year.

"Making a film is a beautiful mystery," Lynch says. "You go deep into the wood, and you don't want to come out of that wood, but the time is coming very soon when I will have to."

Lynch has financed the production to date from his own resources, with his wife and longtime artistic collaborator Mary Sweeney producing. The budget is unknown.

StudioCanal, which financed "Mulholland Drive" and "The Straight Story," has come aboard "INLAND EMPIRE" to handle worldwide sales.

Digital convert

What Lynch will reveal -- and indeed, waxes lyrical about -- is the fact that he's shooting the movie on digital video.

"I started working in DV for my Web site, and I fell in love with the medium. It's unbelievable, the freedom and the incredible different possibilities it affords, in shooting and in post-production."

"For me, there's no way back to film. I'm done with it," Lynch says. "I love abstraction. Film is a beautiful medium, but it's very slow and you don't get a chance to try a lot of different things. With DV, you get those chances. And in post-production, if you can think it, you can do it."

DV has clearly given Lynch the freedom from having to clarify his intentions -- to financiers, or even to himself -- before he starts shooting.

"The explaining of things in words is always a huge problem," he confesses.

He characterizes the DV production process as a journey of "huge exploration" to discover what his film will be.

"I'm writing as I go," he says. "I believe in the unity of things. When you have one part, and then a second part that doesn't relate to that first part, it's very curious to find that they do relate after all. It's a most beautiful thing."

He also believes that it produces a different kind of performances from actors. "When you run out of film, you have to stop and reload, and during that time the heat sometimes goes off. But with this medium you can keep that heat, and it builds, and it's beautiful to see."

He says that Dern, in particular, has benefited from this freedom. "She's the most incredible actress. Some people get roles and do their thing, but some have a lot more inside and don't usually get the chance to show it."

As for the quality of the DV image, Lynch says, "It looks different. Some would say it looks bad. But it reminds me of early 35mm, that didn't have that tight grain. When you have a poor image, there's lots more room to dream."

"But I've done tests transferring DV to film, and there are all kinds of controls to dial in the look you want."

Some early stuff is coming in from Venice, and I'm pretty much at half a stock right now.

http://www.timesofoman.com/newsdetails.asp?newsid=35079

"Five years after his 2001 movie, "Mulholland Drive", Lynch returns to taunting his audience with a diabolical three-hour puzzle entitled "INLAND EMPIRE".

Lynch's dark tale is a movie within a movie in which he takes us through the nightmarish labyrinth of the inner life of a Hollywood actress, played by Laura Dern, who co-produced the film. "It's supposed to make perfect sense," Lynch said with a mischievous smile during a news conference in Venice to present his movie.

Shot in Los Angeles and Poland, the film switches back and forth between reality and fantasy, between the real-life actress and her character, and is stuffed with nightmarish images, jarring noise and dark predictions. "

From Reuters

Venice honors David Lynch

By Mike Collett-White1 hour, 17 minutes ago

Understanding director David Lynch's films is never easy.

But with his new picture "Inland Empire" the master of mystery and the macabre is more impenetrable than ever, prompting a journalist to jokingly ask after his mental health.

In his latest collaboration with actress Laura Dern, Lynch, who receives a Golden Lion lifetime achievement award from the Venice Film Festival later on Wednesday, blurs the boundaries between one story and the next, and between dream and reality.

Nearly three hours long, the most obvious plotline centers around the making of a movie and how the lead actress fears the wrath of her husband when she has an affair with her co-star.

But where that story begins and others, including one set in Poland, begin, is impossible to tell.

Asked if the film was supposed to make sense, Lynch told a news conference following a press screening: "It's supposed to make perfect sense."

Lynch relies heavily on the score to create tension and atmosphere, and the movie features a series of claustrophobic scenes following characters down darkened corridors and fearfully entering darkened rooms.

Lynch was in no mood to help journalists fathom the film's meaning.

When asked to explain the appearance of three actors wearing rabbits' heads, one of whom stands in the corner doing the ironing, the 60-year-old replied: "No, I can't explain that."

Another reporter asking about a different aspect of "Inland Empire" was told:

"I really would like to be able to explain, but the film ends up being the explanation. That's what's so terrible about press conferences. It's all about the film, not about the words."

And in reply to a question about his wellbeing, he said: "Thank you for asking. I'm doing really well."

KING OF WEIRD

The director of cult classic like "Eraserhead," "The Elephant Man" and "Mulholland Drive" and a television series that spawned a generation of copycats -- "Twin Peaks" -- suggested audiences tend to try too hard to find exact meaning in his work.

"You should be not afraid of using your intuition and feel, think your way through," he said. "Have the experience and trust your inner knowing of what it is."

Lynch explained how he launched into his latest project without knowing exactly what he wanted to do next, and Dern, who has starred in previous Lynch movies "Blue Velvet" and "Wild at Heart" called the experience "unique."

"We worked over the course of about 2-1/2 years and each day was a different direction, each day was a different idea because we did not have a script we were following," she said.

Lynch added: "Little by little by little it started revealing itself."

He stressed the importance of sound in making a picture, and attacked the now common practice of dubbing over films after they have been shot on camera.

"Cinema to me is sound and picture rolling along together in time and it's so important, the sound, how it goes with the picture, how it marries.

"I think that this dubbing of pictures has got to end. It ruins the picture, completely and totally ruins the picture."

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More reviews from Venice. The general consensus seems to be it's Lynch's most difficult film yet, and Laura Dern gives an outstanding performance.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international ... 91,00.html

Variety...

"Nobody loves a mystery more than David Lynch, but the king of the unexpected is awfully predictable in what he doesn't do: He doesn't give answers, he doesn't solve anything and he doesn't try to make sense. "Inland Empire" may mesmerize those for whom the helmer can do no wrong, but the unconvinced and the occasional admirer will find it dull as dishwater and equally murky. Almost held together by Laura Dern's intense performance, the three hours pass slowly by on unattractive digital. Despite frisky international sales, even arthouses may find it difficult to keep auds in seats.
Lynch always resists attempts at interpretation; here, he defies any kind of narrative description as well. Two and a half years in the making, this is seat-of-the-pants filmmaking at its most baffling. There was never a complete script, so thesps turned up each day with a new set of lines and no idea where they were going, making Dern's central turn even more remarkable for its coherence.

Dern plays Nikki, an actress offered a role in a film directed by Kingsley (Jeremy Irons). Co-star Devon (Justin Theroux) is warned to keep things professional, since Nikki's husband (Peter J. Lucas) is fiercely possessive.

Nikki's playing Sue, Devon is Billy, and the two characters are about to launch into an affair. Early in the shoot they learn the script, based on a Polish gypsy folktale, is a remake of a movie that never got finished because the original protags were murdered.

Inevitably Nikki and Devon wind up in bed together, but, during their lovemaking, she starts calling him Billy and he starts calling her Sue. They realize they're mixing lines from the movie into their own lives.

From here on Dern's character fragments, passing through realities in a state of barely concealed terror where everyone is menacing and it becomes impossible to tell whether she's Nikki, Nikki playing Sue, or Sue herself.

But that's the easy part. There are the Poles, who are possibly the first version of the movie's story. There's Grace Zabriskie as a menacing neighbor. There's Julia Ormond's character, first seen with a screwdriver in her gut and later cropping up as Billy's wife. And, of course, there are the giant rabbits on a stage -- two on a sofa, a third ironing (voiced by Naomi Watts, Laura Harring and Scott Coffey).

It could be that these (brown) rabbits are reminders of the White Rabbit in "Alice in Wonderland," taking Alice down the hole into bizarre lands. With the strange and terrifying occurrences, the low ceilings and the non sequiturs, there's more than a whiff of a threatening Wonderland. But since the rabbits first appeared in shorts on Lynch's Web site, it may be that he simply likes the image of people dressed in rabbit outfits.

A possible explanation for Nikki's switch to Sue and back could come from Lynch's deep-seated interest in transcendental meditation and the concomitant belief in reincarnation, making the shifts a kind of transference between lives. But since Lynch believes all things are ultimately connected, and he himself didn't know what he was going to add, there may be no true explanation.

Who knows, maybe the reason a group of prostitutes start singing "The Locomotion" is because Lynch heard it on the radio the day before. Does it belong? Does it matter, since everything belongs?

The usual Lynch trademarks -- intense close-ups, monumental headshots, red curtains -- are all here, but noticeably missing are the deep, rich colors and sharp images. Instead, they're replaced by murky, shadowy DV, which may give him more freedom but robs the pic of any visual pleasure.

Lynch's own experiments with music lead to repetitious spooky sounds and tension-filled noises, repeated so often in dark corridors that they, too, fail to enhance a mood already gone awry."

Of course I'll go see David Lynch's new film, but I don't want to read anything about it beforehand.

Blue Velvet is on my lifetime top ten list, I saw Eraserhead a dozen times back in the day, and I was a loyal Twin Peaks watcher. I've enjoyed all his films including Dune, but perhaps my least favorite was Mulholland Drive.

Looking forward to 2007...

Hopefully we wont have to wait that long.

We could see Nort American distribution this year if things go well at Venice.

Th first actual review, and it's negative.... But, it just got me more excited for the film.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/re ... 1003118843

http://comingsoon.net/news/indietopnews.php?id=16889

He's going to distribute the film himself

This is out on DVD today.

Go buy it/rent it!! And then think about how you wish you had the chance to go back in time and vote for Laura Dern for the World of KJ Movie Awards.

Rented it. It's almost 3 hours long!

BTW, there's a review thread over in the "Everyone's a Critic" forum - - and it's been pretty lonely in there waiting for all you DVD-heads...

Tried to get it at my local blockbuster and of couse they didn't have it. I'll have to get it from online I guess.

And of couse it's a short wait, as it seems with every film I want to see.

THis is playing in a theater here in London so I decided I'd go and see it.

I was surprised the theater was pretty full considering it's been almost a year since its initial release, the type of film it is and the fact that it just came out on DVD.

But to recap, while it is not a film for everyone and it might seem a bit self indulgent at times (as if David Lynch had pretty much created the film for himself) those willing to get lost in his world/vision will find the movie to be some kind of miracle. And it gets better as it goes along with the last hour being absolutely brilliant (it also makes less sense as it goes along, so those that require that their movies make sense might feel the complete opposite.)

But it is Laura Dern who really stands out. I really have no words to describe how good she is. Not only is it the best performance of 2006 but one of the best so far this decade. Laura Dern as a hooker on Hollywood Blvd with Beck music playing in the background is one of my all time favorite moments in film history.

So yeah. I really think this movie will develop some kind of rabid cult following. If/When, you know, more than the 5 people that have seen it so far seek it out. Which is why I've been pushing you guys to see it. So get to it already lol

And yeah, sorry bradley but in the hopes of keeping the Foreign/Indie forum active I'd rather discuss the film here.

I don't believe that allowing the common folk in the "Everyone's a Critic" forum to read the reviews for this movie, in addition to the ongoing discussion in here will destroy the "Foreign & Independent" forum (at least more than it is already)...

After all - - this is a David Lynch movie - - just because he's distributing it independently, doesn't make it any less of a major film from a major director of the modern era!

I encourage anyone who's seen Inland Empire to discuss it here, but to also post a copy of your review in the review forum...