Inland Empire - New Lynch Film Announced
David Lynch's next film would be entitled "Inland Empire". Justin Theroux, Jeremy Irons, Laura Dern, and Harry Dean Stanton are some among the cast members announced on Variety.com.

From Variety:
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.

Andam por aí rumores de que pode ser um filme mudo...

Screening Schedule at the Biennale in Venice

INLAND EMPIRE will be shown out of competition at the Biennale in Venice where David Lynch receives a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. The film's runtime is 172 min.

Sinopse:"A Polish woman looks, intently, into someone or something ... an actress (Laura Dern) is warned that her new movie is cursed ... a rabbit-headed family perform sit-com actions on a stage set as if engaged in a solemn ritual ... Such are just a few of the elements and recurrent motifs of The Inland Empire, a mesmerizing surge through countless looking glasses that lands us on the far side of the land of nightmares. Lynch’s first foray into high-definition video is just as visually stunning as his work in 35mm, but the long gestation period of his new film (he shot on and off over two years, and wrote as he went) has allowed him to give his own uniquely epic form to many of his primary concerns: the exploitation of young women, the mutability of identity, the omnivorousness of Hollywood."

Novo filme de Lynch deixa Veneza perplexa
Rébecca Frasquet *

Oangustiado universo do cineasta norte-americano David Lynch, povoado de fantasmas e erotismo, invadiu a 63.ª edição do Festival de Veneza, onde "INLAND EMPIRE", o seu primeiro filme em cinco anos, foi projectado ontem em antestreia mundial, fora da competição. Aos 60 anos, David Lynch converteu-se no mais jovem realizador a receber o Leão de Ouro pelo conjunto da obra.

Fiel às premissas do cineasta, "INLAND EMPIRE" é um filme enigmático e tecido de tonalidades sombrias, capaz de reunir os elementos necessários para agradar aos muitos fãs de David Lynch.

O cenário, diabolicamente complexo, confronta os espectadores com a vida interior de Nikki, uma célebre actriz de Hollywood, o local por excelência onde "as estrelas sonham e os sonhos estão povoados de estrelas".

Por entre 'flashbacks' enigmáticos, o filme não tarda a abandonar os terrenos da racionalidade para revelar um turbilhão de imagens, músicas e sons, nos quais a cronologia é sabotada, os tempos dilatados, as imagens deformadas e as personagens se confundem.

Graças a uma fotografia extraordinária, Lynch expõe os fantasmas mais delirantes e improváveis, abarcando o registo do inconsciente, das pulsões e da vida.

No 'puzzle' angustiado em que se converte "INLAND EMPIRE", o autor de "Uma história simples" partilha as suas obsessões, que incluem, por exemplo, a perda da consciência, os ecos fantasmagóricos e o sado-masoquismo.

Terminada a projecção, os aplausos foram breves e, sintomático, perplexos.

"Todos os filmes partem de um outro mundo, do desconhecido é preciso, por isso, que não tenhamos medo de confiar na intuição e mergulhar no desconhecido", afirmou um reservado David Lynch na conferência de imprensa que se seguiu à projecção.

Para o realizador americano, que se recusou a responder a questões que envolviam interpretações de cenas do novo filme, "o cinema é uma linguagem magnífica, que nos fala sem palavras, pelo que é preciso fazer experiências de outro mundo".

INLAND EMPIRE

Having now seen the new Lynch film twice I have to say that - at the risk of hyperbolizing - it is probably his least accessable (at least upon first viewing) since Eraserhead. The film is 172 minutes, and this length seems to only serve the purpose of having more stuff in the film. It's like in Mulholland Drive where the last 30 or so minutes seem to come out of nowwhere and don't make sense at all until you've seen it 4 or so times? Well, INLAND EMPIRE has that but it is over an hour. Initially, I thought it lacked that certain sense of beauty that all of Lynch's films have, however when watching it for a second time I realized just how wrong this was of me. In fact, the end of the film reaches moments of such pure amazing beauty that I was probably just too baffled to think about it the first time.

As a movie, I think it is a nice companion piece to Mulholland Drive. It also concerns an actress (Laura Dern) and the events surrounding her life following a visit from a neighbor (this scene was especially great the second time, because only then do you realize what the neighbor is actually saying). However the film goes deeper into certain ideas than Mulholland Drive, while alternately leaving them (or so it seems) less explored. Large segments of the film also take place in Poland, while others concern a girl in a hotel room watching certain things on tv (including episodes of Lynch's web-series Rabbits), as well as a classical trick of scenes that are revealed at the end to have been part of the film which is being made. Lynch avoids taking the easy way out and having these scenes look different from the rest of the film in any way, which leads me to believe that further viewings will reveal more scenes which potentially are part of the "movie within" as well. Knowing what we do about Lynch's position with meditation and his beliefs regarding the untapped potential of the human brain helps while watching the film, especially considering the way that certain scenes and sequences play out as a result of one character or another's mindset.

Initially, I wasn't quite sure how to rank it with other Lynch films, or if I had even liked it. It certainly doesn't seem as long as it is. However after two days of thinking about it and another viewing, I am starting to warm up to it. What it lack's in Eraserhead's charming austerity or the immediate beauty of Blue Velvet, INLAND EMPIRE makes up for in substance and mystery. Because of this, I tend to think that it will eventually take its place alongside the best of Lynch films, but right now seems too impenetrable to fully appreciate or consider. Word is it gets released in America this November.

Lynch to Distribute Inland Empire Himself

Seeking to explore new methods of distribution, David Lynch has secured the rights for the US and Canada to his first digital video feature, Inland Empire.

Reaching an agreement with Studio Canal, Lynch proclaims, "It's a whole new world out there, even when it comes to distribution." The film's producer Mary Sweeney concurs stating, "David's decision to explore a new model of distribution is consistent with the fearless way in which he made 'Inland Empire.'"

The film, starring Laura Dern, Justin Theroux, Harry Dean Stanton and Jeremy Irons, took two and a half years to complete.