That god damn trailer's more popular than Uncle's Day in a whorehouse!

I think one of the SW prequels was the first movie to be distributed digitally on an international scale.

But remember, the big problem with digi-distribution is that your local theater needs to have a digital projector to show the movie. Since there are very few of these at the moment, I think there will be many film prints doing the rounds too. It'll be interesting to see how this all ends up

All good news..(although maybe not so much for me in the UK), all seems to go against what's being said on imdb.com though. Well, perhaps not...

I know how unreliable people on imdb.com are, but there is this one guy who says that the Spanish press are reporting that IE was pulled from Sitges festival because Lynch and his producers want to cut it due to bad reviews at Venice. I have a couple of issues with this..

1) Bad reviews from Venice? Dont remember seeing any explicitily bad reviews, certainly not from the Italian and French press.

2) Would David really do this? Unless ofcourse he has his own creative reasons for cutting it.

 I hope this is just a case of bad reporting...What do you lot think? Apparently Studio Canal asked for it to be cut aswell..perhaps it was part of the deal? But then again I cant see David allowing that either, especially if he's going to distribute it himself.

A very artistic Writer/Director cutting his work after he officially released it to the public? No way.

IMHO, when an artist releases his work to the general public (in the case of film, to a fest or theatrical ditribution or direct to DVD), it is "finished" in the mind and heart of the artist.  Some writer/directors may touch their work post-fest etc, but this is usually under direct pressure of a studio, Exec. Producers, and the like upon the director, who (for whatever reasons), didn't retain final cut, or was trying to gain more name recognition so that he/she could one day make their IE.

I can't see DL cutting IE after all he's been through with regard to the above paragraph. Especially if he is going to be his own distributor.  Man, that just greases my wheels! A truly Independent artist!

F yeah! 

PS: I saw that post on IMDB, the OP is probably just a rumormonger. Besides, after all the wrong info that came out regarding IE distribution, length, etc etc...even from credible and semi-credible publications, I have come to the point where I rely on my knowledge of DL (make no mistake this is his baby) to draw my own conclusions regarding grey areas. Heck, a random guess at any aspect of IE from here on out would have decent odds via them Vegas guys.

Hey but that does not really mean he has never seen any Bunuel. He wanted - I suppose - to say that Bunuel isn't any particular inspiration of his and probably that his knowledge of his films isn't good at all. But I wuoldn't think it's like he has never seen any Bunuel. Although even if he hadn't seen any, he wouldn't have missed that much...

in my humble opinion of course ;-)
 

Bobi 1 Kenobi

B. Beware
O. Of
B. BOB 

 Not being familiar with and never having seen are two different things.  I was speaking to those who have claimed that DL ripped off Bunuel.

But I hear your point...whats the big deal with Bunuel? Well, in his time, he was a visionary...film was new, art on film was new, he broke a lot of ground. He is considered one of the fathers of surrealism on film, so anybody that makes surreal films will likely be accused of ripping off Bunuel by ill-informed "film buffs". But I think DL really just follows his own Muse...which I'm certain, is also rabid.

As far as Eraserhead, I'm not sure, but if he did, then he fell into the category I called "trying to get name recognition so that he can one day make his/her IE"...Translated: Get rich and/or famous enough that someone, even oneself, would be able to finance their post-initiate Opus Masterpiece in which no studiohead or exec could control.

Her name is Nikki. She is an actress. She is Susie, a character in a Southern melodrama. She is the two combined. She is a prostitute. She is a Polish woman in a Kafka-esque interrogation room. She is a violent bitch. She is a lost soul. She is nobody. She is the audience.

We do not know who the main character is. But in each scene, it is very clear who she is in the moment. She wanders through a phantasmagoria of lights, sounds, voices, images, and rooms, morphing and evolving and deconstructing. We care for her, but we do not know why. She is a symbol with an unknown meaning.

David Lynch’s new film, INLAND EMPIRE, is the best work he’s ever directed, and possibly the closest a director has ever gotten to the ideals of the French surrealists. Mulholland Drive’s most popular anaylsis dictates that a dreamer dreams a dream. But in this movie, there is no dreamer. The whole movie is the dream. The only dreamer is us, the audience. At one point, one of Laura Dern’s infinitely numbered personas stands in a empty auditorium. What she looks at appears on the screen, and ultimately Lynch’s camera on Dern appears on the screen. She is the movie. The movie is so self-aware that it transcends pretentiousness and becomes a being of itself.

Lynch’s camera explores hallways with no ends, hallways that twist on themselves and expand. We leave a ball of yarn trailing behind us, but the unseen Minotaur’s roar distracts us from the yarn and makes us run for our lives. We are scared, but its so fucking fun.

            The first hour of the movie is misleading. It plays very much like Mulholland Drive. An actress learns the movie she is about to star in is cursed. The director (Jeremy Irons) and his assistant (the hilarious Harry Dean Stanton) are aytypical, tongue-in-cheek Lynchian characters. Ah, a movie about the evil of Hollywood, we think. But it is so much more than that. This isn’t a movie about Hollywood. It is a movie about the process of art, the process of experiencing a work of art, and a movie about the labyrinth in the mind. After an hour, time and space and character dissolve. There is a maddening hilarity.

            A family of rabbits in a sitcom show on a television spout non-sequitors, supported by an arbitrary laughtrack. We are this laughtrack – where do we laugh? Where do we remain awe-strucken and silent?

            Lynch’s motifs are here, but have been amplified to an extreme not seen before. In Eraserhead the camera descends into holes that open up to other worlds. In Blue Velvet the camera journeys into the hole of the ear. In Mulholland Drive the camera plummets in the Blue Box. In INLAND EMPIRE, the holes are never-ending. Every scene ends with a hole, literal or metaphorical. I admit it became dizzying after an hour and a half; but just as we get used to sickness on a boat, we become accustomed and exhilearated by this sense of dislocation.

            Contrary to other reviewers, I found the use of digital video fantastic. And, may I add, it is not blurry or shitty-quality. I found it crisp and clean-cut. The darkness of some scenes could never be accomplished on 35 mm. And there are countless subtle maniupations of light and imagery that could only be executed with digital. Digital video is the perfect match for Lynch.

            And the plot, or lack thereof? There are countless references to names, letters, etc., that appear later on, but it is impossible from one viewing to connect the dots. It doesn’t matter, though. One feels that everything is wrapped up in the end, but one has no idea how. But it is the feeling that matters. It is a mystery that is never solved, but a mystery that is brought to a close!

            Blood and a screwdiver fall on the name of Dorothy on the Walk of Fame. A room of rabbits opens up to a room with two Polish men, one who exclaims “Do you know that I am looking for something?! I am looking for something!” Polish gangster/pimps rule over young girls in Poland. A girl at their dinner table vanishes like a ghost. A woman with a violent edge ( “I ripped his balls out”) confesses to a silent man in the top of a tower for no reason at all. Prostitues sing Do the locomotion underneath a strobe light. A woman burns a hole through a silk dress with a cigarette and peers into it, and is sucked into a nightmarish vortex. Carnies invade an outdoor barbecue, and one reclaims his precious hammer.

            I look back at this review and frown. I have not explained this movie. This review is one stream-of-conscious flow of images and words. But that’s precisely it – the movie cannot be related otherwise. The scenes I have described seem so arbitrary, like the non-sequitors of the rabbits. But they make sense in the context of the dreamworld of the film, and are so fucking beautiful.

            Let me end with this. Over a black-and-white shot of a revolving 45 rpm record, a voice with subtitles whispers that one needs to take a cigarette and burn it through a silk dress and peer through a hole. Faces and lips float over the record player. We then see a room filled with the most gorgeous orange sunlight. Laura Dern sits in the center of the room, and holds a dress in front of her. The dress is a sun-drenched, glowing square of light. Through it we see the tip of the cigarette, a black vortex burning through it. Orchestrated music underlaid with industrial ambience swirls around her. She burns the hole, peers in, and…and….and….

            “I am myself! I am Nikki! I am me! I am me!”

            “You’re not making any sense!”

            “I am me!”

            I sat there after the film, and realized that Nikki, and all of her identities, were one and the same. None were more real than the other. They were no more than myself. I was no more real than the film.

This would look good on your wall.

-Noah- 

I didn't read your review, Mrs T, because I'm waiting to see the movie myself, but I read the last line and liked it very much!

 Regarding the issue about Sitges - there's a review on AICN now, which I haven't read, but the guy who introduces the review says this:

"I read recently that it was pulled from the Sitges Film Festival, with the Fest director saying that the studio didn't want to screen it to a bunch of Lynch fans who will love it no matter what because that'll just give Lynch ammo against the studio when they start asking him to cut the film down. "

This sounds slightly more plausible than Lynch himself pulling the movie with the intention of cutting it.

The full review is here, if anybody is interested:

 http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30345

This would look good on your wall.

-Noah- 

***MUSIC SPOILER***

 I have found out that the Beck song in IE is Black Tambourine, for those of you who are interested.

COOL! I love that song!

I just had a thought, and wanted to get the views of others here.

DL has said that he wants to explore new distribution methods for IE. I'm sure it will have a cinematic release, but I also think there's a possibility that he might make it available for download.

So my question is, if it wasn't showing at any moviehouses near you, would you pay to download it and watch it on your PC? Personally, I'll be a little bummed if I don't get to see it on the big screen - how about you folks in this fine community? If you could pay to download it tomorrow, would you do so?

TITG

I didn't get a chance to get tickets for Friday, but I did manage to get a them for the Monday show.

-B

Yes the song is in the film. I also love this song. I remember i was surprised when I heard this song during the film because for me this song is not coming from "Lynch's world". It's a cool and modern song. There is also "Do the locomotion with me" and "At last" from Etta James. At the end I discovered Sinner man from Nina Simone. I did not know this song before, although I love Nina Simone ! The songs from the film are great. But for me, only these songs gave me emotions during the movie. Specially the song from Chrysta Bell.. Wonderful moment.

Hey, Brian, Josh got tickets for the Monday, November 6th screening too!  Thanks for the message btw.  He was not aware of the screening as he has been so busy with his own film.  Hopefully you guys can connect somewhere before the Will Call window.

Susan 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Good to hear it Susan. Will make sure we hook up before the show.

John, I'll be sure to take notes on the song. I'll stay till the credits roll.

-B

I'm looking for Black Tambourine since the movie isn't coming out here in Italy until January the 20th.

Who know if this song will raise some images in my head that reveal themselves as pointers for the tone of the film?...

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

Yes, I am sure, I saw the film twice !

I alrealdy wrote this : "I remember i was surprised when I heard this song during the film because for me this song is not coming from "Lynch's world". It's a cool and modern song." However, the song is good with the scene. But it's different...

RELEASE DATE IN FRANCE : FEBRUARY 7th 2007

The song actually works REALLY well..i liked that bit a lot. You should know by now not to expect logic or predictability from Mr Lynch

Oh gosh..even France has a release date now. What about the UK?!?! We dont even seem to have a distributor

Yeah, I know I don't have to expect LYnch to be predictable... Anyway, I've given the song a second chance and now it's growing better on me...

Anyay, if Badalamenti's music will be absent I will regret it with all my heart because that's one of the things that usually give to Dave's movies a lot of charm and tension.  Oh, my god I don't know what I'll just do to resist until January here in Florence (ITaly)! Anyway, has it come out yet in the U.S. or you're just dying for the wait as I do? Let me know please. Lately I've been very busy and couldn't come to the forum as much as before.

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)