The Empire of the Mind

So it's been three years since this edit was released and I finally got to watching it.

Inland Empire is my second least favorite Lynch film, the first being Dune. It's not that it's bad, it's just a film I can't crack. A lot of people feel Lynch does a lot of "weird" things, and that his films are hard to decipher. Maybe on first viewing, but usually with a second or third viewing the meaning of the film comes out, or in the very least your interpretation of the film can make sense of it. Not so with Inland Empire. It was famously shot over several years with Lynch handing the actors pages for their scenes the day of shooting, and at three hours long it takes dedication to watch.

This fanedit incorporates nearly an additional hour and a half of footage into the film. ReddinoX wisely decided to break the fanedit up into 4 roughly 60-min. episodes, and I say roughly because I think a 4.5-hr Inland Empire would tests even the most patient Lynch fan.

So the real question is, "Does it work?" I don't know. Having them as episodes makes the film easier to digest, but I don't feel the added material sheds light onto what the narrative is actually trying to tell. And for that reason I found it very difficult to rate the narrative and enjoyment of this fanedit. Also, since there is no shooting script per se, ReddinoX was left to figure out where the deleted scenes should go. Are they were Lynch intended them to be? I don't know, and my gut says probably not, but Inland Empire is such a hodgepodge of a film it doesn't really matter.

As for PQ and AQ I have no complaints. The film was shot on a PD150 (DV) so the PQ is relatively flat and not as good as HD or film is. I can't fault ReddinoX in that regard. It's the nature of the source material. I do feel some of the editing, though, is abrupt and not as solid as it can be. I don't know the theatrical cut of Inland Empire as well as other Lynch films since I don't watch it as regularly, and I think I've only watched the deleted scenes once, when I bought the DVD. Many scenes fade too quickly, though, something Lynch typically doesn't do, so I THINK these were choices done by ReddinoX. I think these could have been slowed down a bit to make them feel more organic to the style of the film.

So do I recommend the edit? If you enjoy Lynch's work then I don't think you'll be disappointed with this edit. The story still doesn't make sense but you get a lot more of Lynch stuff that doesn't make sense, so I guess that's a win. I would, however, recommend taking a break between each episode to give you a chance to absorb what you've experienced.