Inland Empire 2006

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Inland Empire is essentially a journey inside David Lynch's mind, sometimes burrowing very deep indeed. Nobody else could have made this film; nobody else should try. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: While you suspect Lynch's digital video acumen will flower into something extraordinary in coming projects, this one's intermittently extraordinary at best. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Inland Empire might be David Lynch's masterpiece -- or it might just be a total mess. Either way it's vintage Lynch and designed exclusively, it seems, for hardcore fans -- or perhaps solely for the director himself. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Undeniably, Inland Empire has moments that seem like transmissions from cinema's future. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Lynch serves up enough irrationally disturbing images for 100 classic Asian horror films, and the bedraggled Dern is so overflowingly open that you can't dismiss the movie as an arty exercise. Read more

Steve Murray, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: With Inland Empire, the whole thing feels stuck in Lynch's noggin. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: It's a bit like watching the final 40 minutes of Mulholland stretched to three hours and filmed with digital-video cameras available at a Circuit City near you. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The way to watch it is to skip uneasily along its surface and steel yourself for those moments when Lynch pulls you into the vortex. More than any working filmmaker, he knows the dreamlike power of undertow. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: ...The film, which begins promisingly, disappears down so many rabbit holes (one of them involving actual rabbits) that eventually it just disappears for good. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Inland Empire is full of good and bad girls, but [Lynch] gives this obsession an interesting spin by having most of them played by the same actress. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: A great big puzzle movie that even Lynch appears not to have figured out. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: A can't-miss experience and likely one of the year's very best films. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Inland Empire is so locked up in David Lynch's brain that it never burrows its way into ours. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: You may find Lynch's experimentalism and willful obscurity to be the work of a poseur, ultimately pointless drivel. I can understand that, but I think you would be wrong. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: The thrill of Inland Empire lies, I think, in surrendering yourself to its epic weirdness, falling under its spell and allowing Lynch to gradually lead you back into the light. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: I can't totally recommend Inland Empire. But something tells me I'd be a fool to totally dismiss it. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: Not only is the storytelling murky, so is the picture quality. Video technology may have enabled the director to experiment with long takes and extreme close-ups, but it also yields a movie that's dull on several levels. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Despite its moments of inspired terror and mystery, this isn't a cult hit in the making like Mulholland Drive, or a contrarian critic's delight like Lost Highway. It's an opaque and baffling work, difficult to follow and difficult to like. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: A free-fall plunge through David Lynch's imagination, a curious and often astonishing place. The film is dazzling and bewildering in equal measure. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: The effect, after an hour or two, begins to resemble a very anxiety-fraught session of watching music videos on MTV. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: A bucket of Lynchian leftovers, stirred slightly and left to ferment in the dark. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: An amazing and unshakeable experience. Read more

Ben Kenigsberg, Time Out: Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: Whether shattering or boring, you'll still have your eyes wide, wide open from begin to end. Read more

Jay Weissberg, Variety: 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. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: It's an experience. Either you give yourself over to it or you don't. And if you do, don't miss the end credits. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: It's worth watching as yet another example of Lynch's extraordinary collaboration with Dern. It may be overstating things to call her performance heroic, but it's nothing if not brave, as she dares to embody Lynch's most brutal impressions of Hollywood. Read more