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  • Why would anybody watch a scum show like Videodrome? Why did you watch it, Max?

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    • Originally posted by Derrick King View Post
      Huh, maybe the Criterion treatment will make his SD DV decision look good. Doubtful, though.

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      • Originally posted by Mark Tolch View Post
        Huh, maybe the Criterion treatment will make his SD DV decision look good. Doubtful, though.
        It worked for 28 Days Later, but I think that was shot on a better camera.

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        • Originally posted by Mark Tolch View Post
          Huh, maybe the Criterion treatment will make his SD DV decision look good. Doubtful, though.
          Yeah not sure anything could do that. I remember there being some unnerving sequences in the Inland Empire, but I don't really have any urge to revisit it.

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          • I'm interested in seeing what they can do to improve the image. I wonder if Lynch likes the way it currently looks? It's not like he didn't know what he was doing.
            Why would anybody watch a scum show like Videodrome? Why did you watch it, Max?

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            • Originally posted by Matt H. View Post
              I'm interested in seeing what they can do to improve the image. I wonder if Lynch likes the way it currently looks? It's not like he didn't know what he was doing.
              He has stated he had a certain look in mind, which is what lead to the technical decisions, so I guess it can be assumed he was ok with what he got out of it.

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              • It's great if you go back and read Lynch on Lynch and see what he has to say about DV and using Avid, compared to what he was saying when he made Inland Empire. I think that it's his most unwatchable film. There are some interesting scenes shot, but I dislike it intensely.

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                • Originally posted by Mark Tolch View Post
                  It's great if you go back and read Lynch on Lynch and see what he has to say about DV and using Avid, compared to what he was saying when he made Inland Empire. I think that it's his most unwatchable film. There are some interesting scenes shot, but I dislike it intensely.
                  I think his most unwatchable is DUNE. INLAND is interesting enough that I think about it occasionally and have revisited it a couple of times.
                  Why would anybody watch a scum show like Videodrome? Why did you watch it, Max?

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                  • Originally posted by Mark Tolch View Post
                    It's great if you go back and read Lynch on Lynch and see what he has to say about DV and using Avid, compared to what he was saying when he made Inland Empire. I think that it's his most unwatchable film. There are some interesting scenes shot, but I dislike it intensely.
                    It's my favorite of his. At the very least, I found it to be his most interesting (and, to be fair, his most challenging).

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                    • Originally posted by Quot View Post
                      It's my favorite of his. At the very least, I found it to be his most interesting (and, to be fair, his most challenging).
                      Wow, your favourite? It does take all kinds!

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                      • Originally posted by Matt H. View Post
                        I think his most unwatchable is DUNE. INLAND is interesting enough that I think about it occasionally and have revisited it a couple of times.
                        Yeah, I don't even factor DUNE in there lol. So, you're probably right.

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                        • Second favorite here, right behind Lost Highway.
                          LA PASIÓN ESPAÑOL: THE EROTIC MELODRAMAS OF VICENTE ARANDA (1991-1999)

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                          • You all are weird. :D. Just kidding, it makes me happy that we're in such an oddball place that people love that film.

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                            • Mark, here's what I wrote about Inland Empire back during my high falutin' days of writing about films...


                              There's no question in my mind that this is Lynch's most accomplished (and personal) work to date.

                              Personal in the sense that what we see on-screen is truly the work of someone with no restraint other than of his own accord: someone free to see an artistic vision through to its conclusion without outside influence or manipulation. I don't have a problem with the two most frequent criticisms (the ugliness of the digital video format and the film's incomprehensibility) and I think my latest viewing helped me understand exactly why.

                              I don't find the nature of cheap digital video inherently ugly, especially when viewed in light of how much freedom it afforded Lynch and what he was able to accomplish with it. It certainly doesn't detract from his strengths in art design and soundscaping. I find many of the shots beautiful in a different manner than the richness of film, and for different reasons. It has to do with the absence of the obstructions and limitations that I think Lynch associates with film. I realize I'm in the minority when I state that I find the loss of the beautiful images associated with his pre-DV work is more than compensated for by some equally beautiful imagery that may have been possible only with this experimentation in a different format.

                              I've given a fair amount of thought as to exactly what Inland Empire is “about.” That seems to be the qualifier on which people instinctively attempt to label and judge this (and all) film. Inland Empire seems to be a film about everything and nothing. Dreams. Nightmares. Loss. Despair. Confusion. Alternate realities. Shifting paradigms. Metaphysical portals. The unforgiving, ugly side of Hollywood: emptiness, deception, broken dreams, moral and cultural decay. But ultimately, I think, Inland Empire is a film about empathy and nothing more. A woman in trouble, indeed.

                              For many, analyzing Inland Empire is frustrating because of some inner desire to connect it to the artist's previous work. For a large part of Lynch's career, his films have been subject to intense scrutiny born from the template of each preceding film. The general perception is of it being a mystery that needs to be solved; some people are turned off when all they see is a riddle with no solution. I don't think that is the film's intent nor its raison d'íªtre.

                              Here's how I see it: plotwise, there is a cursed Polish film, called 4/7, in which both lead actors were apparently murdered by jealous spouses. Some part of this curse seemingly keeps the “murdered” lead actress in a state of limbo, inhabiting the confines of a purgatory for all eternity, until, some time later, when a remake of the film is attempted. This remake, called On High in Blue Tomorrows, thrusts lead actress Laura Dern into the role of some sort of redemptive doppelganger/saviour, putting her through hell and back before she is able to remove the curse by killing the embodiment of evil (“The Phantom”, which is a euphemism for jealous/ controlling men, men who sin, aka “Sinnerman”) and providing salvation and freedom to the original actress and herself (woman/women in trouble). In a Christ-like parallel, “she (Dern) “dies” for her (Polish actress) sins”. To try to explain it any further or look for “hidden meanings”, while possibly fun, could easily prove to be an exercise in futility and simply invoke a law of diminishing returns.

                              Simply put, I think I actually enjoy the familiarity I've developed with IE more than any other of his work, not because of thematic differences (there are none) or differences of a technical nature (which is what I think most people have issues with). I feel like Lynch has done something that, previously, he just couldn't have accomplished: a true cinematic equivalent of the dream-state. A psychic fugue for the ages.
                              Quot
                              Bark! Go away
                              Last edited by Quot; 09-12-2021, 07:44 PM.

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                              • That is nicely written, for sure. Thank you for sharing. I will likely revisit this at some point (I have the German blu-ray), but am not expecting to be swayed.

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