Retro IONCINEMA.com
Lynch runs his own ‘Empire’
David Lynch fans and cinemaniacs can finally rejoice, as the auteur’s Inland Empire will finally see release at the end of this year. What kind of release, however, remains to be seen. Blazing a new trail, as the director has so often brazenly done in his career, Lynch plans to self-distribute the film himself. After buying the North American rights from French producer Studio Canal, Lynch and his producer Mary Sweeney will release the film later this year in theatres, but after that, questions arise.
Quick Links |
David Lynch fans and cinemaniacs can finally rejoice, as the auteur’s Inland Empire will finally see release at the end of this year. What kind of release, however, remains to be seen. Blazing a new trail, as the director has so often brazenly done in his career, Lynch plans to self-distribute the film himself. After buying the North American rights from French producer Studio Canal, Lynch and his producer Mary Sweeney will release the film later this year in theatres, but after that, questions arise.
Lynch, the newest member of the Robert Rodriguez’s Digital Video club, shot his new film on DV, and proclaimed that ‘film is dead’ in this era of digital technology at the recent New York Film Festival. When it screened at Venice Film Festival, the film was met with confusion and mixed feelings. In other words, every you’d ever want from a Lynch film. Plus, Harry Dean Stanton and comic genius Terry Crews appear in it, along with scores of other indie favorites.
First Steven Soderbergh eschewed the Hollywood hype and release machine by simultaneously releasing his exceptional Bubble on DVD, Pay-Per-View, and in theatres. Now Lynch follows a similar path. People question why is Lynch doing this move. One possible motive: at a running time of 172 minutes, the box-office prospects are bleak. Plus, there’s the whole issue of the film’s life after theatres. Anyone who’s followed Lynch’s career knows what a pain it was to secure an Eraserhead DVD up until a few months ago. Then there’s the whole each-film-is-a-chapter-long thing, which renders the DVD a VHS, essentially. Lynch is really banking on his fanatics to push this film toward profitability, even those who claimed to love Mulholland Dr. while not understanding what it was about. Almost 30 years ago, Lynch changed the way we watched film with Eraserhead. He’s bringing that same aesthetic to the new millennium, potentially, with his handling of Inland Empire.
