David Lynch, a highly notable independent film maker was documented for about 3 years while he filmed Inland Empire.

An anonymous yet wired-in member of the Lynch clan filmed that documentary. The dream-like documentary lets us be voyeurs by revealing the highly personal artistic process of David Lynch.

Of course some fans are going to be disappointed as they are looking for the answers to all their Lynch questions. It is like asking for answers to black holes or alien life. There may be an answer somewhere, but do we want to really know? Do we want to see and experience the horror of knowing?  He explains it here.

“I don`t think that people accept the fact that life doesn`t make sense. I think it makes people terribly uncomfortable. It seems like religion and myth were invented against that, trying to make sense out of it.”

A still from the movie Inland Empire (2007)

“It`s better not to know so much about what things mean or how they might be interpreted or you`ll be too afraid to let things keep happening. Psychology destroys the mystery, this kind of magic quality. It can be reduced to certain neuroses or certain things, and since it is now named and defined, it`s lost its mystery and the potential for a vast, infinite experience.”

“It makes me uncomfortable to talk about meanings and things. It`s better not to know so much about what things mean. Because the meaning, it`s a very personal thing, and the meaning for me is different than the meaning for somebody else.”

Stills from “THE RABBITS” show from the movie Inland Empire (2007)

And then in the end what is that knowledge? Is it real? Is it all a dream? And what is time? Time has no real meaning in a Lynch film. Things can speed up, slow down, skip realities and bodies. Is this as close as we can get to dream bardo portrayed in a film? David Lynch has been practicing transcendental meditation for something like 35 years every day, kinda hard not to understand why he portrays time and space the way he does.

A still of Laura Dern from the movie Inland Empire (2007)

David Lynch is an intensely creative hands-on artist.  He sees everything in his head, down to the very small detail and makes it happen with his own two hands using clay, paper mache, paint, foam, rubber, metal, any material to make his sets. It is serious hand-on stuff.  He says he was never given a lot of money for his films so he had to create everything himself and with his crazy ideas he had to think out of the box in a big way and now this is just the way he works. His adaptations became his signature.  If you are a Lynch fan, I am guessing you have already seen this (it’s pretty new on dvd) maybe if you are not so much a Lynch fan, but you are an artist in any way, shape or form you would enjoy this documentary.