1175 Inland Empire

[PfR73]

Monologue:

Spoiler

They sent her to a place for minors that deals with shit like this. It was in the country, like a... like a children's prison. All around they had barbed wire and... guard dogs. And guess what? She killed a woman guard. She escapes first, using her to clear the front gate. She gets way off down the street and flags a truck. Trucker slows, pulls his semi to a stop; meanwhile this one-legged girl beats this woman guard to death with the woman guard's own billy club... which all the guards carry in this place cause they can't have guns. So after killin' her like it was shaking her hand... she rolls her off the road down into some ditch with tall weeds and grass... climbs up with one leg, and a wooden one, into the truck. "Where's your friend?" he says, the trucker. "She was just helping me... get outta here" she says. "Where you headed?" he says. "Where you're goin', baby" she says; she was 8 years old at the time, probably be about 16 by now. No one who knew her seen her since.

Deleted scene

Spoiler

Polish Voice: You don't remember?

Justin Theroux (phone VO): Nikki...

Laura Dern: Where are you?

Justin Theroux (phone VO): Nikki, I can barely hear you.

Laura Dern: Where are you?

Justin Theroux (phone VO): Nikki... I can hardly hear you. Better question is, where are you?

Laura Dern: I don't know, I don't know where I am.

Polish Voice: You don't remember?

Justin Theroux (phone VO): Speak into the phone.

Polish Voice: Do you understand?

Laura Dern: *mumbles*

Justin Theroux (phone VO): Nikki, I can't really talk right now.

Laura Dern: No, it's *mumbles*

Justin Theroux (phone VO): What?

Laura Dern: I didn't *mumbles*

Polish Voice: But are you sure?

Justin Theroux (phone VO): What are you talking about?

Polish Voice: Tell me everything.

Laura Dern: Cause I never been there, I don't know where that is.

Polish Voice: Isn't it so, right?

Laura Dern: Cause I don't know even where that is.

Justin Theroux (phone VO): Nikki...

Female Rabbit: There is something here!

Justin Theroux (phone VO): I gotta go, Nikki.

Laura Dern: Listen...

Justin Theroux (phone VO): Nikki...

Polish Voice: Do you hear?

Justin Theroux (phone VO): I gotta go now.

Laura Dern: There is something here... you hear that?

Justin Theroux (phone VO): I don't think...

Polish Voice: It glows within me. Like gold.

Laura Dern: Something here...

Justin Theroux (phone VO): I don't hear anything.

Laura Dern: Something here...

Justin Theroux (phone VO): Go to bed, Nikki.

Laura Dern: Last night...

Polish Voice: Right?

Justin Theroux (phone VO): What about it?

Polish Voice: It could have destroyed a dream, right?

Laura Dern: Your voice is frightening me...

Justin Theroux (phone VO): Nikki, I'm going now.

Polish Voice: It could have destroyed a dream...

Laura Dern: No.

Justin Theroux (phone VO): Nikki, I've got to go now.

Laura Dern: No.

Polish Voice: Right?

Laura Dern: No, I'm not gonna listen.

Polish Voice: Right, dear?

Laura Dern: No, I'm not gonna listen if you don't tell me where you are.

Justin Theroux (phone VO): Nikki...

Laura Dern: Tell me, please. Cause I wanna see you. Please.

Justin Theroux (phone VO): I'm just saying it's late.

Laura Dern: Why?

Justin Theroux (phone VO): I'm just saying it's late.

Laura Dern: No, I just don't wanna be alone.

Justin Theroux (phone VO): I'm sorry, Nikki. I don't... I don't know... maybe we met at the wrong time, OK?

Laura Dern: I didn't mean to meet you. I didn't mean to meet anybody like you.

Justin Theroux (phone VO): Are you still there?

Laura Dern: I want you to come around. Why don't you come around, I can't sleep anymore. I can't even sleep. I can't even *mumbles*

Justin Theroux (phone VO): Nikki...

Polish Voice: It wasn't me...

Laura Dern: I just want to go to sleep.

Justin Theroux (phone VO): I'm sorry, Nikki.

Polish Voice: Maybe I fucked you a few times...

Justin Theroux (phone VO): Nikki, are you still there?

Laura Dern: Tell me the truth.

Justin Theroux (phone VO): What do you... what do you mean? What do you mean, Nikki?

Other Laura Dern: *laughs*

Laura Dern: Will you stop fucking with me?

Justin Theroux (phone VO): Nikki, I gotta-

Laura Dern: Stop it!

The amount of dialogue from that voice in that scene is significant, and the subtitles on the DVD were player generated, but forced. Since the DVD was direct from Lynch's company, I feel like he wanted those subtitles there. I suspect they were left off because the video was copied, but the subtitle track was overlooked, since they weren't burned-in subtitles. I've already written to Jon Mulvaney and I encourage anyone who cares about this release to do so also.

[ianthemovie]

The re-release trailer is identical to the original U.S. release trailer (other than being updated to show the restored image, obviously). It would have been nice to have all the different trailers for archival purposes, but at least the one that has been included still reflects how the film was originally marketed. 2006 trailer for reference.

[therewillbeblus]

Thank you, PfR73!

[DeprongMori]

Question: Has anyone else run into this issue that one person has reported on Facebook?

Anyone else experience an audio drop at 2:35:56.

Right about when he says, “Nicky, you are wonderful”

If so, the combination of this and the unsubtitled Polish in “More Things That Happened” looks like it might be time for another disk replacement program.

[PfR73]

That line is at 2:35:41, not 2:35:56. I don't notice anything wrong on my disc at either timestamp. The mix gets kind of quiet before he says the line, but it's not an audio drop. It's basically the same on the Criterion as the UK Blu-ray & US DVD.

[Roger Ryan]

The same. I checked both the 5.1 track and the stereo track and did not hear any audio dropout. I didn't check it with headphones, but if the defect is that subtle, I don't think it's going to trouble too many viewers.

[omegadirective]

I get it!
I get it!
I completely understand the meaning of this movie!

*immediately dies*

[therewillbeblus]

The amount of dialogue from that voice in that scene is significant, and the subtitles on the DVD were player generated, but forced. Since the DVD was direct from Lynch's company, I feel like he wanted those subtitles there. I suspect they were left off because the video was copied, but the subtitle track was overlooked, since they weren't burned-in subtitles. I've already written to Jon Mulvaney and I encourage anyone who cares about this release to do so also.

I emailed as well, this really is significant and helps "inform" a lot. I'd never seen the More Things That Happened feature before, but the scene with the Lost Girl and the Phantom alone helps aid a lot of simple interpretations. Kinda feels like everything he's done from Lost Highway on (with the exception of The Straight Story) is a version of the "We are like the dreamer who dreams, and then lives inside the dream" philosophy

Edit: Already received a response

Thanks for pointing this out. I will address this with our production team and see if it’s something that can be fixed on subsequent pressings.

[PfR73]

I got the same response yesterday. On the one hand, disappointing they're not clearly saying they will fix the issue & offer replacements, but at least they're not totally shooting down the idea of fixing it, like they did to me with the missing film subtitles on Sound of Metal, which I think is a much worse problem. We'll see what happens.

[PfR73]

While looking around for information on the new Studio Canal Blu-rays to see if they had any new exclusive bonus features (they don't; they only have "Lynch (One)", "More Things That Happened", and an interview carried over from the original UK Blu-ray), I found these posts about an audio change to the new restoration:
At 41:22 on the Criterion Blu-ray, the line "It's the, uh, 90-year-old niece" has been changed to "It's the, uh, niece".

I've compared the original US DVD, the original UK Blu-ray, and the Criterion Blu-ray and can confirm that the line has been altered on the Criterion Blu-ray, with the comments stating the new UK Blu-ray has the change also, indicating it was a change to the restoration itself and not just the Criterion release.

Ignore the part in that blu-ray.com post about the missing Polish subtitle, that's only referring to the UK Blu-rays. It is present on the Criterion release.

[RPG]

I'm no expert on the technical aspects of the cameras and restorations and upscaling and whatnot, but this film is so God damn ugly and the upscaling makes for a very jarring experience with sharp close-ups and blocky fuzzy long shots.

I can understand why people would enjoy this, but I think it's my least favorite Lynch, and yet that includes Dune. This is just so inaccessible, incomprehensible, and illogical along with being ugly as shit to look at that I found this frustratingly painful to watch.

Love Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive though.

[Zot!]

The question mark to me remains the general idea of trying to maintain the look of something willingly shot to look bad while still wanting to make it look cinematic, which it'll never look like because there just isn't the material in each frame to do so.

I still haven't seen the 4K "restoration", but I believe it was a bit reductive by Lynch to state that the original DV "look" was simply a side-effect of budget and convenience. That component was more of a concern for the Dogma films that came out around that time who by their very doctrine refused even lighting and tripods to theoretically enhance the dramaturgy and strictly renounce any identifiable aesthetic.
Lynch had produced and appeared in Nadja previous to all this, which was a Pixelvision film blow up to 35mm which embraced an even MORE broken aesthetic, so I can't agree that experimenting with embracing the low resolution imparted by using consumer equipment was not at least part of his originally intended consideration here and other shorts he did around that time. But ultimately I do feel it was an experiment, just like an AI upscale is another worthy experiment, so I can accept that he's honoring the spirit of the thing, regardless.

[mhofmann]

Lynch had produced and appeared in Nadja previous to all this, which was a Pixelvision film blow up to 35mm which embraced an even MORE broken aesthetic, so I can't agree that experimenting with embracing the low resolution imparted by using consumer equipment was not at least part of his originally intended consideration here and other shorts he did around that time.

To be fair to Nadja, the Pixelvision sequences are few and far between. The vast majority of the film was shot on 35mm film.

[Zot!]

Lynch had produced and appeared in Nadja previous to all this, which was a Pixelvision film blow up to 35mm which embraced an even MORE broken aesthetic, so I can't agree that experimenting with embracing the low resolution imparted by using consumer equipment was not at least part of his originally intended consideration here and other shorts he did around that time.

To be fair to Nadja, the Pixelvision sequences are few and far between. The vast majority of the film was shot on 35mm film.

Thanks, I forgot the split in Nadja exactly, probably since even the 35mm sequences are B&W it sort of blended together in my 90's haze of remembrance. I saw here that there is a planned restoration of that inbound as well.

[Big Ben]

The film kind of looking like shit was always the point I felt. Inland Empire has always felt to me like footage you would have picked up from a dumpster, the roadside or an abandoned theater. Given how specific Lynch's films looked since the very beginning (Crazy how he kind of came out fully formed aesthetics wise with Eraserhead!) I don't think the film looking this way is mistake and it never has been.

I also want to point out I don't consider this in the same category as what William Friedken did with The French Connection remastering when he decided to make everything blue. Inland Empire has always looked like shit. Obviously your mileage may vary on all of this for obvious reasons but I think the dinginess adds to it's charm and opaqueness.

[domino harvey]

Lynch had produced and appeared in Nadja previous to all this, which was a Pixelvision film blow up to 35mm which embraced an even MORE broken aesthetic, so I can't agree that experimenting with embracing the low resolution imparted by using consumer equipment was not at least part of his originally intended consideration here and other shorts he did around that time.

To be fair to Nadja, the Pixelvision sequences are few and far between. The vast majority of the film was shot on 35mm film.

Thanks, I forgot the split in Nadja exactly, probably since even the 35mm sequences are B&W it sort of blended together in my 90's haze of remembrance. I saw here that there is a planned restoration of that inbound as well.

He did do a feature film fully in Pixelvision with Lowensohn though, Another Girl Another Planet

[mhofmann]

Thanks, I forgot the split in Nadja exactly, probably since even the 35mm sequences are B&W it sort of blended together in my 90's haze of remembrance. I saw here that there is a planned restoration of that inbound as well.

Yeah, apparently that has been completed and is being shown theatrically, with a Blu-ray release planned for later in the year: https://grasshopperfilm.com/film/nadja- ... storation/

[hearthesilence]

Thanks, I forgot the split in Nadja exactly, probably since even the 35mm sequences are B&W it sort of blended together in my 90's haze of remembrance. I saw here that there is a planned restoration of that inbound as well.

Yeah, apparently that has been completed and is being shown theatrically, with a Blu-ray release planned for later in the year: https://grasshopperfilm.com/film/nadja- ... storation/

Yes, I saw it on Sunday and posted about it. (Around NYC, it will play at BAM next month.)

[colinr0380]

The thing that explains the Pixelvision sequences in Nadja is that they are supposed to represent the vampire's point of view. So they are sort of peppered into the film in more of the threatening moments.