David Lynch's Inland Empire and Bobby

Whilte there are a few films which are falling through the cracks in my Venice film festival coverage, I will address them later in a summary of the festival's highlights (and no, one of those highlights is not the appearance of Scarlett Johanson, although the news reporters seem to think it is).

Wednesday, David Lynch received a life time achievement award at the Venice festival. He thoroughly deserves it. Afterwards, he unveiled his new film "Inland Empire" starring Laura Dern and Jeremy Irons to a Venice audience. The film is approximately 180 minutes long (yikes!!). Suffice it to say, the film did not go over too well with some critics and the audience were left puzzled by the film's incomprehensibility. Apparently, the film includes a scene in which a family spontaneously possesses rabbit heads and go about their daily lives (I need to see that!!). Variety and Lee Marshall both panned the film and declared it devoid of meaning despite its ambiguous and confusing nature. They also both faulted the film for its use of digital video (Lynch, like other directors, recently decided to now film using DV) which they claim made for poor visuals and cinematography. However, George Macnab from the Guardian Unlimited appeared to enjoy it in his review and recommends that one view the film without struggling to grasp its precise meaning. All the reviews also commend Laura Dern's performance in the film and some do agree that the film does possess some positive notes. Although, the general opinion is negative, some calling the film an incoherent mess. One correspondent after the film's screening even asked Lynch if he was alright, you know, in the head. Others tried to coax him into an explanation (especially of the rabbit head scene), but Lynch, as always, refused to explain it. At the conference's beginning, Lynch even declared to a confused press that the film is meant to make perfect sense.

Then again, since when have Lynch films been coherent? Eraserhead surely was not, but there was meaning behind the film's ambiguous and strange nature. Like The Fountain, another film which I was eagerly awaiting to see has been plagued with negative criticism. Yet, I will still need to see the film to judge it properly and, since I am a Lynch fan (I may even be doing a film studies graduate proposal revolving around his films), I may end up liking it regardless of bad press. Oh well, at least, Satoshi Kon's Paprika was well received.

As for Emilio Estevez' Bobby, a historical/ fictional film about the assassination of Robert Kennedy has obtained some positive reviews, namely from Lee Marshall. However, I will need to scour the vast plains of cyberspace in order to find more critical appraisals of this film.

On a side note, the Toronto International film festival premieres tomorrow, but I will stick with Venice till its closing and then move on to the TIFF.

UPDATE: According to The Guardian, Aranofsky's The Fountain received a 10 minute standing ovation at its public screening despite the booing at the earlier press screening. Strange that only the Guardian has revealed this news tidbit and other news reporters have continued to emphasize the boos at the press screening. Boos and standing ovations??? Now, I don't know what to think of the film and my poor old head can not take anymore confusion.