Why ‘INLAND EMPIRE’ Was Pure, Unfiltered Lynch

David Lynch’s “INLAND EMPIRE” (2006) begins, fittingly, with a grand gesture. The spotlight shines on the title, followed by a prelude with a record needle (so the song begins …), blurred black and white footage of a hallway and Polish dialogue. We see a prostitute and a client with blurred-out faces, then cut away to a character staring at a static TV and crying (not unlike the opening of Lynch’s 1992 puzzle, “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me”). It’s all been shot on digital photography and resembles snippets from our deep unconscious. You lost yet? Just go with it. We meet a Hollywood film actress named Nikki Grace (Laura Dern) who has a bizarre encounter with a stranger (an eerie Gracie Zabriskie) who talks her way into Nikki’s home and gives her a vague but menacing warning. The Dern/ Za