Inland Empire

Inland Empire (2006) is David Lynch's final feature, and you can watch it online on iFILM. Three hours of surreal nightmare shot on cheap consumer video, where dream, movie set and waking life bleed into one another with no clean seam between them.

Actress Nikki Grace, played by Laura Dern, lands the lead in a melodrama called On High in Blue Tomorrows. On set she learns the production is cursed: an earlier attempt shut down after its stars turned up dead. The deeper Nikki sinks into the part, the less she can tell where the soundstage ends and her own life begins. She splinters into several women, time folds back on itself, and the frame keeps filling with a Polish circus or a family wearing rabbit masks.

There's no point summarizing the plot in a straight line — Lynch shot it in fragments, on instinct, without a finished script. Dern carries the whole three-hour fever on her shoulders, and it's one of the great performances in his filmography. This one rewards viewers willing to surrender to mood rather than hunt for logic. Stream Inland Empire (2006) online on iFILM.