Setsuled's Journal

Last night I dreamt that I was borrowing my parents' black SUV and I was travelling north on a strange freeway to meet them for dinner. All the cars stopped at one point so I stopped, too. People were getting out of their cars, putting down blankets and tying rags around their heads as though they were trying to have impromptu picnics while they were being forced to wait. I got out of the SUV and walked for a little ways before I came to a massive pile of personal belongings, like something out of a Holocaust movie. I found my leather jacket and my bag, two items I'd left in the SUV. My cell phone and iPod were missing. I rushed back to where I'd left the SUV to find that it was gone.

There were several cops roaming the aisles between the piles of personal items and I approached one with dyed black hair and orange-tan skin.

"What happened to my car?" I asked, not pleasantly.

He didn't seem enthusiastic about helping me; "Sir, what would you like me to do?"

"I want you to do your job, that's what!"

Then a female police officer in shorts walked past saying, "Oh, help the guy out. You really ought to be more useful."

"Can you help me find my car?" I asked her.

"Er, no, sorry, I have to go." And she disappeared through a magic door in a concrete wall.

Before sleep, I watched some of the deleted scenes from INLAND EMPIRE, the segment called "MORE THINGS THAT HAPPENED," which seemed an apt title. The idea of deleted scenes on a David Lynch DVD was strange enough, so I probably ought to have expected that they'd be edited together like a whole other film. There were at least two scenes that were as good as anything in the finished film. I was able to appreciate even better what an incredible, thoroughly natural actress Laura Dern is. There were more extended, uncut takes of her delivering dialogue, and it seemed like she could take any amount of strange words from Lynch and make them into credible expressions from a full character. Also nice was a very long conversation between the "Lost Girl" and the Polish phantom about magic watches.

A long scene of Laura Dern writhing on the floor while she talked on the phone to a cold, disinterested rabbit she was obviously in love with was kind of painful and made me wonder again about David Lynch's love life. There's a scene near the end of "MORE THINGS THAT HAPPENED" of the prostitutes hanging out on the street while Lynch is singing, "Strange what love does . . . when you're all alone . . ." More than the film itself, "MORE THINGS THAT HAPPENED" seems to be about being in love with someone you can't reach.

And I've still more special features to watch. This is easily the most worthwhile DVD I've purchased this year.