David Lynch, 1/19.

"Hand in glove, my brain with Eraserhead." In the Voice, Nathan Lee recalls his cinematic awakening as a teen in the 80s. "Even more than Blue Velvet, Lynch's non-narrative nightmare scratched an itch in my imagination." More from Aaron Hillis at the Reeler and from Reverse Shot.

"Whether or not such a thing as 'pure cinema' exists is an argument that will never cease," begins Michael Atkinson at the Stranger:

Updated through 1/25.

But David Lynch's Inland Empire makes the argument new again: Here is an undiluted, madcap splooge of purest grade-A cinema from our greatest and most uncompromising sui generiste, three hairy hours long and so furiously self-involved, so hermetically sealed yet still explosive and fascinating, so purely a movie and nothing else, that roping it into any category with other movies is a mistake. Evoking it in a mere review is, in fact, a doomed enterprise: Lynch seems to have constructed the film deliberately to evade the butterfly nets of critical response. If that's not "pure," what is?

Plus, a short but terrific interview; the first half you've seen elsewhere, but probably not the second half.

David Lynch is coming to Austin, and Mark Fagan interviews him for the Chronicle. The Austin Film Society will screen Inland Empire on January 24 and Lynch will appear at the Barnes & Noble at the Arboretum for a chat; he'll be signing copies of Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity.

For Time Out, Jessica Winter describes this traveling roadshow that'll probably roll on long enough to warrant occasional entries like this one.

Meantime, Inland Empire leads the list of nominations for the Chlotrudis Awards.

Just ran across this: "That's good coffee!" recommends RogerEbert.com editor Jim Emerson, who reports on a recent Q&A with Lynch in Seattle.

Updates, 1/21: Hey, look at Ed.

Jeffrey Overstreet was at that Seattle event: "I am so glad I don't have any assignments to review this film, because I would hardly know where to start."

Update, 1/22: Lynch took Inland Empire to the San Rafael Film Center the other night; Michael Guillén was there to take notes during the Q&A.

Update, 1/24: Jim Emerson: "I think Lost Highway, Mullholland Drive and Inland Empire are (Twin Peaks aside - that's in a realm of its own) Lynch's strongest work, and they also feel like extensions of one another."

Updates, 1/25: Andy Battaglia interviews Lynch for the AV Club.

The Austin Movie Blog's Omar Gallaga caught Lynch's first appearance in Austin.

Posted by dwhudson at January 19, 2007 8:26 AM