"Inland Empire" Side Effects

(AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)

This blog post probably isn't going to make much sense because we're about to write about David Lynch, one of our favoritest cerebral film directors. We've been ill for the past few days and decided to pop in our review copy of the "Inland Empire" DVD — which comes out Aug. 14 — after taking a doctor-prescribed drug. Big mistake. By the end of this three-hour epic, the walls were caving in around us and we were questioning our reality. We'll never be able to look at screwdrivers or bunnies the same way again. We're not sure who to blame: the pills or Lynch.

Like his other ground-breaking films and TV series "Twin Peaks," this movie has a transportive effect that's thought-provoking and totally trippy. Laura Dern stars as a "woman in trouble" who wanders around Los Angeles and Poland. Yep. That's about as much of a plot as we could decipher. The entire movie was shot by Lynch with a shaky digital camera instead of standard filmstock, so the imagery in "Inland Empire" has an unsettling is-this-for-real vibe. While we enjoyed "Inland Empire" — we think?! — it wouldn't be a bad idea for pharmacists to add "David Lynch films" right after "dangerous machinery" on drug warning labels.