XAVERIUS EMPIRE

Can a film-maker tell a story he does not tell, or show a picture he does not present? Yes, he can. My favorite director, David Lynch, made a few films that lead you through the mental and most of all emotional landscape of the protagonist's mind, full with regrets, suppressed memories and guilt. This inner struggle meanders along winding mystical roads; often such a journey starts as a dream and gradually becomes a nightmare at the moments when the painful truth seeps in. His stories always end with the definitive final word: death.

To decipher David Lynch's cinematic language the two most important tools you need are called intuition and common sense; every human being possesses this delicate mixture of heart and brain: he calls it feel-thinking. But somehow many seem to have lost the delicate balance between the two and that could be the reason why they get lost in a world between dream and reality.

When I first saw Drive I thought it was a cheap, 80-ish look and feel, B-film product with a very thin superficial story, yet the atmosphere it breathed, eluded some hidden darkness, which sucked me in. The introvert nature of the man with no id was taken to such extremes that it could not be human: the ridiculous mask, the toothpick behind the ear, the crazy jacket, the ultimate innocent love between him and his neighbor's wife, the Rubik's Cube, etc.
There was simply too much weirdness and exaggeration going on, which vibrated the air with sounds of hidden messages. So I started to dig in and set my gut-feeling compass in the direction of the man behind the mask.
Gradually I noticed that Nicolas Winding Refn weaved a mysterious web of symmetry. He did this in a cunning way. I am not going to spoon-feed all the occurrences; that's for babies only. One example might help you to set your first step into the direction I am going.

Bernie Rose sits opposite Shannon in Nino's, an Italian restaurant, and he is getting started to eat his Chinese take-away meal, but the guy who brought the meal forgot the chopsticks and the fortune cookie. The whole situation is too absurd on itself already. Anyway Bernie reluctantly picks up a fork and as he almost takes his first bite the guy (off-screen) delivers him the chopsticks. Bernie expresses his dissatisfaction by repeating he still does not have his fortune cookie ...
Later in the story Bernie will get his (fortune) Cook(ie) with a fork and a knife.

Why this symmetry?

When I first hit upon this amateurish stage-play by Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling, I was assured my compass aimed to the correct course.

"I think we are being very honest."
"The key for any art-form is honesty."

BTW Are Refn and Gosling simulating they don't know the proper word for the ability of mind-reading, which is telepathy and not telekinesis (moving objects by mental-power) - anyway both phenomena are BS.

So far my introduction did not reveal any real substance, and the next paragraph won't spill any beans either, for I will leave out the essential words purposefully. All you need is a detective's eye to fully understand what kind of cinematic language Refn is using in Drive.

Refn's masquerade

Let's assume there is a reason behind Refn's masquerade and find meaning in the utter silence of the man with no name, the man who could not sleep, the man who was trying to hide his true nature, the man who seemed to have fallen for the purity and innocence of his neighbor's wife, with whom he had a romance as if he was an eight years old boy, the man who could be poisoning like a scorpio when the circumstances gave him no other opportunities, the man who stood for his words, the man who lived a life in both day (at the garage and in the movies) and night (criminal activities without a gun), the man that guarded the ticks on the clock, the man that acted straight as a real human hero ...

The astute viewer must have noticed that the movie contains a lot of ****, and also at least two major **** ****. Refn counterbalances the first category by the aforementioned symmetry, which assures that these **** were no ordinary ****. Because of the symmetry the only conclusion can be that they were made purposefully! Both the first and the second category deal with the mental situation the man with no id finds himself in, and insomnia is not doing any good either. Sure the mask helps as do his fancy **** driving gloves. In short this man is a ****.

Refn transformed the story of a famous classic neo-noir movie into this modern neon fairy-tale, and he transfused the three connected personages in the original into a man with no ID, who drives into the night and repairs cars during the day or play doubles in his spare-time.

As Refn encrypted his 'hidden' story so have I, but the joyful thing is that my masquerade can easily be reversed by finding the double decryption key. First you need to answer question 1 and this will reveal question 2, which forms the actual key for exposing all ins and outs of the true story and the full proof as well.

1. Who's face was used to create the male mask that was stored in the trailer?
(the correct name is the key for decrypting the next question)

2.

8h+8EuOT78R3gMuualObBtvuioYrbiEzNCFbokivpSyL2VH+xCExMCEuPL1L5kurgr7N5+FsuC74aZNvlA8hMCFlYUzl+6O/6SifFsnL3R3AMgjdhqaLeERG2myiwdNxOr8sITExIY4dKnhjac7sBMwhMzkhkTXtav4hMzkhqTGwQxqDQVhjHXBENdIXEfoaPJ5n6fsOITExIUYeVlzQM66muSE5IaJINWnw3bgGMpKfQv8hMzQhywTZ48ZPNVmX5JT+ifXikpNvX0MqGz4hMTAhNXgE3iEzOSGYSTxcfRzo1Fd+8IPgDyhBKcUHpDDRZnvd2tWnhva1z25V3FGo2iExMiF2+gIhOSE4JehDEFc182Ms

Here you can decrypt messages.
Be aware that the key(word)s are case-sensitive and may allow spaces.

...

INLAND EMPIRE for dummies part ONE.

2010-02-19T04:41:00.000-08:00

Let's start with some basic assumptions. First of all I am just a simple dude, a peasant with wooden shoes, and if I've been able to make a comprehensible interpretation of this movie you surely can understand it. Second, the reason why you visit this board and reading this post is because you are interested in either some clarification or in other interpretations than your own. Maybe you are as stupid as I am. Don't mind, just read on. I am willing to share my thoughts with you all, because I think David Lynch wants us to do this (remember what Kingsley and Freddy said about information and possibilities). It is a beautiful thing we have this common interest; the world of David Lynch.
INLAND EMPIRE is about one story structured in such way you and me initially got the impression dealing with a bunch of short stories seemingly unrelated. But beneath the surface the mystery reveals. And emotionally we already 'know' it, but our awareness falls short. So we start digging in. Watching the movie over and over again. Analyzing details, searching for connecting elements, trying different meanings, and so on and so on ...

To cut a long story short I will try being your guide in a journey along the mystic corners in INLAND EMPIRE. There is no way anyone can explain this movie in about 10 lines. Though I can describe the plot in even less this will not increase your understanding or your awareness, and I think this is why you read these posts on this board, don't you? Of course it's nice to challenge each other in a debate about interpretations, but it will seldom increase understanding. So let's skip the debate and let's start with the journey. The regulars know I was already on my way with the first steps. For those of you left behind because of this false start I will repeat my first steps so far.

TO ACT OR NOT TO ACT THAT IS THE QUESTION

Or in simple dude's language: real or not real? I think no-one is reading this board before seeing this movie, but if this would be the case then the next activity will be a piece of cake for you.
Insert your DVD in your player and start the movie. Scan the movie in fast-forward mode and try selecting those scenes or moments looking most everyday-life-real to you. If you already find yourself an expert ask your neighbor (who's never seen this movie) to do this for you. Oops, did I forget defining what's real and what's not-real? Well, I did not, and I rather avoid an perpetual academic discussion, for we all know what's real. If you doubt about your common sense concerning your perception of reality and think you can not prove anything being real then I suggest you jump off some high cliff. Use your guts, use your think-feeling ability. Be practical. We all have an innate mechanism for surviving; it works perfectly for you've proven it by reaching this very moment in your life reading this post. This example tells all you need about reality:

A philosopher, a biologist and a physicist were sitting by a campfire chatting. All of a sudden the biologist panicked and shouted:

Run. A lion.
Both the biologist and the physicist run as fast as their legs would carry them, while the philosopher remained seated asking: Could you define LION?, and got eaten.

Are you ready with your scanning exercise? Now watch the movie again. I hope you will find yourself in some kind of unpleasant legs-split situation. Wow, you are doing great ... Watch it again and again. This movie must get stored in your brain as if remembering a vivid detailed dream. For example when I say "Gordy", you immediately recall the BBQ scene and the Lodge scene!

C'mon dude, show us 'your' reality. Okay, okay. Here it is:

ENTREE

.........

BREAKFAST

Breakfast!

GROCERIES

Hello?

DINNER

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I was tryin' to save us some money.
Oh.
So now we're rich...
Because I drink this piss called beer.
What is the money for... if it won't bring something likeable?
I'm pregnant.
Oh.
You're a funny one.
I am pregnant.
What is this?
You don't seem too happy about it.
You're pregnant?
What is it?
What's wrong?
It just has come as a shock to me.

EVENING (fight)

I'm not who you think I am.
Are you listening to me?
I know it for a fact.
I can't father children.

NIGHT

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Hello?
Hello.

So far so good? I guess not, because you will object, for this character is Susan Blue. Oops, I am in trouble right now. How can I possibly prove she is not Susan Blue? Well, I can NOT. In fact I can not prove any assumption to be in accordance with fact or truth. And, this is the pleasant part for me, NEITHER can you. Hey, this is childish, isn't it? So, let's reverse the logic. As in science we can only falsify statements.

Reality in INLAND EMPIRE: The Woman in Trouble lived (or lives?) in house 1358 and in the movie we see a few memories (flashbacks) of her real life, located in that house.

... to be continued.