Few actors of her generation are as eclectic, thrilling and fearless as Laura Dern. In this seductive study, Melissa Anderson discusses Dern’s dazzling body of work, focusing on her authorial stamp on Inland Empire – a movie in which her phenomenal performance shatters every scene – and her enduring and revelatory collaborations with director David Lynch. A whirling, digressive journey through time and place, cinema and storytelling.
‘Melissa Anderson’s wonderful, insightful writing changes not only how we see cinema, but feminism and politics in general. Her profound examination of actor Laura Dern’s astonishing presence in David Lynch’s late masterpiece is not only a brilliant evocation of how images work on the mind, but how powerful “acteurs” are in the creation of that waking dream also known as movies. What a marvellous book!’
Hilton Als
‘A whirling, digressive journey through time and place, cinema and storytelling, Anderson’s slim yet mighty volume is a transcendent work of queer, feminist film criticism, saturated in deep scholarship, affection and respect for Lynch and their shared muse, Laura Dern.’
Jenni Olson
‘Melissa Anderson is one of my favourite film critics of all time. In her bravura and compassionate account of Lynch’s (and Laura Dern’s) Inland Empire, Anderson gives a masterclass in how to elucidate star magic.’
Wayne Koestenbaum
Part of the Decadent Editions series.
128 pp, softcover
Published by Fireflies Press, 2021
10 x 15 cm
English
