Inland, 2022.
Directed by Fridjhof Ryder
Starring Rory Alexander, Mark Rylance, Sean Dingwall, Kathryn Hunter, Eleanor Holliday, Alexander Lincoln, Nell Williams, and Sebastian Orozco
SYNOPSIS:
A young man attempts to track down his missing mother.
A young man’s quest to find his missing mother is the premise for Fridtjof Ryder’s poetic debut. But if that sounds simple, the film is anything but. A wealth of dream logic and mysterious angles are on hand to beguile the audience into an odd space where nothing is too clear. Anyone looking for a neatly drawn narrative may find the vagaries of the film a source of frustration, but it is this oddness and unwillingness to conform that makes it a rather beautifully drawn contemplative piece.
Ryder, just 20 years old when the film was shot, imbues the low-budget film with plenty of dreamlike imagery and striking sound work. Resolutely keeping things open to interpretation, the film never once sets out to give easy answers. This is to be applauded, and has something in common with the influences that one suspects Ryder has in his locker. David Lynch is the first name that comes to mind, with a familiar combining of humanity existing within and without of nature that the creator of Blue Velvet and, notably in the case of title matching, Inland Empire, has studied throughout his career.
This Inland puts Rory Alexander’s unnamed Man into a strange landscape (filmed in Ryder’s home town of Gloucester) trying to locate his missing mother. We assume that he has just been released from some kind of facility, as there are flashbacks to medical looking wards, although like so much of the story, nothing is stated as fact. He is let out at a father-figure character’s (Mark Rylance, lending a friendly but freaked out world weariness to the role) place and set to work at his garage.
Weird introspective scenes follow, as the Man experiences visions of his mother, who appears to have a deep connection with the surrounding woodland. Ryder makes good use of this imagery of the forest. Branches and trees strain in the breeze as his mother appears to be in a parallel space.
It is as though she has crossed over into a different sphere. These visions propel the Man to travel around and continue looking. He encounters a possible sister, and has a physical argument with her partner and his possible ex-friend. Again, the ‘possibles’ add up, and the strength of these will depend on an audience’s taste.
A strong scene is where the Man is persuaded by a bunch of blokes to check out the astutely named brothel The Fairy Queen. While there, he encounters a prostitute who he figures is his lost mother. A Nicolas Winding Refn-esque attack of colour and light puts us into the headspace of someone experiencing a breakdown.
Where the film does not do too well is in the use of Kathryn Hunter’s voiceover. While she has an undoubted cadence and tone, it is overused and becomes more of a distraction than it should be.
Ultimately, the film is a striking tale of weirdness. It is also a melancholy reflection on loneliness and illness. A touch of folk-horror (everyone’s buzz at the moment, it seems) and rural mystery sets out Ryder’s stall as a filmmaker with plenty of promise. It will be interesting to see what he comes up with next.
INLAND is released in UK cinemas on June 16th.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert W. Monk
Originally published June 1, 2023. Updated June 2, 2023.
