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Footage from this film was used in his 2006 film "Inland Empire," which I will eventually write about. As this footage was some of the more interesting parts of the lengthier film, I did an investigation and found that the footage was excerpts from a short film he had made back in 2002, the year after "Mulholland Drive." And three actresses from that film--Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, and Rebekah Del Riio--appear in the film.
Or do they? Because the most fascinating thing about "Rabbits" is its look. The living room set looks like a miniature doll house, with miniature furniture, so are the rabbits stop animation creatures with the actors' voices or was Lynch somehow able to shoot this with the real actors and then give it a miniaturized look? That is just one of the questions surrounding this film, which on one level is about a quiet evening at home on a rainy night, but on another level raises the question of the daughter's having been raped, and someone else murdered. There are also odd bits of humor; for example, when Jack walks through the door, there is always canned audience applause. And sometimes, after delivering a monologue, rabbits just disappear. And while delivering said monologues, fire appears over the living room entrance.
"Rabbits" is clearly David Lynch. It is also close to situation comedy, which I think is what Lynch is saying, that American culture, via the sitcoms we all grew up with, has reduced its citizenry to a sitcom outlook on life that distorts reality. Disagree with me all you might.
As for Rebekah Del Riio, her almost otherworldly nightclub appearance gives another persona to Jane, a trademark clearly from David Lynch but highly influenced by Ingmar Bergman.
To those of a certain age, "Rabbits" may come across as a surreal "Davey and Goliath." For those beyond our generation, I leave your interpretations to you.
But there is no question this is a masterpiece. I am so glad he incorporated it into "Inland Empire," because otherwise I might not have discovered this short gem.
And not a single carrot appears in the film!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4 comments:
Oh my goodness “Davey & Goliath”!!
A mighty fortress is our God…
Victoria, The first time I heard "A Mighty Fortress" I realized I had been hearing it since childhood on D and G. Same with "Tara's Theme" from GWTW, which was used years ago here on "Million Dollar Movie."
Its a very clever bit of stagecraft and lighting: appears entirely surreal and fake, but the actors were indeed present in front of the (three) cameras in full rabbit head costumes. The unsettling look was achieved by a distorted set architecture and the use of very early digital video capture, which had a specific veneer to it even under normal shooting circumstances.
Were you able to view "Rabbits" in its original entire form (8 short webisodes)? AFAIK it hasn't been available in that form since a one time screening at Film Forum twenty years ago. Lynch tinkered with it several times after abruptly closing his website, resulting in a somewhat abridged version being the only officially sanctioned home video release. I've been trying to find the original 8-episode release for years with no luck.
Lynch made custom content for his website subscribers, but upon realizing very few fans were willing to actually pay to subscribe he killed the site and some of the content disappeared (much, but not all, eventually resurfaced as dvds). He was years (if not decades) ahead of his time with his subscription website idea, unfortunately: streaming and paid fan sites did not achieve mass acceptance until long after his site was closed.
My Dear, Than you for the very cogent explanation. I love the look of the film.
It's weird and hilarious--so David Lynch!
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