David Lynch never envisioned it as a feature. Initially wanting nothing more than to tinker around with digital video, he picked up a high end consumer DVcam and began shooting a series of unconnected stories. Working without a script, the director noticed an interrelation between individual scenes beginning to form and forged ahead until nothing short of a three-hour running time could encompass his vision. Here is a modern day Alice in Wonderland complete with a family of personified sitcom rabbits (accompanied by canned applause and an uproarious laugh track) and, in place of a looking glass, a cigarette hole burned through a pair of silk undergarments for falling star Nikki Grace (Laura Dern) to peer through. It feels like a continuation of Lynch’s Mullholland Drive. Both films are set in Hollywood and both, to a certain degree, focus on two female characters: one blonde, and the other brunette. Each feels like the aftermath of a nightmare waiting to happen. The main difference is, this time the director is angry. The film’s most enduring (and endearing) image is that of Dern on her knees hacking up a river of blood on Hollywood’s much-loved Walk of Fame. See it now for the first time in a theatre. (2006) — Scott Marks