Rabbits (film)
| Rabbits | |
|---|---|
 Screenshot, illustrating the three rabbits in the single set | |
| Directed by | David Lynch |
| Written by | David Lynch |
| Starring | Scott Coffey Laura Harring Naomi Watts Rebekah Del Rio |
Release date | 2002 |
Running time | 50 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Rabbits is a 2002 series of short video films written and directed by David Lynch. It depicts three humanoid rabbits in a room, played by Scott Coffey, Laura Elena Harring and Naomi Watts (in episode 3 Rebekah Del Rio stands in for Laura Elena Harringwith).[1] Their disjointed conversations are interrupted by a random laugh track. Rabbits is presented with the tagline "In a nameless city deluged by a continuous rain... three rabbits live with a fearful mystery". As with most of David Lynch's films, the score was composed by Angelo Badalamenti.
Rabbits originally consisted of series of eight short episodes shown exclusively on DavidLynch.com, but is no longer available there. It is now available on DVD in the "Lime Green Set" collection of Lynch's films, in a re-edited four-episode version. In addition, the set and some footage of the rabbits are reused in Lynch's Inland Empire.
Description
Rabbits takes place entirely within a single box set representing the living room of a house. Within the set, three humanoid rabbits enter, exit, and converse. One, Jack, is male and wears a smart suit. The other two, Suzie and Jane, are female, one of whom wears a dress, the other a dressing gown. In each episode, the rabbits converse in non sequiturs, each of which seems to have no connection to the line that came before. The lines invoke mystery, and include "Were you blonde?", "Something's wrong", "I wonder who I will be", "I only wish they would go somewhere", "It had something to do with the telling of time", and "no one must find out about this". The disordered but seemingly related lines the rabbits speak suggest that the dialogue could be pieced together into sensible conversations, but concrete interpretations are elusive.
Some of the rabbits' lines are punctuated by a seemingly random laughtrack, in the manner of a sitcom. In addition, whenever one of the rabbits enters the room, the unseen audience whoops and applauds at great length, much like in a sitcom. The rabbits themselves, however, remain serious throughout.
In some episodes, mysterious events take place, including the appearance of a burning hole in the wall and the intrusion of a strange, demonic voice. Three episodes involve a solo performance by one rabbit, in which they recite strange poetry.
Production
Lynch filmed Rabbits in a set built in the garden of his house in the Hollywood Hills. Filming took place at night in order to control the lighting. Lynch says that filming Watts, Harring and Coffey with the set lit up by enormous lights was "a beautiful thing". However, the process generated a lot of noise that echoed from the surrounding hills and annoyed Lynch's neighbors.[2]
Influences
Dave Kehr noted in The New York Times that it was Alain Resnais who first put giant rodent heads on his actors in his 1980 film Mon oncle d'Amérique.[3]
Use in Inland Empire
Lynch used some of the Rabbits footage as well as previously unseen footage featuring Rabbits characters in his film Inland Empire. Lynch also used Rabbit set to shoot several scenes involving human characters. In that film, excerpts from Rabbits appear but the rabbits are associated with three mysterious Polish characters who live in a house in the woods.
DVD release
Most of Rabbits can be found on the "Mystery DVD" in the 10-disc The Lime Green Set released by Absurda in 2008. This DVD features seven of the eight episodes, though several of the episodes have been edited together. "Episode 1" on the DVD contains "Episode 1," Episode 2" and "Episode 4" from the website. "Episode 2" on the DVD contains "Episode 6" and "Episode 8" from the website. "Scott" and "Naomi" are the same as "Episode 5" and "Episode 7," respectively. "Episode 3" from the website does not appear on the disc. Presumably, this episode would have been retitled "Rebekah," as it features only one performer as with "Scott" and "Naomi."
References
- ^ an overview of David Lynch's Rabbits
- ^ David Lynch, "Stories", DVD feature on Inland Empire region 1 DVD, disk 2.
- ^ Restless Innovations From Alain Resnais
