Filmmaker David Lynch built his reputation as a pioneer of unconventional and surrealistic material, a trend epitomized by the memorably bizarre web series Rabbits. A collection of 8 webisodes, filmed in longshot with a fixed camera, it takes place in some nightmarish, otherworldly and slightly sinister realm where the steady patter of distant rain can be heard continually. As suggested by the title, the characters are not homo sapiens but human-sized leporines with black fur, clad in regular street clothes. All of the action takes place in a single living room, and no particularly significant "events" (in the dramatic sense) actually occur over the course of the series. Adding to the uniqueness, the rabbits frequently speak in non-sequiturs that Lynch follows with a disorienting laugh track, and the writer-director interpolates other sitcom-style devices as well, as in the case of a canned audience cheer/applaud that sounds when one character enters the room. If the synopsis of this sounds vaguely familiar, that may be because Lynch subsequently worked the series into his surrealistic drama Inland Empire (2006).
by Nathan Southern
synopsis
