Blue Velvet
d. David Lynch, 1986
David Lynch's Blue Velvet is arguably the greatest film of the 1980s. Though the film is completely original, perhaps the best way to describe it is as a mixture of Last Tango in Paris' frank sexuality, Rear Window's unparalleled suspense, and Buñuel's brand of cinematic surrealism. Blue Velvet's tagline is "It's a strange world," and that's also the best way to approach the film. The viewer should be prepared to see some of the strangest scenes ever staged, but more than that Blue Velvet is about coming to terms with the strange world we live in. Through his highly stylized story, Lynch explores buried and supressed emotions that lurk beneath the surface. The audience has to relate to Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan), a college student who comes home after his father has a stroke while watering the lawn. On the way back from the hospital, Jeffrey finds an ear and takes it to detective Williams (George Dickerson), a neighbor of his. A couple of days later Jeffrey goes back to his house to ask about the case, but Williams obviously can not release that kind of information. Sandy (Laura Dern), William's daughter, has heard some things from her father (her room is above his study), and she tells Jeffrey some things about the case. This leads him to develop a plan to sneak into a lounge singer's (Isabella Rossellini) apartment. Jeffrey, who was hiding in Dorothy's closet, is eventually discovered and she makes him strip for him with a knife in hand. Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper) shows up, Jeffrey goes back to the closet, and he sees Dorothy submit to a more violent version of the encounter they just had. Jeffrey figures out that Frank kidnapped Dorothy's husband (who's ear he cut off) and kid, and is now holding them hostage to "make her do things for him." By the end of Blue Velvet, the mystery is solved but by then Lynch and the audience know that's not the point. The power of the film lies in the weight and depth of individual scenes and the audience's reaction to them. Rossellini's performance here is quite astonishing, as is Hopper's frightening take on Frank Booth. MacLachlan and Dern are quite adequate, but it's just that the other two roles required so much more. Angelo Badalamenti's music is never short of amazing, and the modern noir score of Blue Velvet is no different. Badalamenti even makes a cameo appearance as the piano player at Dorothy's club. Frederick Elmes - who also shot Lynch's first film Eraserhead - photographs the small town with vibrant colors. Then there's Lynch, whose direction and writing are in top form here. By any measure, Blue Velvet is an amazing achievement.
