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STARRING: Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern, Hope Lange, George Dickerson and Dean Stockwell. Cinematography Frederick Elmes. Music by Angelo Badalamenti. Written and directed by David Lynch. Budget $6 million. Originally released in 1986. Running time: 120 minutes.
College student Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) returns home when his father suffers a near-fatal medical trauma that leaves him hospitalised. One day Jeffrey finds a semi-decomposed human ear and takes it to the police station and Detective John Williams (George Dickerson), a family friend, who dissuades Jeffery from investigating any further. Later that night, he's approached by Williams' daughter, Sandy (Laura Dern) who tells Jeffrey about a mysterious woman called Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini), a deeply troubled club singer who lives down the road from him, and believing the ear and her are somehow connected the young couple set off to investigate. But what starts off as exciting adventure soon becomes far more unpleasant when Jeffrey begins to unravel a sinister conspiracy involving Dorothy, Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper) – a truly unhinged crime boss and his gang of henchmen. There's a underbelly of evil and violence in the quaint seemingly normal town of Lumberton that Jeffrey is about to be flung face-first into it.
Described as a Neo-Noir by better hacks than I, this was David Lynch's third movie as a director, and staked his auteur firmly into the filmic firmament. There is something deeply unsettling about the world of Blue Velvet and also something very familiar, you can see the fictional setting of Lumberton as a prototype Twin Peaks, what with it's connection with logging, diners, police stations and small town America. That and the darkness that pervades the town. Kyle MacLachlan plays Jeffrey as a bright-eyed innocent who believes that having a chipper outlook on life and a 'can-do' attitude will see him right. Boy, is he in for a rude awakening.
This has a stunning sense of unease, it oozes from the screen, as Jeffery gets dragged further into the mayhem, he becomes burnished and changed and when Frank explodes into the fray you feel his unhinged rage. Played by Dennis Hopper, Frank is one of the greatest ever movie villains, from one second to the next he's so utterly unpredictable it's positively frightening, so much pent up rage and sexual violence, he's truly terrifying. Added to that Isabella Rossellini's character, a mother blackmailed into acquiescing to all of Frank's perverted demands. The scene where she finally has agency against someone is thrilling, even if it is against Jeffrey, who has to suffer it.
Described as a Neo-Noir by better hacks than I, this was David Lynch's third movie as a director, and staked his auteur firmly into the filmic firmament. There is something deeply unsettling about the world of Blue Velvet and also something very familiar, you can see the fictional setting of Lumberton as a prototype Twin Peaks, what with it's connection with logging, diners, police stations and small town America. That and the darkness that pervades the town. Kyle MacLachlan plays Jeffrey as a bright-eyed innocent who believes that having a chipper outlook on life and a 'can-do' attitude will see him right. Boy, is he in for a rude awakening.
This has a stunning sense of unease, it oozes from the screen, as Jeffery gets dragged further into the mayhem, he becomes burnished and changed and when Frank explodes into the fray you feel his unhinged rage. Played by Dennis Hopper, Frank is one of the greatest ever movie villains, from one second to the next he's so utterly unpredictable it's positively frightening, so much pent up rage and sexual violence, he's truly terrifying. Added to that Isabella Rossellini's character, a mother blackmailed into acquiescing to all of Frank's perverted demands. The scene where she finally has agency against someone is thrilling, even if it is against Jeffrey, who has to suffer it.
This is so brilliantly unsettling, helped by the machine sounds that seems to throb and pulsate, there's an edge to it that's makes you itch. This is an astounding film, one I've not seen at the cinema in 40 years and the chance to see it back up on a huge screen was a true treat.
Creepy, unsettling, and at times deeply unpleasant, but enough about my ex-sister-in-law. If you want to see something that Hollywood just doesn't make anymore, then get down to your local Cineworld as soon as you can because this deserves your complete and undivided attention.
10/10
Creepy, unsettling, and at times deeply unpleasant, but enough about my ex-sister-in-law. If you want to see something that Hollywood just doesn't make anymore, then get down to your local Cineworld as soon as you can because this deserves your complete and undivided attention.
10/10
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