Country: United States
Genre: Drama
Director: David Lynch
Year: 1986
Rating: 
TRASH CINEMA RECOMMENDED MOVIE
Blue Velvet is an art film, make no mistake about it, but the wealth and power of the transgressive imagery in Blue Velvet puts most exploitation flicks to shame, which is the reason that there is a review about it on this site.
The opening sequence of Blue Velvet is one of the greatest evocations of how civilization is a thin sheen over the basic savagery of existence ever to be lensed. Cinematographer Frederick Elmes and writer/director David Lynch fill the screen with iconic images of Americana and supersaturated colors. There is no dialog, but sound plays an important part in the impact of the sequence. For me, this sequence is worth the price of admission all by itself.
Jeffrey (Kyle MacLachlan) finds a severed ear in a field and decides, in Hardy Boy-like fashion, to investigate, with the reluctant help of his girlfriend Sandy (Laura Dern). The solution of the mystery, when it comes, is almost an afterthought. That isn’t what interests writer/director David Lynch. What interests Lynch is sending Jeffrey into the looking glass, where he is engulfed in monstrous depravity.
Some of the images of Blue Velvet, such as Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper) huffing on a gas mask or Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini) showing up unexpectedly at Jeffrey’s house, have stayed with me over twenty years. They’re seared permanently into my brain.
That isn’t to say that Blue Velvet is a romp for Trash Cinema fans — it’s hard sledding. There are sequences, such as the one featuring Isabella Rossellini singing the song Blue Velvet at a nightclub, that are extended long past the length conventionally needed to tell a story. Another example is a party Frank takes Jeffrey to, presided over by Ben (Dean Stockwell), a deeply strange transvestite (if that’s what he is). It rambles to the point that the viewer becomes extremely uncomfortable, much like Jeffrey himself. That’s kind of the point.
You’ll notice that I’ve rated Blue Velvet 3 1/2 stars. That rating reflects the value of Blue Velvet for exploitation film fans. As an art film, Blue Velvet rates 4 1/2 stars at least.
The point I’m making is that Blue Velvet is not necessarily for pure exploitation movie fans. It’s for people who love cinema as an art form and also adore Trash Cinema. If you’re one of those people, you owe it to yourself to check out Blue Velvet, an intense and transgressive movie experience if there ever was one.
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