BLUE VELVET (1986) - ♦♦♦♦♦
Directed by - David Lynch
Written by - David Lynch
Starring - Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern
"A young man finds a human ear in a field. While an investigator is officially put in charge of the case, the young man decides to set off on an investigation of his own. In order to do so, he befriends the investigator's daughter and uses her information, which leads him down a dark and nightmarish path in which he becomes embroiled in a risky affair between a mesmerizing night club singer and a psychopathic criminal.
Blue Velvet is one of the most exciting and perverse visions of all time. Its influences spin out of a fair share of film noir, Alice in Wonderland and even go by way of the coming of age drama. It even seems to put a fresh spin on the wild and figurative storytelling of the early works of Luis Bunuel, in its surrealist nature that seems to be actively influenced by dreams and the subconscious as well as driven by a certain fascination with manipulating an audience's attention.
Another thing that makes it a trademark David Lynch film, one of his most important and acknowledged works at that, is its examination of one of his favoured themes - deceit. This is not only shown by the way in which the filmmaker is able to infuse his storyline with unpredictability and completely throw the viewer off guard with the film's many mysterious twists and turns. It is also because of the many sharp contrasts it presents, contrasts in which even the most beautiful things seem to conceal an ugly and perverse truth.
Blue Velvet is also heavily marked by this type of examination in its sexual charge, that fuels its lush and peculiar nature and intensifies the many events that unfurl. Yet, despite its eccentricities, it is confidently kept together with euphoric control.
Yes, this is one of David Lynch's signature films, but it is also a vision that works so well because of its enthralling and sinister performances. Dennis Hopper's scary and erratic psychopath is particularly haunting, the beautiful Isabella Rossellini alternates from being manipulated to being the manipulator, while Kyle McLachlan appropriately represents the dazed and confused yet addicted and fascinated state in which the audience might find itself watching the film."
Thriller, USA
