Blue Velvet
David Lynch probably has a permanent position as perhaps the most esoteric genius in the history of filmmaking, with a second to none gift for making abstract works that probably only he fully completely understands, but nonetheless are open for multiple interpretations by his legions of fans for the beauty and power they convey. This 1986 release filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina is perhaps his most conventional simply by the way he so clearly defines what it is that constitutes Good and what constitutes Evil, then sets them against each other leading up to the climax. Kyle MacLachlan stars as Jeffrey Beaumont, a college kid who comes home to be with his family when his father has a near fatal stroke. Bored with staring at his incapacitated dad in the hospital and sitting around the house with his mom and batty old aunt, he takes off to wander around the neighborhood and comes upon a gruesomely severed ear, which sets him off on a journey of investigation while bringing along the neighborhood police detective’s daughter (Laura Dern) in tow. What he discovers is a dark underbelly to his sedated small town, which appears to have Norman Rockwell qualities and values on the surface but is really home to an extended crime operation run by one of the most evil, twisted bastards in cinema history: Frank Booth, played brilliantly to the hilt by the Immortal Dennis Hopper, a drug crazed, sadistic, utterly insane maniac (with the most motley group of henchmen ever) whose most heinous crime doesn’t even involve the usual criminal pursuits. Instead, he has become so obsessed with a nightclub singer (Isabella Rossellini) that he kidnaps her husband and infant son and holds them hostage on the condition that they’ll stay alive as long as she submits to being his no questions asked sex slave which includes copious amounts of physical abuse and degradation as well, which in turn has made her a broken woman mentally as she longs for suicide but won’t because of what Hopper will do to her family. Indeed, it is these two, Hopper and Rossellini, who both give Oscar worthy performances, laying it all on the line as they strip their souls bare, Hopper becoming almost a primal, bestial force of pure evil and depravity more than any single actor has ever attempted (or dared) to do in the entirety of recorded movie acting, while Rossellini essays a heartbreaking, tragic, yet strong and sympathetic portrayal with perhaps more courage and bravery to take it as far as she does and certainly moreso than 95% of actresses out there who seem to think that smiling pretty and acting cute is their path to greatness. Eventually, MacLachlan stumbles upon her and knows that he has to save her and really the entire town from the menace that is Hopper, but of course that would mean actually having to face the terrifying son of a bitch down. As a director, Lynch does an incredible job with both the use of metaphor and contrast, particularly with the women in MacLachlan’s life, one being the older, greatly suffering Rossellini and the other being the Laura Dern character, a sweet, blonde, obviously sheltered and innocent high school girl who seems to be capable of the most inane, naïve ramblings but maintains her relationship with this college guy (despite having a football player boyfriend) because of the element of danger he represents with his unwarranted investigations, but even the most corniest dialogue exchanges between them still work because of the obvious red hot attraction they have for each other. Pretty much, the lines are clearly drawn here (moreso than most Lynch films) between the hero and villain, and we even get time to meet a twisted cohort of Hopper’s in an effete pimp and drug dealer played by Dean Stockwell, and he too nearly walks off with the movie in his brief role. Overall, one of the most fascinating and twisted descents into the heart of darkness yet attempted in the history of film, and still remembered and hailed anong many legitimate film circles as maybe the greatest movie to not win The Best Picture Oscar…
10/10