Blue Velvet (1986)
Studio: MGM
Theatrical Release: September 19, 1986
Blu Ray Release: November 15, 2011
R
Review by James Klein
"See that clock on the wall? In five minutes you are not going to believe what I've told you."
It's hard to believe that 25 years ago, perfection was made and put on the silver screen. No film was ever like it before. Very few films have even come close to matching its blend of beauty and darkness. Now, viewers can enjoy David Lynch's masterpiece Blue Velvet in blu ray, one of MGM's best looking blu rays yet. This dear friends is arguably one of the best looking blu ray movies to have come out this year. Blue Velvet is sheer perfection.
So much has been said and written over the years regarding not only Blue Velvet but many of David Lynch's films from Eraserhead to Wild at Heart to Lost Highway to Mulholland Drive. His surreal and at times almost non-linear movies have divided audiences for years and Blue Velvet is no exception.
Lynch begins Blue Velvet like a Frank Capra or Steven Spielberg film. We see a small town with white picket fences and friendly neighbors with well kept lawns. Even the firefighters drive by, waving their arms with big grins on their faces. The world seems perfect until a man watering his lawn suddenly winces in pain and falls to the ground. As the camera closes in on him and goes deep into the bright green grass, we see a bunch of black bugs scurrying about. Is this Lynch’s way of saying that in all things good, there is evil looming underneath all of us? That we all have a dark secret? Nothing is perfect or as it seems.
Kyle MacLachlan plays Jeffrey Beaumont, a young college student who leaves school abruptly to return to his hometown to visit his father in the hospital (the man watering his lawn in the opening). As Jeffrey walks to the hospital one day he spots a severed ear in the grass. Taking the ear to the police, he speaks to a Detective Williams regarding his find. Intrigued by what he found, the contacts the Detective the next day and asks about the case which the Detective cannot answer details. Jeffrey however does get more info from the Detective’s teenage daughter Sandy (Laura Dern) who tells Jeffrey she overheard her father speak about a woman named Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini), a local nightclub singer who may have something to do with this severed ear. Curious and unable to let it go, Jeffrey is able to break into her apartment to get more clues concerning the case but soon gets mixed up with not only Dorothy’s bizarre sexual behavior but also with her abusive “lover” Frank (Dennis Hopper) who is not only insane but also violently dangerous. Jeffrey’s voyeurism gets the best of him as he cannot walk away from these people and puts it on himself to save Dorothy from Frank.
Blue Velvet begins as a simple mystery with dream-like visuals but soon turns into an extremely dark and twisted nightmare as this innocent boy quickly is forced to become a man by witnessing things that he’s never seen nor could imagine taking place in his small wholesome town. Jeffrey is now being torn by living this safe simple life with possibly Sandy as his girlfriend and this secret dark life with Dorothy who is a suicidal masochist mixed up with the wrong people. We are always turned on by the unforbidden fruit, what we cannot or should not have. What isn’t good for us. What is bad.
Blue Velvet’s performances are some of the best in any of Lynch’s films. Isabella Rossellini’s brave performance as Dorothy Vallens is both scary and heart-breaking. She creates this shattered china doll of a woman who goes through ritualistic rapes just to get her son and husband back from Frank’s grasp. While her character is vulnerable, she continues to struggle on, doing anything to keep her family safe. Laura Dern’s Sandy is the polar opposite of Dorothy. She’s the girl next door. The innocent and naïve gal. But is she totally innocent? She somewhat cheats on her boyfriend and listens in to her father’s phone calls, giving Jeffrey the clues to the severed ear thus causing him to go on this adventure. Dennis Hopper’s Frank is the most despicable villain in any movie you will see. His love for Dorothy is so deep, he will not allow anyone close to her, not even her own husband and child. Frank breathes in amyl nitrate while cursing and abusing everyone in site. And yet, although he is pure evil, one can’t help laugh at some of the things he says such as screaming at Jeffrey on how much he enjoys Pabst’s Blue Ribbon or forcing everyone to toast “to his fuck”. But it is Kyle MacLachlin as Jeffrey that the story focuses on. Jeffrey being a voyeur, an observer who seems just a bit off kilter even though he comes off as such a polite young man. When Sandy says to him that she doesn’t know if he’s a detective or a pervert, the audiences wonders the same thing. Sure, he wants to solve this mystery but to break into a woman’s apartment with little proof is going a step too far. But after Jeffrey escapes a night with Frank, as he sits on his bed alone and begins to cry, its obvious that he has seen the world through a different light, that the world isn’t perfect. This small moment is what defines Blue Velvet, escalated by Angelo Badalementi’s beautiful score.
MGM’s release of Blue Velvet is exactly what fans have been hoping for. The picture is crisp, rich and absolutely beautiful. The sound is also great, giving the movie an extra layer of detail. It has never looked or sounded this good. It also comes with a very long and detailed making of featurette including interviews with the cast and crew. There is a small blooper reel, trailers and even an old Siskel & Ebert segment in which they argue over the films supposedly abuse towards women. But what fans have been wondering is what had happened to the footage of Lynch’s four hour cut of the film? Well, we are now graced with at least 51 minutes worth of deleted scenes that were thought to be lost. These scenes include many sequences with Jeffrey and his mother and aunt, a long dinner sequence, Jeffrey saving Dorothy from suicide, and Frank beating up a guy at a bar for losing his “trophy” which tells us how the severed ear came about to be in the grass. There is also an entire subplot regarding Jeffrey’s college girlfriend who ends up getting married without telling him. While I am glad these scenes weren’t included in the film, it is neat to have finally seen some of this lost footage.
While Blue Velvet is not for everyone due to its rather dark and sexually explicit scenes, it is a masterpiece in both writing, directing and acting. Blue Velvet isn’t just about good and evil, its also about love and how far a person goes for that love one if needed. One of the final shots of the film is of a robin with a bug in its beak. A simple and subtle shot like that has never been so uplifting.
Theatrical Release: September 19, 1986
Blu Ray Release: November 15, 2011
R
Review by James Klein
"See that clock on the wall? In five minutes you are not going to believe what I've told you."
It's hard to believe that 25 years ago, perfection was made and put on the silver screen. No film was ever like it before. Very few films have even come close to matching its blend of beauty and darkness. Now, viewers can enjoy David Lynch's masterpiece Blue Velvet in blu ray, one of MGM's best looking blu rays yet. This dear friends is arguably one of the best looking blu ray movies to have come out this year. Blue Velvet is sheer perfection.
So much has been said and written over the years regarding not only Blue Velvet but many of David Lynch's films from Eraserhead to Wild at Heart to Lost Highway to Mulholland Drive. His surreal and at times almost non-linear movies have divided audiences for years and Blue Velvet is no exception.
Lynch begins Blue Velvet like a Frank Capra or Steven Spielberg film. We see a small town with white picket fences and friendly neighbors with well kept lawns. Even the firefighters drive by, waving their arms with big grins on their faces. The world seems perfect until a man watering his lawn suddenly winces in pain and falls to the ground. As the camera closes in on him and goes deep into the bright green grass, we see a bunch of black bugs scurrying about. Is this Lynch’s way of saying that in all things good, there is evil looming underneath all of us? That we all have a dark secret? Nothing is perfect or as it seems.
Kyle MacLachlan plays Jeffrey Beaumont, a young college student who leaves school abruptly to return to his hometown to visit his father in the hospital (the man watering his lawn in the opening). As Jeffrey walks to the hospital one day he spots a severed ear in the grass. Taking the ear to the police, he speaks to a Detective Williams regarding his find. Intrigued by what he found, the contacts the Detective the next day and asks about the case which the Detective cannot answer details. Jeffrey however does get more info from the Detective’s teenage daughter Sandy (Laura Dern) who tells Jeffrey she overheard her father speak about a woman named Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini), a local nightclub singer who may have something to do with this severed ear. Curious and unable to let it go, Jeffrey is able to break into her apartment to get more clues concerning the case but soon gets mixed up with not only Dorothy’s bizarre sexual behavior but also with her abusive “lover” Frank (Dennis Hopper) who is not only insane but also violently dangerous. Jeffrey’s voyeurism gets the best of him as he cannot walk away from these people and puts it on himself to save Dorothy from Frank.
Blue Velvet begins as a simple mystery with dream-like visuals but soon turns into an extremely dark and twisted nightmare as this innocent boy quickly is forced to become a man by witnessing things that he’s never seen nor could imagine taking place in his small wholesome town. Jeffrey is now being torn by living this safe simple life with possibly Sandy as his girlfriend and this secret dark life with Dorothy who is a suicidal masochist mixed up with the wrong people. We are always turned on by the unforbidden fruit, what we cannot or should not have. What isn’t good for us. What is bad.
Blue Velvet’s performances are some of the best in any of Lynch’s films. Isabella Rossellini’s brave performance as Dorothy Vallens is both scary and heart-breaking. She creates this shattered china doll of a woman who goes through ritualistic rapes just to get her son and husband back from Frank’s grasp. While her character is vulnerable, she continues to struggle on, doing anything to keep her family safe. Laura Dern’s Sandy is the polar opposite of Dorothy. She’s the girl next door. The innocent and naïve gal. But is she totally innocent? She somewhat cheats on her boyfriend and listens in to her father’s phone calls, giving Jeffrey the clues to the severed ear thus causing him to go on this adventure. Dennis Hopper’s Frank is the most despicable villain in any movie you will see. His love for Dorothy is so deep, he will not allow anyone close to her, not even her own husband and child. Frank breathes in amyl nitrate while cursing and abusing everyone in site. And yet, although he is pure evil, one can’t help laugh at some of the things he says such as screaming at Jeffrey on how much he enjoys Pabst’s Blue Ribbon or forcing everyone to toast “to his fuck”. But it is Kyle MacLachlin as Jeffrey that the story focuses on. Jeffrey being a voyeur, an observer who seems just a bit off kilter even though he comes off as such a polite young man. When Sandy says to him that she doesn’t know if he’s a detective or a pervert, the audiences wonders the same thing. Sure, he wants to solve this mystery but to break into a woman’s apartment with little proof is going a step too far. But after Jeffrey escapes a night with Frank, as he sits on his bed alone and begins to cry, its obvious that he has seen the world through a different light, that the world isn’t perfect. This small moment is what defines Blue Velvet, escalated by Angelo Badalementi’s beautiful score.
MGM’s release of Blue Velvet is exactly what fans have been hoping for. The picture is crisp, rich and absolutely beautiful. The sound is also great, giving the movie an extra layer of detail. It has never looked or sounded this good. It also comes with a very long and detailed making of featurette including interviews with the cast and crew. There is a small blooper reel, trailers and even an old Siskel & Ebert segment in which they argue over the films supposedly abuse towards women. But what fans have been wondering is what had happened to the footage of Lynch’s four hour cut of the film? Well, we are now graced with at least 51 minutes worth of deleted scenes that were thought to be lost. These scenes include many sequences with Jeffrey and his mother and aunt, a long dinner sequence, Jeffrey saving Dorothy from suicide, and Frank beating up a guy at a bar for losing his “trophy” which tells us how the severed ear came about to be in the grass. There is also an entire subplot regarding Jeffrey’s college girlfriend who ends up getting married without telling him. While I am glad these scenes weren’t included in the film, it is neat to have finally seen some of this lost footage.
While Blue Velvet is not for everyone due to its rather dark and sexually explicit scenes, it is a masterpiece in both writing, directing and acting. Blue Velvet isn’t just about good and evil, its also about love and how far a person goes for that love one if needed. One of the final shots of the film is of a robin with a bug in its beak. A simple and subtle shot like that has never been so uplifting.
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