Movie Review: Blue Velvet
I have always had mixed feelings about David Lynch’s work. I think he is technically quite gifted as a director and visual artist. However his whimsical, baffling narratives often leave me cold. I have never been a fan of modern abstract art. Inkblot tests may be useful for psychoanalysis, but in the realm of art it always feels to me like a cop out to avoid actually saying something. The heady surrealism of much of his work may be visually interesting and deftly executed, yet it lacks the substance and conviction I prefer to see in visual storytelling mediums.
With this as a background I was a bit wary of Blue Velvet. Yet as the credits rolled I found myself smiling. Blue Velvet is, surprisingly, both an enjoyable and relatively conventional film. It is essentially a classic noir story quite similar to Chinatown. The entire story is told from the perspective of Jeffrey, a young man returned home from school to visit his sick father. Like Chinatown, the protagonist is in every scene even fading to black when he gets knocked out in an altercation. Also like Chinatown, the leading man is talented enough to carry the film. Kyle Maclachan is criminally underrated. He just does guileless so well. Had he been the muse of some other director (and had Striptease not derailed his career) he would be a household name today like Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio.
The first forty minutes of the movie feel like a typical wholesome 80’s teen mystery. The classic Americana imagery make it seem almost like a John Hughes film. The mystery Jeffrey falls into involves a severed ear, a sultry lounge singer, corrupt cops, and a sadistic drug lord with serious mommy issues. Dennis Hopper is delightfully chaotic in the latter role. He serves as an outlet for some classic Lynchian kookiness without ever feeling forced. Once he is introduced after the film’s first act, the tone shifts into more of a dark erotic thriller.
This juxtoposition in tone is a big part of the film’s theme. Blue Velvet is really a film about dichotomies. It is about two visions of small town America, one wholesome and one decadent. It is about two different romantic relationships — one innocent and trusting the other violent and precarious. The former relationship involves Jeffery and younger high school girl named Sally played splendidly by Laura Dern. The way she very gradually breaks up with her boyfriend Mike in favor of Jeffrey is one of the funniest elements of the film. The other relationship is between Jeffrey and Dorothy, the femme fatale lounge singer who instigates a sexual relationship with Jeffrey that includes knives and physical violence.
Yet for all the dualities and evolving mysteries, Blue Velvet is still a refreshingly simple story with an ending so syrupy it feels tongue and cheek. The use of music is also really strong as you’ll be hard-pressed not to find yourself humming “In Dreams” by Roy Orbison days after watching. If you are skeptical of Lynch’s ability to tell a coherent story, watch this movie. You will be pleasantly surprised.
Grade: B
