Blue Velvet (1986)

Too much of everything

Memorable, crazy movie

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Can't believe how well this movie holds up! The cinematography is luscious. Every quirky shot and piece of dialogue lead to heighten the drama. BRAVO MR LYNCH!

First, the plot lacks credibility. Jeffrey's father gets a serious stroke and Jeffrey should be more concerned with his father. However, in the movie, Jeffrey acts like a SJW and a pervert. He messes up with a married woman Dorothy, and fights with the bad guys that torture Dorothy. Jeffrey almost ignores his father. Secondly, the storytelling is horrible. Telling a simple story in a complicated way, is the last thing a director should do. The narrative is just unfocused. What is the point of the sex scene between Dorothy and Jeffrey? Third, character development is a total failure. Who does Jeffrey love? Dorothy or Sandy? I'm afraid even himself does not have an answer. Why does Sandy give up on Mike? What is in her mind? The main antagonist, Frank, is just flat and one-dimensional, and nobody knows his motive. He is just a psychopath? Fourth, the music score is strange. It always appears at an improper time with no purpose.Finally, with nothing in stake, there is no thrill at all. It should not be called a thriller. Instead, we can categorize it as a non-thriller. All in all, the rating for this movie is 0/10.

This movie had been on my to-watch list for probably 10 years. I have seen the majority of Lynch's movies but some of the older ones had eluded me for some reason. Really glad I finally watched it. Out of the gate: The remastered version looks fantastic. Vivid colours and doesn't look the least bit dated. Even the fashion is pretty understated for an 80s movie. Kyle MacLachlan plays kind of a moon-eyed young adult that gets in a little over his head. Laura Dern has such a wonderful understated performance as well. Which was that much more enjoyable knowing that she went on to do much more intense and at times crazy characters. Dennis Hopper is playing a villain type that he certainly revisit a few times in his career. But here he is full of menace rather than Super Mario Bros super-villain. He's sadistic, violent and frightening. While at the same time seeming to enjoy himself. Probably the only performance I wasn't that impressed was Isabella Rossellini's. She has her moments but her anguish at times felt a bit like soap- opera acting. The story overall moves along quite well and this is one of Lynch's more straight-forward movies. I was slightly disappointed that I wasn't surprised by anything that happened. The ending was quite conventional if you compare it to some of his later works. But it's still such a great story told in that 'Lynchian' way that I couldn't help but thoroughly enjoy it.

Sometimes you finish watching a film and this question comes to your mind: why did this one become a success? This is the first thought that came to my mind after I watched the Blue Velvet. Typical story, quite weak actually. A young man gets involved into a dangerous case, soon realizes he can't escape, applies the law and at the end he almost disbands the gang by himself with the help of the police and his girlfriend (of course). This whole thing with the weirdly perverted criminals and the eccentric characters is a hopeless endeavor to make the story look sophisticated but at the end it rather looks ridiculous. All this information is actually useless as it does nothing to enrich the plot. Just another drop in the ocean of overrated films. Still the question remains: why did this film (hundreds of similar films as well) get so much attention and success?