It's Still a Strange World
A lot has happened since David Lynch's "Blue Velvet" first
send shockwaves through the world of movies in 1986. We have since
seen "Pulp Fiction," "Natural Born Killers,"
and Lynch's own subsequent freak-fests "Twin Peaks," "Wild
at Heart," "Lost Highway," down to last year's "Mulholland
Drive." I may be excused, then, for expecting the original
to have somewhat less of an impact than it had 16 years ago. But
repeated viewing of this well-produced DVD makes it clear that nothing
could be further from the truth -- the cut-off ears, the haunting
title song, the haunting showtunes, dancing midget prostitutes and
strange obsession with logs has not diminished in the least. It's
still a strange world, even if some of Lynch's tricks have become
predictable.
As the couple drawn into a hellish mystery, Kyle MacLachlan and
Laura Dern are young and wonderfully innocent foils for Isabella
Rossellini's mix of knife-brandishing mania and naked vulnurability,
and Dennis Hopper brings a hailstorm of cursewords to his best performance.
"Blue Velvet" is still a hallucinatory experience, and
it is still more satisfying than some of Lynch's less shapely films.
The seamy underbelly of Lumberton, U.S.A. is still a fascinating
place to visit, whether you are returning after many years or looking
for a place to start exploring the twisted universe of David Lynch.
