Now Available from Criterion Collection.
My first experience with David Lynch was with “Mulholland Dr.,” a film that is far and away breath taking but also difficult to decode. After trying to find an explanation for it someone told me that it was only one of his easiest to access. But I like to think that it’s “Blue Velvet.” Lynch’s 1986 Neo Noir is a nightmarish fever dream in to the American dream. Lynch paints a portrait of two mirror worlds, one with the perfect Norman Rockwellian picket fences and women with babies on their shoulders. The other America is a bleak and violent Wonderland where deviants and criminals lurk in every corner waiting to prey on the weak.
Among them there’s Frank Booth, an enormously sadistic being who thrives on making people uncomfortable and controlling his world no matter what. Dennis Hopper is at his absolute best as Booth, depicting such a vicious, twisted, hedonistic individual who takes MacLachlan and Rossellini on a night out involving drinking, singing, and an unfortunate beating in a junkyard. Lynch stages a brilliant and eerie neo-noir that’s hellbent on discomfort beginning with a random ear found in a field.
College student Jeffrey Beaumont discovers a human ear in a field. He contacts detective John Williams, hoping that he would assist him in his search for the owner of the ear, but is quickly told to keep his mouth shut. Together with the detective’s daughter, Sandy, Jeffrey launches his own investigation. Soon after, he meets the beautiful night club singer Dorothy Vallens, who often sees a drug-addicted loner who loves hurting people. Without realizing, Jeffrey quickly gets sucked up in a dangerous world where everyone has something to hide and life is cheap.
From there Lynch descends deeper and darker while also helping to build on this sense of timelessness with the excellent soundtrack. “Blue Velvet” is a gold standard for movie fans old and new. It’s no wonder Criterion continues investing in to it and their catalogue.
The new 4K Blu comes with no bonus features but does include the movie. The Blu-Ray Disc includes the two minutes Test Chart, vintage testing footage done before the shooting of different sequences from Blue Velvet. The Lost Footage is almost an hour of deleted scenes and alternate takes that were gathered by David Lynch. “Blue Velvet” Revisited is a ninety minute archival program created by German filmmaker Peter Braatz who was invited to document the production of Blue Velvet in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1985.
The program, which is described as a “meditation on a movie”, features raw footage as well as various archival materials (Super 8 footage, photographs, and audio recordings), as well as original music by Cult with No Name, Tuxedomoon, and John Foxx. Room to Dream is a nineteen minutes audio recording of David Lynch reading from Room to Dream, the book he coauthored with Kristine McKenna in 2018. There is an interview featured with composer Angelo Badalamenti who discusses different stages of his career, as well as his involvement with Blue Velvet and the conception of its soundtrack. There’s the sixteen minutes It’s a Strange World, a new documentary takes a closer look at the genesis of Blue Velvet.
Included in it are clips from brand new interviews with props technician Shaw Burney, makeup supervisor Jeff Goodwin, second assistant director Ian Woolf, filmmaker Peter Braatz (Blue Velvet Revisited), extras and casting supervisor Mark Fincannon, and steadicam operator Dan Kneece, amongst others. Finally, the seventy one minutes Mysteries of Love is an archival documentary with different cast and crew members recalling their contributions to Blue Velvet and interactions with David Lynch. Among them respectively are Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Laura Dern, Dennis Hopper, et al. Physical supplements include a 30-page illustrated booklet featuring excerpts from the novel Room to Dream as well as technical credits for “Blue Velvet.”