The next one is going to be BLUE VELVET.
Hm.
Since Lynch's movies usually relies heavily on atmosphere and the personal experience I don't think this is one of his best works.
It's good, and maybe even more groundbreaking than 1990s Twin Peaks, but I think there's too much going on and at the same time not enough.
The style appears to be a potpourri of 1950s Americana although I'm not convinced that the story actually takes place in that decade, and the additional European touches doesn't really help to create a dominant fantasy to sink one's teeth into.
I'm sure someone could make the counter-argument that this is what makes it so interesting. And maybe I wouldn't disagree with that but ultimately it's all about the final result i.e. what the movie does for me, or should I say does
to me.
If I had to come up with an interpretation of the story then I'd say it's about Jeffrey discovering his lust for edge and perversion, and then feels guilty about it.
My question is: when is perversion
too perverted? Personally, I have no problem with people's kinky and dirty fantasies and since most of us have them there isn't much you can do about it anyway.
And in that regard I think the movie is holding back a little. I like to think that "Frank" is a part of Jeffrey that Jeffrey wants to explore, the mystery not being what's happening to all these characters but simply the fascinating idea that these perverse desires can exist despite his prudish American upbringing (and maybe that makes the dirty European touches more relevant).
To cut a long interpretation short: he wants to rape blue velvet girl Sandy, in every position and opening possible.
But maybe that's
not what this is all about.
As for Dennis Hopper's much celebrated performance, it's all true, except that this type of psycho-criminal starts to look a little bit too familiar - and not just in David Lynch's movies. Think of Boardwalk Empire's Gyp Rosetti or Breaking Bad's Tuco Salamanco.
From a chronological point of view it doesn't seem fair to apply this observation to BLUE VELVET's "Frank", but I'm
not watching all this in chronological order so I can't help feeling the way I do.