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Truly a Classic, Insane and BeautifulRating: 10 of 10
 Most movies tell a story, some do it well, some don't, some even don't have a story at all, and even less do it in a way that's not only breathtaking but also highly insightful and at the same time frustrating. David Lynch, as ever, unfolds a masterly conducted dream-world which lies at the border between the obvious and the unknown. He permeates this border not by preaching, not by explicit over-talk or demystification, he looks at it and presents us just that: A glance into the abyss, and at the same time, a glance into the brightest and finest light of humanity. With Lynch, both belong together and flow into each other, both gently and brutal, both discreet and shockingly realistic. Blue Velvet begins and ends with an outlook at a paradisal front view of life in a Middle American small town - framing it into titles with a blue velvet background. Then unfolds a strange and dark world as Jeffrey (Kyle MacLachlan) finds first the ear and then Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini), both leading him right to the devil in the person of Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper). The theme playing out here is paralleled by some of Lynch's other works, like Twin Peaks, 'Wild at Heart' and 'Lost Highway', while it looks a bit different in his earlier works like 'Eraserhead' and 'The Elephant Man'. Lynch seems to always be telling variations on a central theme - which is not necessarily a bad thing, and with Lynch, it just comes naturally: For the theme he plays on is both utmost simple and infinitely complex, it's the nature not only of humanity but of creation. The symbolism he uses not only utilizes images from nature - it also can be applied to nature. Good and evil, hate and love belong to this as much as curiosity and emotions. While there are always sexual undertones, nothing we see is just what it is. And so, amongst scenes which might indicate this being a usual erotical crime thriller, sequences are built in that make this something greater, something entirely different. Characters become symbols, the lines between characters disappear even - Jeffrey and Frank might be the antagonists, but Jeffrey most of all is opposed to Frank because of the influence he feels coming from this madman - because the madness and evil of Frank is already lurking inside of himself, he is not just fighting another man but more like the very idea of him, the very concept of darkness. When Lynch and his work is being characterized as dark and strange, as showing only the dark and ugly parts of society and nature, this might seem true at first glance but utterly wrong in the big picture. Darkness he uses to contrast it with brightness - the darker his setting, the brighter the final message. At the end, it is the voice of love that will prevail, at the end it is the robin coming to the house (it struck me like lightning once I realized that there is a robin shown in the titles sequence of Twin Peaks). This concept is nothing new - it is as ancient as literature and art. The darker the threat the brighter the victory, the nobler the crusade. Another thing Lynch does is to defamiliarize our reality, and I'm sure there are people who would hate him for that. When he deconstructs these nice little pictures we have in our mind, these blind-eyed approaches to the world, he might destroy some illusions. But again, and I do repeat myself here, he does so not for the purpose of just doing it (at least that's what I assume him to do, how dare I pretend to know what he thinks) - the concept is simple: Are you happy living with a lie, or with a deception? It mostly is fear which prevents us from looking at our dark sides, at the darkness lurking around the corner. But while fearing darkness is understandable, it is dangerous to fear affirming its existence. Denial might seem like the easy way, at first. And so we see Jeffrey together with Sandy (Laura Dern) enter this strange new world as some kind of adventure - unprepared, unknowingly. You cannot outrun the devil, the darkness inside - but you can be prepared. And at the end, the same white picket fence with the red roses suddenly looks different because it has a new context, a new sub-text rather. This is what art is made for, to give us a new perspective of things. For me, David Lynch's vision succeeded again in this goal. see also: Dark Matters, Beyond the Obvious
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© Phil John Kneis. all rights reserved · philjohn.com - internet diary · poetry · serial photography
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