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| Kyle
McLachlan, Isabella Rosselini, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern,
Dean Stockwell |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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radio announcer: It's a beautiful
day, so get those chainsaws out!
A young man visiting his provincial
hometown finds a human ear in a field, leading him to strange and
dangerous discoveries.
 The
surreal, semi-experimental horror comedy Eraserhead may
have been David Lynch's cinematic début, but following
the mainstream success of The Elephant Man and the disastrous
Dune, it was Blue Velvet that succeeded in touching
a real nerve amongst audiences and critics, and that ended up
defining the director's reputation. Indeed, most of Lynch's most
typical characteristics are on display here, albeit in a somewhat
raw, undeveloped form. Most prominent in Blue Velvet is
the dream logic that defines the narrative from Jeffrey's finding
of the ear onward. Every further step into the dark, sinister
but inexplicably compelling world that he discovers can be read
as being representative of the two exaggerated extremes of his
moral compass: 'good', as defined by 1950s Hollywood-inspired
smalltown values, and absolute 'evil', as personified by Frank
Booth. His dream-exploration of this basic difference between
right and wrong yields some unexpected revelations about his identity,
including his voyeuristic tendencies and odd sexual tastes.
As in a dream, there is plenty of incident, many of which remains
unexplained, continuously thwarting audience expectations, especially
because his dream world is constructed from elements that seem
familiar from other films. But the diverse narrative and stylistic
elements are often at odds with each other: the damsel in distress
he sets out to save conflicts with the more traditional romantic
interest as personified by Sandy (Laura Dern), while what would
at first appear to be the film's main mystery (whose ear did Jeffrey
find and why?) is only dealt with fleetingly, its background and
development never fully revealed.
These unresolved plot elements give the film its surreal uncomfortable
edge that retains its power after fifteen years and repeated viewings.
It lacks the focus and refinement Lynch would later display in
the Twin Peaks pilot, Lost Highway and especially
Mulholland Dr. The great mix between humor and horror that
is Lynch's unique talent seems a little off-balance here, with
long sections of unmitigated nastiness at times taking on a near-assaultive
nature that can be fatiguing. There is however a sense of honesty
and unfiltered visions from the subconscious that make this a
powerful, raw and visceral experience that may not always be fun
but that makes for memorable, groundbreaking cinema.
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First released on various bonestock
DVD editions for Region 1 and Region 2, all with unimpressive audio
and video, and more recently issued by MGM/UA for both regions as
a solid Special Edition with a new, director-supervised transfer
and sound mix and several extras on board, including a 70-minute
documentary. The recent Special Edition served as a basis for this
release.
The anamorphic widescreen image
is framed at an aspect ratio of approx. 2.35:1. This new, director-supervised
transfer is about as good as it gets: grain is all but absent, and
colors are bright and bold. The many scenes that take place in near-absolute
darkness also look terrific, with a good spectrum of deep blacks
and greys, and plenty of shadow detail. A slight softness to the
image is the only detractor from an otherwise outstanding visual
presentation.
The new Dolby
Digital 5.1 sound mix is also excellent, with plenty of strong,
deep bass and decent fidelity. The sound desing clearly favors the
front soundstage, with rear activity mostly limited to support of
the orchestral score and ambient sounds. The dialogues have a fairly
limited dynamic range, and the sound elements have a slightly fuzzy
nature that betrays their age. But considering the limitations of
the source material, this is clearly as good as Blue Velvet
will ever look or sound on home video.
The main extra on board this new
Special Edition release is the 70-minute documentary, conveniently
divided into themed chapters. It includes generous new interview
footage with most major participants of cast and crew. Lynch himself
proves characteristically elusive, but shows up more often than
expected in plenty of archival interview footage. Apparently, the
director's refusal to discuss his films is a fairly recent development,
as we do end up seeing a much younger Lynch talking about several
aspects of the film's production and development in great detail.
The other participants all have plenty of interesting observations
and amusing anecdotes, and the film does a fine job of presenting
what is likely to be the definitive Blue Velvet making-of
documentary.
Lynch's first cut of the film ran a reported four hours, and one
can't help but wonder what exactly ended up on the cutting room
floor. Sadly, this deleted footage appears to be lost forever,
but the DVD producers did put together an intriguing montage of
dialogue recordings and music cues accompanying still photography
in an effort to approximate what some of those scenes might have
looked like. The montage presents what may have been ten sequences
from an earlier cut, including some fascinating material. Also included
is a minute-and-a-half excerpt from the Siskel & Ebert review
of the film, in which they debate Rossellini's unsettling nude appearance
towards the film's end. They hold conflicting opinions about the
film and about this scene (Siskel liked it, Ebert didn't), and their
discussion makes for a nice inclusion and telling demonstration
of the controversy surrounding the film at the time. There's also
an extensive photo gallery featuring behind-the-scenes photos, production
stills, different versions of the theatrical poster, and impressive
work by photographer Peter Braatz who visited Lynch on the set.
Finally, there's the theatrical trailer and several TV
spots rounding out these terrific extras. The
animated menu screens incorporate stylized renderings of shots from
the film. Navigation is straightforward. There are several Easter
Eggs to be discovered in the menu screens, leading to humorous,
short interview excerpts. Unusual for a David Lynch film on DVD,
both Region 1 and Region 2 versions do have Scene Selections menu
screens and generous chapter stops.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed: August
26, 2002
Click
here for IMDB info on Blue
Velvet .
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