A retrospective on a phenomenal motion picture

During the 1980s, few films could be considered more controversial than the enigmatic and surreal David Lynch masterpiece, Blue Velvet.

As bloated, big-budget blockbusters such as Top Gun and Aliens ruled the year of 1986, David Lynch’s bizarre reflection on small-town America could be considered a needle in a haystack of money. Just as Blue Velvet was sharp and jarring upon its discovery, it was equally impressive to the memory of those who found it.

In numerous ways, Lynch’s Blue Velvet is one of the most confounding and startling films ever to be released by a major motion picture studio.

As master director David Lynch places the viewer in the humble setting of Lumberton, North Carolina, the journey of the main character Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) quickly shies away from the director’s nostalgic view of small-town America. As Jeffrey Beaumont’s character wanders in the quiet, grassy setting, his reality is stirred by the discovery a single, severed ear, laying amongst some garbage.

This eerie finding by MacLachlan’s character sets the tone for the rest of the movie, as the college student unravels a string of corruption, crime, and murder within his hometown.

Beaumont soon discovers that a nightclub singer by the name of Dorothy Vallens, tragically portrayed by Isabella Rosellini, is entrapped in an insidious ransom scheme by the sadistic and relentless kingpin, Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper). The character of Vallens is essentially dragged into an almost humorously bizarre take on sadomasochistic relationships with Hopper’s character, in trade for being allowed to see her son once a week.

MacLachlan’s character, who was once content with the humdrum happenings of his hometown, is now compelled to aid Vallens despite the impending threat presented by the drug-addicted and psychotic Booth.

In addition to the melancholy Rosselini, the supporting actress Laura Dern (of Jurassic Park fame) portrays the simple and sweet hometown girl of Sandy. MacLachlan’s character quickly finds himself torn between the pure, simple love as presented by Dern’s Sandy, and the tragic and complex notion of love as presented by Rosselini. All the while, the hatred of Frank Booth threatens all that is important to Jeffrey Beaumont: the simplicity and purity of love and home.

The performances by the actors mentioned are all astounding, especially Hopper’s hilariously maniacal and frightening depiction of Frank Booth. At times the viewer will feel personally threatened by the audacity of Hopper’s over-the-top performance, and the vulgarity and obscenity that Booth’s character represents.

Lynch’s artistic approach to the film is just as unrelenting, with aggressive editing and camera trickery that would make the film almost entirely nightmarish if not for the few, soothing moments that are given. The quieter, more romantic moments of the film remind the viewer of home’s warmth which is so often taken for granted, especially during the competitive and corporate era of the 1980s.

Blue Velvet was a shining example of artistry in film-making during the 1980s, and is worthy of being looked back on by all film enthusiasts whether they’ve seen it or not. In many ways, both David Lynch and Dennis Hopper have yet to top their performances as director and villain respectively. Lynch’s neo-noir take on the grassroots on America has gone down in film texts as one of the riskiest but rewarding ventures in motion picture history.

The truth behind the prison “thriller” video?

Can someone please confirm this?

I can’t seem to find any more data on the issue. CNN had a pretty soft story on this without pointing out Cebu Prison’s history of corruption and mistreatment. I’d like to know if these claims are legitimate. We’ve all seen the prisoners dancing and laughed at it before; this obviously has the potential to change things.

Is corn really a carcinogen? Bill Clinton wouldn’t tolerate it.

The other night I stumbled upon a couple of alarming articles, this being one of them.

Who would’ve thought nature’s very own corn was killing us? This isn’t entirely surprising when you consider that most of America’s food leads to heart failure and cancerous doom. Of course, most of that comes from our very own home-fried delicacies and fast food dining; I wouldn’t have thought mother nature herself had it out for us seppos.

Speaking of American culture, I absolutely love election years. I generally try to be somewhat private about who I intend to vote for, but while doing some surfing on YouTube I realized just how outstanding of a candidate Bill Clinton was. All politics aside, the guy was one charismatic bastard with an uncanny ability to convince the viewer that he actually felt passionately about change in our country. Passion and charisma of this magnitude is something that I find sorely lacking in this election year’s potential candidates.

Honestly, just watching the guy work almost tempts me to vote for his wife just to see him back in the White House. Almost.


Passion.

Charisma.

It truly is a thing of beauty when politicians are able to make you believe in their cause, even if they ultimately bungle everything during their time in office.

I suppose you have to take the good with the bad. While a certain level of zeal is required to be President, I think it’s best if it only comes in small doses…


Zeal.

A little bit of peace with a small side of sound.

Welcome to the twenty first century. It just slapped me in the face about a week ago. Maybe I’m eight years too late, but can you really blame me for failing to notice change when we still can’t find a replacement for oil, or make cars float, or travel through time?

You could call this an introductory piece, but in fact this is the beginning of an entirely new literary movement. No, really, it is. You’ll see in about a week.

In the mean time, I need to finish tonight’s paper. I’ll post what I’ve written here in a couple of hours.

¡Hasta luego!