Review of Blue Velvet (1986) by B M — 02 Apr 2010

A monstrous and beautiful vision from a time when Lynch let his perception of the world manifest without using his name and status as a device. Film is so much richer and organic looking than digital; the cost and efforts that come with film aren't usually worth it when you can have a crisp, colorful digital picture, but this is one case where we can be thankful digital hadn't yet existed. Dumping on this movie was one of Roger Ebert's greatest blunders as a critic, and believe you me he's had more than his fair share of stupid reviews. On one of the extras on the Blue Velvet DVD, you can watch Gene Siskel rip Ebert a new one while they debate this movie.

I recently re-watched City Lights, which is one of the three films argued to be Chaplin's masterpiece. Blue Velvet happens to be one of the three argued to be Lynch's masterpiece, and although I would rank it third of the three, those three films trail each other so closely it's harder to distinguish rank, while Chaplin's on the other hand, I feel, are much more obviously spaced in order from best to least best.