Blue Velvet was released in 1986. Written and directed by David Lynch (Eraserhead). Blue Velvet is an American neo-noir, mystery/thriller. Starring Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, Kyle MacLachlan, and Laura Dern. BBFC Rating: 18. Running Time: 120 minutes.-

I love this opening sequence, I'm a great one for detail, and it does set the scene very nicely for the beginning of the film. It was all just a bit too Stepford Wives for a moment there, and you just know that this film is not going to be quite as simple as that. After all David Lynch is directing it. - After visiting his father in hospital, due to his accident with the hose, student Jeffrey Beaumont finds a severed ear on some wasteland near his home. He pops it into a paper bag, which is lying nearby, and takes it to the local cop shop, where his father's friend Detective Williams is on duty. He duly hands the ear over and Jeffrey is then taken to the forensics department by the detective to see if any light can be shed as to who is the owner of the ear. Nobody has been brought in lacking an ear as yet, but the forensic science department say that one thing is for sure, and that is, that the ear had been cut off, and quite possibly by scissors.

Blue Velvet is one of the first films that had real impact for me. Watching it again so many years on I remember now why this is so. Blue Velvet is a deliciously, dark, dreamy film, and I have always said it is my favourite film from all those that I have watched. I didn't know too much about David Lynch at the time that I first saw it, but he was fast to become my favourite director. Blue Velvet is a mystery/thriller, but it has the edge of having the strange imagination of David Lynch behind it. Set in small town America it is surreal tale of good versus evil, innocence versus experience, which a lot of Lynches films seem to depict. What you see here is the early seed of the David Lynch trademark, his benchmark for later work. Though raw, he incorporates the shock factor early on when Jeffrey finds the human ear, when it is seen with writhing bugs and insects in, doubling its shock factor. One the severed ear, and two the squirming bugs, accompanied by strange warped music. There is more of this throughout the film in snapshots, and you can see where Lynch is going, basic as it was.

When you first see Sandy in the film she appears to Jeffrey through a haze, like an angel, personifying the qualities of all that is right. Kindness, pureness, though represented as an unreal image, as if there is no such thing existing in reality. Sandy tells Jeffrey about a dream that she has had about Robins coming down in her dream and bringing love and happiness, dispelling this belief, and reinforcing the faith of good over bad being the films driving force. Isabella Rossellini is stunning in this. She is staggeringly beautiful. Daughter of Ingrid Bergman she has the same easy style of acting that her mother possessed and it is extremely watchable. I have never seen such a use of the 'close up' as they did here with Rossellini. With her head tilted back and lips parted, she looked exquisite; it was the most perfect use of the close up that I have seen. Isabella Rossellini imparts the qualities of the fragile, sensual, dreamy character of Dorothy beautifully, and when singing the films signature tune 'Blue Velvet' it transports us straight into the heart of this strange, warped film. Dennis Hopper is a commanding actor and dominates every scene that he is in. His portrayal of the drug induced sadist is remarkable. His profanities are abundant and his characterisation is sickening to the core as he violates the emotionally broken Dorothy. The musical score is extremely diverse and put to great use, and I particularly liked the use of the Roy Orbison song 'In Dreams' which was lip synched during a horrific mindless attack within the film. This totally disarms you and once again your emotions are turned upside down, with the savagery of the attack and the quiet gentle dreamy quality of the music.