Flick Pick

Before the cult of Twin Peaks shook up American television, long before the unfettered weirdness of Mulholland Drive, pop culture's most dedicated surrealist, David Lynch, gave us a fascinating precursor, Blue Velvet (1986). Peeping through the windows of a seemingly normal small town, Lynch finds murder and perversion in the lives of a kinky nightclub singer (Isabella Rossellini), a psychopathic kidnapper (Dennis Hopper, at his strangest) and some other townsfolk who are never what they seem. The semi-innocent young hero of the piece is portrayed by Kyle MacLachlan, who would later star as Twin Peaks' mystical, coffee-drinking FBI agent, and Laura Dern is the daughter of a twisted police detective. Between the moment when MacLachlan finds a severed human ear and Hopper's justifiably famous expressions of sadistic delight, we find ourselves thrown into a dark cinematic puzzle that made Blue Velvet the most controversial movie of its time. Possibly bewildered, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated Lynch for a Best Director Oscar in 1986, but he lost out in the voting to Oliver Stone and Platoon. Little matter: The maker of Eraser Head, The Elephant Manand Dune had set a daring new course for himself -- looking behind the placid facades of American life to discover the sexuality and violence in our collective unconscious. Lynch's experiments don't always pay off, but his audacity remains matchless.

Kyle MacLachlan (left) and Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet.

Related Content

• The 10 best BDSM movies (Images are NSFW)
  September 12, 2011
• Occupy Denver: Protester says FBI agents visited his home to investigate car bomb rumor
  December 20, 2011
• The Wig Out Bandit provides a good nickname, but a better photo
  December 20, 2011
• Gang's All Here: I'm just a juggalo, everywhere I go, the FBI knows the part I'm playing
  November 3, 2011
• Dougherty gang arrests: Ryan, Lee and Dylan reported busted after Southern Colorado chase
  August 10, 2011

More About

• David Lynch
• Kyle MacLachlan
• Dennis Hopper
• Twin Peaks (TV Show)
• Oliver Stone

Blue Velvet screens Saturday in the popular Midnights at the Mayan series. Landmark's Mayan Theater is located at 110 Broadway. For more information, call 303-744-6796.