I Finally Watch Blue Velvet All the Way Through: Instant Reactions Edition

So, after years of only seeing dribs and drabs of David Lynch's Blue Velvet over the years, I finally watched the whole movie on Tubi. Before I have my opinions skewed and altered by whatever film podcast I listen to or film review I read, here are my instant, unvarnished reactions.

This film fits perfectly in the noir tradition. There's the young male protagonist (Kyle MacLachlan) who is in over his head, the femme fatale (Isabella Rossellini) with secrets, plenty of bad guys headed by one major bad guy (Dennis Hopper), and an ingenue (Laura Dern) to offer some contrast to the femme fatale. This being a Lynch movie, however, there's plenty of weird shit one would never see in any golden era noir. This is a noir with avant garde sensibilities.

It was never entirely clear to me what nefarious activities Frank Booth (Hopper) was up to, other than it involved a shady cop (or cops). It is abundantly clear, though, that Frank Booth is one of the scariest and most disturbing villains to ever appear on screen. 

The movie's most indelible and most "meme-able" image is Booth breathing in that plastic mask. Am I naive in that I don't know what he hell, other than carbon dioxide, he was breathing into his lungs? It certainly makes for a dark, twisted image. [Edit: it's amyl nitrite. I probably should have guessed that].

Did Dorothy (Rossellini) really enjoy being hit? Or was her self-worth lowered by her circumstances to such a degree that she thought it was what she deserved? In modern terminology, we might say she was a victim of toxic masculinity.

The dialogue in the movie is stilted and generally unrealistic, but in that it's similar to many 1940s noirs. That might have been a choice by Lynch?

It's easy to see a direct line from Blue Velvet to Twin Peaks.

I, er, saw a lot more Isabella Rossellini than I expected. I hope she was okay with doing all those nude scenes, particularly the one at the Williams' house. All I could think was, "find some clothes for her! She's probably freezing!"

Nobody uses industrial noises better than Lynch. They are in this, The Elephant Man (evoking dark, dangerous Victorian London) and Eraserhead (lending unease to that whole film).

What in the name of pancake makeup hell was going on with Dean Stockwell's character? The whole "beer party scene" was strange, even by Lynchian standards.

My favorite line in the movie (uttered by Frank Booth to Jeffrey (MacLachlan)), "Heineken? Fuck that shit! Pabst Blue Ribbon!"

That's all I have for now. Off to find out how I misinterpreted the movie.