Blue Velvet

This is one of the more confusing movies I've seen in a while. Not Lynchian confusing, like the multiverse of Mulholland Drive, but meta confusing, like how is this the great work of a great artist? I'm not saying it's not, but I'm not close to saying it is. If I hadn't known this was Lynch, might I have written it off as a bad movie? It's painful, from the cheesy vibes to the overacting to the strangeness of the sexual violence. Not ingredients of a good movie. Yet there are ingredients of a good movie present: managing to keep the viewer in suspense after reason goes out the window, then managing to surprise them after telling them anything can happen.

This was certainly my least favorite of the 3 I've seen (Inland Empire was the other). Despite a persistent cringe, it was certainly the easiest to digest, with its comparatively straightforward plot and consistent characters. It was straightforward enough as to suggest a whole different director. But it was not inspiring like the others, not unsettling in those fantastic ways, not so creative with the craft. The other two were dreamy. This was just an ugly story you could read about in the local paper. The others were strange in their narrative backwardness; this was strange in how emotionally unsatisfying it was. It didn't even score in fear or mindfuckery. It just scored in the manufacture of the cringe, with a few shocks to boot.

Questions remain:

• what injury did Jeffrey's dad suffer at the beginning? It appeared to be caused by or symbolized by a mishandled hose
• what was the point of the beetles near the beginning, which reappear in the robin's mouth?
• was it Frank who killed the men at the end? Why?
• was he also the one who cut off the original ear? What's with the Van Gogh fixation?
• why did Dorothy turn up naked at Jeffrey's house, and how did she know where it was?
• why did Dorothy react to Jeffrey's invasion with such affection?
• what's Frank's relationship with these two songs?
• what was on the wall above Jeffrey's bed?

So there are questions, but they're fewer and lesser than those of the other two movies. They aren't nearly as intriguing.