Blue Velvet- a short review

Blue Velvet is a very good movie, that's not exactly what I expected. It sure is an often absurd mystery, but it is also, and even more so, a teen-romance/coming-of-age- movie. The relationship between Jeffrey and Sandy is at the heart of the movie. I even would compare the movie with Say Anything or Juno and other movies like that. These movies are about young protagonists who realize they love each other, while dealing with overbearing fathers or pregnancies. Well, This is what happens in Blue Velvet too, only they have to deal with a lunatic Dennis Hopper. Though I really liked the movie I understand Roger Ebert's famous gripe with this movie. Isabela Rosselini does have a pretty thankless role. She is being used simply to show off Hopper's lunacy and as a problem that the two protagonists have to deal with. I must admit that it didn't bother me much. The story was engaging and it provided for some wildly inventive, absurd scenes. The weirdest of them all was the scene where Sandy and Jeffrey go on a ride with Hopper and his 'friends'.

I also found it rather brilliant to let Sandy and Jeffrey talk as if they were in a 50's movie, while the villains and Rosellini are (post)modern characters. This makes the villains an even bigger treat for the two heroes. Its not just that they are bad people. They are bad in ways our two protagonists never thought possible.