Lynch’s Affinity for Laura Palmer

by Tony Dayoub

This is the fourth post in a four-part series. Catch up on parts one, two, and three.

Joel,

David Lynch hasn’t released a full-length theatrical feature since 2006’s Inland Empire. This offers us some perspective on his filmography and Fire Walk with Me’s place in it. It’s but the first of a series of films depicting a woman whose dual nature is a signal of internal dissonance. What most intrigues me is how jarring it feels compared with his work up until then, a considerable achievement given the almost mischievous disdain Lynch has for traditional narratives. Even though he started his career with Eraserhead, a stubbornly surreal work, his next two films–The Elephant Man and Dune–both strike me as stabs at legitimacy, a director bringing his unique vision to projects which might allow him mainstream success. Blue Velvet, which looks at the frighteningly dark underbelly of shiny, wholesome small-town America, is the first work that truly feels Lynchian. Then comes TV’s Twin Peaks, which continues along those lines. And right before Fire Walk with Me, Lynch directs Wild at Heart, a noir romance that hints at Lynch’s penchant for the surreal intruding on reality, this time in the form of characters from the movie The Wizard of Oz.

The Master (2012)

by Tony Dayoub

"Life is but a dream."

Waves ebb and flow, created by the wake a boat leaves behind. Jonny Greenwood's dissonant musical chords thunder loudly. The recurring image, and its changing relationship to the soundtrack, mark three distinct chapters in Paul Thomas Anderson's beautifully elliptical The Master. The first chapter introduces Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), a sneering, gnarly, hunchback of a man, a variation of There Will Be Blood's upright Daniel Plainview. During World War II, Quell spends his time on a naval gunboat making moonshine. The women he dreams of during his shore leaves are not human beings but objects for him to jerk off or hump to, as he does with a sand mermaid his shipmates build on some Pacific beach.

Now It’s Dark

From prose to poetry: the Blue Velvet: 25th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray

by Tony Dayoub

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Blue Velvet, surely one of the most significant films of the last 25 years, is something rather ordinary for a movie with so many shocking and memorable images. It is the opening shot. Not the saturated opening shot of the red roses against the white picket fence of the film proper, mind you. I mean the fade up into the image of blue velvet flapping as if being blown by some mysterious wind. Composer Angelo Badalamenti’s timpanists roll right into the plaintive violins of his main theme, paving the way for a solitary clarinet repeating their melody. Initially, the clarinet’s crisp intrusion into the lushness of the violins is as transgressive as that of the film’s main character, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) into the nightmarish beauty of his sleepy hometown, Lumberton. But eventually, the clarinet blends in with the violins, achieving a harmonic unity not unlike the one the naïve Jeffrey does when he gets simpatico with the twisted underbelly of his innocent-looking small town and its frightening denizens.

UPDATED: Blue Velvet 25th Anniversary Blu-ray Giveaway

by Tony Dayoub

One of my all-time favorite films, Blue Velvet, is now available for the first time ever on Blu-ray. A week from today, I should have a review up at my other outlet, Nomad Editions: Wide Screen, where I'll focus on the 50 minutes of lost footage that appears on the disc as a bonus feature.

To celebrate this release, I am happy to give away a free copy of the new 25th Anniversary Blu-ray (courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc.) to each of the first FIVE people who can correctly answer a question related to the bonus footage (hint: if you go back through some of my recent tweets you can easily find the answer). But first, the rules:

Happy Valentine's Day From Sailor and Lula

In answer to Glenn Kenny's Facebook query, "...what's your favorite V-Day image?" after posting his own right here.

TV Review: Recount - Satire Takes Aim at Florida's 2000 Voter Recount Fiasco

by Tony Dayoub

The new HBO movie, Recount, is a sadly funny primer on all the behind-the-scenes shenanigans that occurred during the infamous 2000 Florida voter recount. Seen primarily through the eyes of Ron Klain (Kevin Spacey), General Counsel to Al Gore's recount committee, it is more affectionate to the Democrats. But in retrospect, it is hard not to be, eight years later, as George W. Bush has the dubious distinction of having the lowest domestic approval ratings of any sitting American President in history. And that's including Nixon.

Jay Roach, of Austin Powers and Meet the Parents fame, directs the ensemble cast to what are some highly accurate caricatures of some of the major players in the unfolding comedy of errors taking place. I say caricatures because tongue is firmly planted in cheek as he surveys some of the notable incidents throughout the aftermath of the election. John Hurt (The Elephant Man) portrays former Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, as a dignified individual whose sense of decorum unfortunately delays Gore's recount team from fighting dirty earlier in the game. Ed Begley, Jr. (St. Elsewhere) plays David Boies, counsel to Gore in the Supreme Court case, Bush v. Gore, as a cavalry general coming to the rescue. If he is unable to stop Bush's recount committee from getting their way, it is simply because their leadership was simply more motivated to win. Their leader, James Baker, former Secretary of State and part of the Bush Family inner circle, is given ferocious life by virtual lookalike Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton). Wilkinson's Baker shows up to his first meeting with Gore's recount committee ready for a street fight, to the chagrin of Hurt's more gentlemanly Christopher. This sets the tone for the long battle that follows.

Of particular note is the performance of Laura Dern (Jurassic Park) as Katherine Harris, then-Secretary of State of Florida. Her delineation of Harris fits in with the image we remember, a preening and opportunistic evangelical Christian eager for her chance in the spotlight. With no concern over charges of conflict-of-interest, she was only to happy to take center stage in certifying Bush's victory, despite her post as Bush's Florida campaign co-chair. Dern's excessive makeup, gaudy attire, and padded form (Dern's slender body is far different than the shapely Harris') remind us of how ubiquitous Harris' face was on TV, at the time.

With loads of incidents to poke fun at (or cry over depending which side of the political aisle you're on), from Gore's retraction of his concession to Bush (which may have been the impetus for the Bush committee's tenacious fight), to the U.S. Supreme Court's unprecedented admonition that their decision on Bush v. Gore was unique to this specific case, Recount makes for entertaining, but biased, viewing.