film

After the commercial failure of Dune (and how bizarre it feels to type those words now) in 1984, David Lynch wanted to make something more personal, with some of the surreality he had explored in Eraserhead (which by pleasing coincidence is playing at Phenomena on Sunday night). A macabre drama playing out with picket-fence America as its backdrop, Blue Velvet follows the disturbing events that unfold after the clean-cut college student Jeffrey (Kyle MacLachlan), back home to visit his ill father, discovers a severed ear in a field.

A classic case of an initial muted reaction (although Lynch was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director) followed by a total critical re-evaluation, Blue Velvet is now viewed as one of the great works of American cinema. It is also credited with reinvigorating the career of Dennis Hopper, who plays the terrifying, amyl nitrite-huffing Frank, and helping Isabella Rossellini's transition from model to movie star, as well as launching the career of a 19-year-old Laura Dern.