I never realized how much I'd discussed Blue Velvet before - and how much I still had to say about it - until composing this multipart podcast (and assembling the public episode on Blue Velvet as a standalone film, which is a tie-in to this). David Lynch's eighties breakthrough was the movie which took him from being an avant-garde cult-figure (beginning to turn semi-mainstream director-for-hire) to a full-blown auteur whose name could be used as a commonly understood adjective. The story of a curious young man discovering dark sexual and criminal secrets in an all-American small town (or small city?), the 1986 feature also directly paved the way for his 1990 TV series which was both enabled by Blue Velvet's success and dependent upon borrowing and expanding narrative and stylistic aspects of the previous work. Those ties are the focus of my longest "Twin Peaks Cinema" discussion ever - challenged only by my episode on Mulholland Drive - but the subject spills out into other parts of the episode as well. In my "Twin Peaks Reflections" section, I relate a routine second season subplot to the ostensibly less genre-focused Velvet. And when I opened my archive to revisit my previous coverage of the film, I had so much material that in addition to reading three full essays in the main episode I had to spin off three decent-sized bonus episodes too.
When I watched the Criterion Collection blu-ray, I was surprised to discover that I'd never actually seen the bonus avant-garde documentary Blue Velvet Revisited, even though I'd wanted to for years. In fact I was so taken with this particular work - a gorgeous Super 8 restoration of footage shot on the North Carolina location in the mid-eighties alongside black-and-white photos, recordings of cast and crew talking off the cuff, and latter-day moody music and editing flourishes - that I devoted an entire "Film in Focus" section to it. Not only the peek behind the scenes of this unique production but the aching exploration of another era and its zeitgeist completely captivated me, sparking personal as well as cinematic musings. Inspired simply by the realization that my scheduled March "Reflections" subject, just a few minutes of material for the podcast, would include Blue Velvet, I ended up assembling a sprawling analysis of/meditation on a Lynch project that has both fascinated and frustrated me for years. It took a couple weeks for me to catch up and my "Lost in Twin Peaks" podcast also got delayed in the mix, although this allowed it to go up on the episode's thirtieth anniversary. Hopefully you find all of this worth the wait and have some of your own thoughts to share.
Podcast Line-Ups for...
Lost in the Movies #77
INTRO
including line-ups for all the bonus episodes
BELATED MONTHLY UPDATE
(recently published)
status update, Mad Men season 4, Sorry to Bother You podcast, archive page since June 2020
BELATED MONTHLY UPDATE
(behind the scenes)
considering a postponement of Journey Through Twin Peaks to finish other projects
TWIN PEAKS REFLECTIONS
Denise, Betty / Briggs home, Dead Dog Farm / Jean frames Cooper + Blue Velvet
TWIN PEAKS CINEMA: Blue Velvet
including Comparisons / Contrasts / Fluid Psychodramatic Connections / Characters / Settings / Motifs & Minor Characters
+ Criterion Supplements including Deleted Scenes
FILM IN FOCUS: Blue Velvet Revisited
OPENING THE ARCHIVE:
Blue Velvet, Blue Velvet in The Eye of the Duck retrospective, Blue Velvet & The Duchess of Langeais
OUTRO
Lost in Twin Peaks #26
INTRO
THE OPENING OF THE EPISODE
DIRECTOR/WRITERS
PRODUCTION & TV CONTEXT
THE OPENING OF THE EPISODE
DIRECTOR/WRITERS
PRODUCTION & TV CONTEXT
(when it aired, ratings, surrounding shows - including Seinfeld)
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
(#1 movie: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, Merion air disaster, TIME cover: police brutality + pieces on Steve Urkel)
- only media coverage is part of the TIME issue
FAN RECEPTION, PERSONAL RECEPTION & THE FEEL OF THE EPISODE
THE STRUCTURE OF THE EPISODE (including "previously on" recap & top storyline)
FAN RECEPTION, PERSONAL RECEPTION & THE FEEL OF THE EPISODE
THE STRUCTURE OF THE EPISODE (including "previously on" recap & top storyline)
SCENES ORGANIZED BY STORY
Laura & Ben / Horne family / Ghostwood / Shelly & Bobby & Leo / James & Donna / Mike & Donna / Josie & Harry / Cocaine in Twin Peaks / Lucy’s pregnancy / Windom Earle & Cooper's history / Mystery of the woods / Super Teen Nadine / Ben goes good / Audrey & JJW / Annie & Cooper / Ben & Eileen / Miss Twin Peaks / Gordon & Shelly
LOCATIONS
CHARACTERS (introductions, first interactions, rankings, hot streaks, absences, returns)
COFFEE, PIE & DONUTS (+ other food & smoking)
MYTHOLOGY
WHAT IS TWIN PEAKS?
WHO IS AGENT COOPER?
WHO IS LAURA PALMER?
CLIP/READINGS FROM MY OTHER WORK
Laura & Ben / Horne family / Ghostwood / Shelly & Bobby & Leo / James & Donna / Mike & Donna / Josie & Harry / Cocaine in Twin Peaks / Lucy’s pregnancy / Windom Earle & Cooper's history / Mystery of the woods / Super Teen Nadine / Ben goes good / Audrey & JJW / Annie & Cooper / Ben & Eileen / Miss Twin Peaks / Gordon & Shelly
LOCATIONS
CHARACTERS (introductions, first interactions, rankings, hot streaks, absences, returns)
COFFEE, PIE & DONUTS (+ other food & smoking)
MYTHOLOGY
WHAT IS TWIN PEAKS?
WHO IS AGENT COOPER?
WHO IS LAURA PALMER?
CLIP/READINGS FROM MY OTHER WORK
- including discussion of whether episode 23, 24, or 25 is the comeback
LOG LADY INTRO & NEXT TIME PREVIEW
SPOILER SECTION (for future episodes)
CHARACTER/DIRECTOR MILESTONES & EPISODE RANK
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS
LOG LADY INTRO & NEXT TIME PREVIEW
SPOILER SECTION (for future episodes)
CHARACTER/DIRECTOR MILESTONES & EPISODE RANK
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS
No comments:
Post a Comment