Blue Velvet
Cabaret Cinema - Soundtrack
Friday, August 4, 2017
9:30 PM–11:45 PM
1986, David Lynch, USA, 120 min.
Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern, Dean Stockwell
Selected and introduced by writer and director Natalia Leite
Written and directed by David Lynch, this is possibly the only coming-of-age movie in which sex has the danger and the heightened excitement of a horror picture. The setting is an archetypal small, sleepy city in an indefinite mythic present that feels like the past, and Kyle MacLachlan is Jeffrey, a clean-cut young man who’s scared of his dirty thoughts (but wants to have them anyway). Lynch’s use of irrational material works the way it’s supposed to: we read his images at some not fully conscious level. With Dennis Hopper, who gives the movie a jolt of horrific energy, and Dean Stockwell, who is a smiling wonder as Ben the Sandman. – Pauline Kael, The New Yorker
Why did you select Blue Velvet for the Cabaret Cinema: Soundtrack series?
“As someone who also practices sound-vibration meditation, I can’t think of a filmmaker who better understands the power of sound than David Lynch.” —Natalia Leite
About Cabaret Cinema: Soundtrack
You can probably name the best movie you’ve seen, but what about the best movie you’ve heard? It might be your favorite because of its sound effects, sound engineering, score, or another element of the audio experience. Watch—and hear—a series of films that caught the ear of notable New Yorkers.
About the Introducer
Natalia Leite’s directorial debut, Bare, starring Dianna Agron and Paz de la Huerta, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2015 and was released by IFC. Her second feature, MFA, a psychological thriller centered around rape crimes in universities, premiered at SXSW 2017. She often deals with sexuality in her work, which has been described as having “emotional intelligence and sensitivity” (LA Times), and as “cementing the reign over highly stylized and sexually progressive dramas” (Slant). She is a frequent contributor to Vice Media, and has been featured in The New Yorker, The Guardian, and Vogue, among other publications.