Video Store

When I was in high school — oh, so long ago — I was lucky enough, at least for a time, to have the cherished job working at one of the two video stores in town. That job could be a whole other essay, but I’ll spare you. Just know — I didn’t work very hard and had a very smart ass mouth.

When I was 17, a very good friend (also a coworker of mine) and I were wandering our place of employment, looking for a movie to watch. I can’t say for sure, but I almost think this might have been a snow day. Whatever the reason, John-Thomas and I were looking for a movie. After some period of indeterminate searching, we stood among the drama section at the back of the store. They were in alphabetical order, so it wasn’t long before I stopped on a movie with a strange cover. A shirtless young man (Kyle MacLachlan) is holding a supine, bewildered woman with short dark hair (Isabella Rossellini) in his arms; neither look too certain of anything.

The film’s title was Blue Velvet.

I don’t recall having heard of it, but for whatever reason (from my side, very likely my knowledge of the show Twin Peaks) John and I settled on this movie and walked it up to the counter where our boss waited. We set it down and she looked at it, smiled a bewildered smile, and looked back up at us.

She was a woman in her late fifties with blondish hair and a hard stare. She seemed to always be in possession of one mid eighties Mustang or another. The Mustang of the hour could be found on the side of the video store five days a week. She would go out often and sit in her car and smoke her Marlboro Reds. She was kind enough to hire me, and, for a time, put up with my smart ass mouth. I was grateful to her for giving me the opportunity, especially since I was planning to go to college to become a filmmaker.

“Do you know what this movie is about?” Our boss asked.

“Uh, no, not really,” I said.

“Well, just — just you two be careful with this movie.”

That piqued our interest. A movie to be careful with. Surely this is something worth watching.

“What do you mean, be careful?” John asked. She looked from John to me, and then back to John.

“Just be careful,” she repeated as she was checking us out.

We went around the corner toward the exit, grabbed the movie, and headed back to my house.

I slipped the movie into the VCR, and we waited to see what the fuss was about.

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Art

Sometime in 2008, I was sitting in a cubicle at a temp job, stewing in my own self pity. I was rather down, feeling like I had no prospects. I sat and tried to think about it. Overthinking had never failed me up to this point!

A conclusion I came to (when I should have been working) was that one reason to not be depressed is because, as a human being, we get to make and experience art.

I believe art to be the spine of the soul.

Any day I can create something and leave something new in the world is a day I consider at least partially well spent. For other naive statements, please make sure to subscribe to my newsletter “Smiles and Puppies and Forgiveness: A Daily Treatise on the World*”!

Creation helps me feel less alone. And when you’re stranded in a cubicle staring at a spreadsheet that you understand about as much as some ancient sanskrit text, creation seems like the fountain of youth.

Random Reactions running through Kevin’s brain on the first viewing of Blue Velvet

…Well, that’s a nice fire truck!….

…Those bugs really must represent something, or maybe it’s just really rich soil!…

…I love the way these people are talking to each other. It’s like there is an extra beat between portions of conversations, and the earnest nature in which, say, the line “Yep, that’s a human ear alright” made me smile…

…What’s Heineken?…

…I love that shot from the vantage point of looking up at the trees! I’m going to be a big important film director and also show the trees from interesting angles…

…Whoa, he’s naked and alone in that closet…

…Wait…

…Hold on, what is he?…

…Okay, so Frank [Dennis Hopper] is huffing something out of that mask, and his voice isn’t changing, so it’s not helium, and my, why is he so angry? Maybe he could allow her to look in his general direction? And my stars, do human beings actually curse this much?…

…Oh okay, there’s some blue velvet…

…I need to pray; what did he just do to her?…

…Add another prayer session to the list…

…Okay so Heineken makes you pee? Got it…

…Oh no…

…Scanning my memory for when I have ever been half as mad as Frank and finding no takers…

…Third prayer session inked into place…

…Man, Pabst Blue Ribbon is apparently really, really good…

…Please don’t go on a ride with him…

…He seems to keep referring to her only as a body part; perhaps he doesn’t know her name?…

…Now, my dad doesn’t have a ton of CDs, but one is like a Greatest Hits of Roy Orbison, and I have to admit, I think he skipped this song…

…I want to sing into a light…

…I think I know what ‘suave’ means, but I’m going to have to go ahead and look that up after this movie, just to be sure…

…He yelled ‘I’ll fuck anything that moves’ and then just disappeared…

…I wish I could dance on top of a car like that…

…That dead man in all yellow is still standing…

…Well, uh — So that movie was, wow, that was unlike anything I’ve ever seen; it terrified me and made me laugh, and it’s sheer oddness brought it all together; I will remember this when I make lots of movies as an adut; and if I start drinking, you’d better believe I’m going to drink the shit out of Pabst Blue Ribbon**…

Family Values

In 1990, the ABC Network took a chance, and aired a pilot of a television series called Twin Peaks. My family was still a singular unit, though not for long. For whatever reason, watching Twin Peaks was the last group thing I can recall our family doing together. With the pilot (which was maddeningly left out of many DVD box sets for years), I believe the first season is only eight episodes. Our dog, a shellie named “Muffy,” hid under the couch during these episodes. At least that’s how I like to think about it.

At the time this was first aired, this show was pretty much unlike anything else on television. But at the same time — as I would learn later — it had all the aspects of normal prime time melodramas. But I guarantee Dallas or Knots Landing or Hill Street Blues did not have the volume of absurdity, avant-garde, and deeply American earnestness that was all over Twin Peaks.

Special Agent Dale Cooper. I love Special Agent Dale Cooper. From Mark Frost and David Lynch’s script to Kyle MacLachlan’s earnest performance, it is a masterpiece. To this day, almost 35 years later, I still take a sip of coffee and then speak/scream to no one in particular: “Damn fine coffee! And hot too!”

Not to Mention (A Non exhaustive list of other Lynch works I’m quite fond of)

In my opinion, David Lynch has two masterpieces — the film Blue Velvet and the television show (and one motion picture) Twin Peaks. I chose to focus on those two for this essay, but that doesn’t mean he lacks other brilliant films. Below are a few.

Eraserhead — In which David Lynch explores the joys of impending fatherhood!

The Elephant Man — A stunningly moving movie about Joesph Merrick that caused me to cry alone in my college apartment while I absolutely obliterated at least a pack of Camel Turkish Golds.

Wild at Heart — Won the Palm D’Or at Cannes and is just a very strange, intriguing piece of work.

Mulholland Drive — Many consider this Lynch’s masterpiece. In the latest Sight and Sound critics poll, the likely most respected film “poll” there is, so exclusive it comes out once every ten years, it came in ranked as the 8th greatest film of all time. While I don’t think it’s as great as Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks, it’s pretty goddamn good. This is a visually stunning movie that I have seen multiple times and still don’t quite get, which is fine. Also, the scene behind the dumpster scared the living shit out of me the first time I saw it.

The Straight Story — Proof that anything in this world is possible, this movie is a G rated film produced by Disney and directed by David Lynch. However, if you are at all familiar with Lynch, not one moment of this powerful and simple movie feels like anything but a David Lynch work.

Auteur

The “Auteur Theory” — a term first used around 1948 — was partially derived from the work of French film critic Alexandre Astruc in 1948. The theory suggests that the director of the film is the “author” of the film. Among other things, I believe this argues that the body of work of a certain director shares a combination of many traits: distinct visual images, theme, camera work, symbolism, message, and so on.

The “Auteur Theory” was popularized in the mid 1950s by Francois Truffaut and other French film critics, many of whom would go on to be Auteurs themselves.

Some quick examples of people who are considered “Auteurs” (off the top of my head, trying to not rely on good ol Wikipedia):

• Alfred Hitchcock

• Quentin Tarantino

• Bong Joon-ho

• The Coen Brothers

• Sofia Coppola

• Martin Scorsese

• Agnes Varda (Okay, I had to Google her name)

• Wes Anderson

And, of course, the now late, always great, David Lynch.

There are artists who I’ve found more influential, who have inspired me more, but my list of artists goes on only a brief time before you get to Lynch. Not to mention that he was at the first ever Beatles concert in the United States on February 11, 1964.

My life, which has its depressed episodes (hell, they are like full seasons these days) and elongated periods of existential dread, has been made much, much richer by this brilliant man.

Rest in Peace, David Lynch — you made this world a better place. You were original, hilarious, and terrifying, and always, always engaging.

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*This in no way exists.

**On and off through the years, this has certainly been the case.