Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Director 1986

The Contenders:
David Lynch: Blue Velvet
Woody Allen: Hannah and Her Sisters
Roland Joffe: The Mission
Oliver Stone: Platoon
James Ivory: A Room with a View

Pabst Blue Ribbon

Film: Blue Velvet
Format: VHS from personal collection on big ol’ television.

I’m going to come out of an intellectual closet here. I don’t have a problem with David Lynch. I don’t specifically seek him out and I haven’t seen anything close to his entire filmography, but I’ll happily sit down with one of his films, and I don’t need to be in a particular mood to do so. I even like Dune for all its campy weirdness. Right now, you’re having one of three reactions. You’re nodding in agreement, shrugging, or concluding that this is more evidence that I’m hellbound.

But, for the most part, even people who don’t like Lynch’s films have a modicum of appreciation for Blue Velvet. I like this film, but I’m not sure why it’s so celebrated in his filmography above, say, The Elephant Man. It might be the sex, or the flat-out weirdness that is still comprehensible, or the performance of Dennis Hopper. Or all three. Or something else. I really don't know.