Icons and US myths

Rating: 10/10 (28 December 2019)

What I love most about this movie is its allusive qualities. MD draws on mid-20th century US culture so brilliantly. The heroine's arrival in LA and her quest to help a "dark lady" whose path crosses hers come straight out of a Nancy Drew mystery. (Just as the boy & girl sleuths in Lynch's "Blue Velvet" come straight out of a Hardy Boys mystery -- that is, until the plot lurches into the seedy, realistic side of US life.) Unless you grew up watching TV westerns during the Eisenhower adminstration, you will not get what Lynch is doing with his Cowboy character -- a Cowboy with a silly, oversized sombrero -- whose friendly warning to the heroine strikes terror into her heart. Also, two fairy tale characters who are icons in western folklore appear in opening scenes, and -- if you know your essential fairy tale plots -- will provide clues to the tragic crime story unfolding before us.