Blue Velvet

My post about the Manhattan opening sequence got me thinking about what other films have perfect beginnings. David Lynch's Blue Velvet would definitely be in my top 5.

The first two minutes following the opening credits are a perfect distillation of the themes explored within the film. Set to the Bobby Vinton song that gives the film it's name it starts with one of the most iconic of opening shots, the white picket fence against an unnaturally blue sky (above). The fictional town of Lumberton is introduced in a surreal series of images that are over the top nice; a waving fireman, a lollipop lady helping children cross the road etc. before the tone changes dramatically as a man collapses whilst hosing his garden. As the title song fades away the camera travels down beneath the perfect lawn to find a teeming horde of beetles in the darkness below - filling the screen to appear more threatening with greatly exaggerated sound effects suggesting that there is a sadistic horror that lies hidden beneath the innocence of suburbia.

Blue Velvet// Opening Scene