STEVEN 🏳️🌈’s review published on Letterboxd:
"It's like the song 'Amazing Grace'. The footage was lost but now it's found."
- David Lynch
Review re-published from 01/17/25 as Letterboxd s have added this listing per my request.
It's a sad day following the death of beloved film auteur, David Lynch, so I figured I'd celebrate his life with the few films I have yet to see from his expansive filmography. Shortest of the batch is The Lost Footage, a 53-minute pseudo-sidequel comprised entirely of deleted scenes and alternate takes from his 1986 masterpiece, Blue Velvet, that was released on home video sometime in the 2010s. What strikes me about this edit is how it includes mostly lighter material that almost turns it into a kind of antithesis for the final theatrical version.
Moments surrounding the neo-noir nightmare that feel like the type of context and the fluff that would be found in any major studio release at the time. Jeffrey Beaumont at a college dance; his mother calling him to return home for good; nice family breakfast after the health scare at hand; romantic vignettes with Sandy; saving Dorothy from suicide on the rooftop. So much of this is unsubstantial, but so much of it is exquisitely executed slice-of-life enhancements to the world within. I'm aware of the extended fan cut, though I almost want to create my own after I finish my Twin Peaks redux. Still entranced by the score and the lore, and love how this felt finished despite existing only as fragments.
Incredible.