The Outer Richmond’s Balboa Theater — which has thrown an annual Twin Peaks Festival for six years — is showing four screenings of David Lynch’s 1986 murder mystery “Blue Velvet” Thursday and Friday to honor the director, who died Thursday at 78.
“We added more showtimes, because the last thing you want to do is disappoint people that are already heartbroken,” said Adam Bergeron, the theater’s owner.
The movie was already scheduled to run at Balboa theater at 7:30 p.m. in 35mm, but after news broke of Lynch’s death, Bergeron added showtimes at 8 p.m. (screening digitally) and 10 p.m. Thursday and 4 p.m. Friday (in 35mm).
Bergeron told The Standard the staffs of the Balboa Theater and sister location the 4 Star Theater are huge Lynch fans who banded together to offer the screenings and the Twin Peaks Festival, celebrating his cult-favorite TV series.
“Blue Velvet” in 35mm is especially coveted film by Lynch fans.
“‘Blue Velvet’ is a great movie, and it’s a rare print,” Bergeron said. “It’s the kind of movie that you would want to see on film.”
The films follows college student Jeffrey Beaumont, played by Kyle MacLachlan, who delves into a sinister underworld in his idyllic small town after discovering a severed ear in a field.
A surreal blend of dark psychological themes and historic mise-en-scène, “Blue Velvet” was Lynch’s first and last big-budget movie. It is considered by critics to be his magnum opus.
Highly controversial due to its depictions of violence and sex, it earned Lynch an Academy Award nomination for best director.