Hello and welcome to Your Favorite Movie. I’m your host Evan Kelly. I’ve always loved movies. I feel they have a unique power that isn’t found in other types of media. So I’ve invited a few of my friends to come and talk about their favorite movies. This isn’t a debate - I’m not trying to challenge anyone’s rationale or determine the objective greatest movie of all time. My hope with these conversations is to begin to reach the heart of what makes film so resonant.

My guest today is Cory Davis. I met Cory in grad school. Our friendship really took off when we ran into each other after a screening of The Killing of a Sacred Deer at the Art Theater in Champaign. Late nights at the Art followed by drinks and discussion with Cory at The Blind Pig became a ritual. Sadly, we couldn’t recreate those days even if we tried as The Art Theater has since closed. That was my favorite theater. Cory always points out details I missed in movies and also has a brilliant analytical mind which can interpret those details to discern meaning.

Cory’s favorite movie is the 1986 mystery Blue Velvet. When his father falls ill, college student Jeffrey Beaumont returns home to his rosy suburban paradise. The veneer is soon punctured by the discovery of a severed human ear in a field by his house. With the help of girl-next-door Sandy, Jeffrey goes rogue to investigate, and uncovers a deadly web of kidnapping, rape, and murder that implicates a lounge singer and a nitrous huffing drug dealer just below the surface of American tranquility.