One day, while walking home, Jeffrey (Kyle MacLachlan) discovers a severed ear in the bushes.  He reports this to the police.  He then decides to follow up on this mysterious finding and begins to find out about Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini) and her trouble with the character of Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper).  We follow Jeffrey as he attempts to figure out what’s really going on and put a case together so that he can put all the bad guys in jail; or something like that.

After the previous David Lynch films I must say that I find myself in a most peculiar place.  When I watch a film like this, which is void of any real weird narrative structure.  The film plays itself like a regular detective film.  We find something odd and we take a look closer to see what’s really going on.  The only thing in this film that will strike anyone as strange is the character of Frank.  Frank is a crazy guy who likes to beat on women during sex and take gasps of air from his oxygen mask that he has on him at all times.  I’m not sure if it’s that I’m getting used to Lynch’s films at this point but I didn’t find myself stretching my imagination at all while watching this movie.  It plays it straight at almost every moment and for that I love it.

Kyle MacLachlan plays the role of Jeffrey, the overly curious guy who wants to know the truth.  He loves mysteries, so when he has the opportunity to solve his very own mystery he jumps at the chance.  We do get a feeling like this guy spent a lot of his free time reading too much Hardy Boys novels, because a few of the ‘detecting’ skills Jeffrey shows are less than brilliant.  Initially when he finds out where Dorothy lives he decides to hide in the closet to observe her.  So it’s not hard to believe that quickly he’s discovered after seeing a few things that he was never meant to see.

I think the highlight of the film however is the character of Frank Booth.  Dennis Hopper’s performance is just brilliant.  He’s always best when he’s ridiculously insane.  He plays a crazy kidnapper who’s sexually abusing Dorothy.  He apparently thinks he’s ‘baby’ and ‘wants to fuck’ or something like that.  At no point do you believe that this man has any form of rational thought going through his mind, but that’s why you love him.  You believe that Hopper is Booth and you fear for Jeffrey and Dorothy’s lives as we try to solve this mystery.

The film works as a mystery/detective film and as a strange conversation on life in the 50s.  We see films like Reservation Road which puts American life in the 50s on display.  Here however we are in the 50s America that we see in films like Pleasantville, but since we’re dealing with this dark side of the world with kidnapping and weird sex the film stands out in a very good way.

If there’s one Lynch film that you watch this is the film that you have to watch.  I love this movie and I love how it takes the setting and makes the generic detective story feel special.  Brilliant performances and an interesting plot makes the movie a joy to watch.

IMDB says 7.8/10

Rotten Tomatoes says 91%

I say 9.0/10