Film Review: The Straight Story (1999)

One of the things that sets great artists apart from merely good artists is the ability to surprise audience. Great artists can deliver something quite unexpected to audience familiar to their work while not compromising the quality. David Lynch made such achievement with his 1999 drama The Straight Story.

The film is based on true events that occurred in the Midwest five years earlier. The plot begins when small town of Laurens, Iowa where 73-year old retired farmer Alvin Straight (played by Richard Farnsworth) lives with his stammering daughter Rose (played by Sissy Spacek). They learn that Alvin’s brother Lyle (played by Harry Dean Stanton) has suffered a stroke. Alvin and Lyle haven’t spoken for ten years and Alvin is convinced that this might be the last chance for reconcilliation. He wants to visit him, but this represents quite a challenge, because Lyle lives in Mount Zion, Wisconsin, which is hundreds of miles away. Alvin is too proud to take a bus, while poor eyesight precludes him from having a driving license. Alvin instead finds solution in a lawnmower that would rig to a trailer and drive towards Lyle. Although many try to talk him out of it, he begins a weeks long journey during which he would meet many interesting people.

To say that The Straight Story is atypical for David Lynch’s filmography is a great understatement. Just like the title says, the film delivers simple fact-based story that serves as basis for simple road film. Furthermore, this film, distributed by Disney, even managed to get “G”, the kindest possible rating from MPAA, reserved almost exclusively for children’s films, which is something difficult to imagine for a director who made his name by films featuring perverted sex and violence. Lynch handles harmless content with great skill and there are very few things except the presence of some of his favourite actors like Everett McGill in a small role or Angelo Badalementi’s score might remind Lynch’s fans that they are actually watch Lynch’s films. Some of the scenes can be interpreted as some kind of semi-humorous homage to his previous films like Blue Velvet or Wild at Heart, but they are relatively short and naturally fit into the rest of The Straight Story.

Those who haven’t seen earlier Lynch’s works would nevertheless be impressed with this film. One of the main reasons for that is brilliant casting of Richard Farnsworth, Canadian stuntman who began serious acting career in middle age and by 1990s established himself as superb character actor. Alvin Straight was the opportunity to play the only leading role of his career and he took it with gusto. He plays ailing old man who is aware of the inevitability of his deterioration but who nevertheless tries to maintain his dignity even in ways that some might see as pointless or counterproductive. Farnsworth looks like a person worth a pity, but at the same time he isn’t better or worse than anyone, and the long years gave him perspective in which he sees things differently and, more often than not, more accurately that younger people. The Straight Story represents strangely affectionate portrayal of old age, which is something rare to came from youth-obsessed Hollywood. Farnsworth easily wins audience’s sympathy and it is quite natural to see people who are younger, stronger, richer and even smarter than Alvin Straight treat him with respect and awe. Farnsworth’s performance, for which he was nominated for Oscar for Best Actor, is even more moving in light of the fact that he was terminally ill during the production and took his life a year after the film’s release.

Farnsworth’s brilliant performance is well-matched by the rest of the cast. Sissy Spacek, close friend of David Lynch, is very good in role of protagonist’s stammering daughter and avoids making the character look annoying, which might have happened with less experienced in the role. Lynch also had a good script at this disposal, co-written by Jay Roach and his editor and long-time romantic partner Mary Sweeney. The script served minimalist style of the film very well.

But what is even more interesting is that Lynch, for the first time, not only makes family-friendly film, but also takes unusually sympathetic portrayal of what many American film makers, especially those prone to dabbling into politics, like to call “the Flyover Country”. The film depicts rural America, where the life is slow and uneventful, as place at least as good and busy and vibrant cities and where people, despite their assumed conservatism, are always willing to help stranger in need. Lynch goes even further and through his protagonist promotes importance of family and traditional values. Even without this content, which looked quite refreshing in late 1990s and which looks even more unusual now, The Straight Story is remarkable film that can stand together with the best works of David Lynch.

RATING: 9/10 (++++)

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