The Straight Story (1999)

David Lynch has never been one to stand by convention, and back in 1999 coming off the back of the deeply strange and impenetrable Lost Highway he chose to follow it up with a U rated film published by Disney. As odd as that sounds The Straight Story remains a Lynch film through and through, it merely replaces his darker id with a sweetness and decency that feels just as real and resonant. Those familiar with Lynch will know he has always has this side to him, from his love of the cornball aspects of Twin Peaks to the heartbreak at the centre of the Elephant Man. Here he channels it into the simple story of Alvin, an elderly man living in Iowa who sets out to visit his estranged brother after hearing he has suffered a stroke. However rather than taking conventional transport, and due to a lack of a valid drivers license, he instead decides to drive his trusty lawn mower, towing what he needs and sleeping rough along the 300 or so mile to his destination.
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After a brief introductory sequence Alvin is quickly on his way and the film then largely becomes a road movie, showing how he impacts those characters he meets along the way and shares the philosophies and wisdom he has gained from a life fully lived. As Alvin Richard Farnsworth is wonderful in the role, he brings such pathos and generosity to the character without becoming twee or clichéd. He's eccentric but good hearted and some of my favourite scenes in the film were simple conversations where you would get to see worlds collide, and important character details revealed in the smallest of gestures. The script by John Roach and Mary Sweeney is wonderfully restrained and pared back. This isn't a film about big emotion or moments, but little slices of life and it affirms an underlying decency that I loved.
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This isn't a complex film, or one with many layers, it's name is appropriate in more than one way. It has a deliberate pace, as Lynch's films always do, but the lush score from his frequent collaborator Angelo Badalamenti and Lynch's great eye for constructing a shot draw you in and make it a pleasure to absorb. This is a wonderfully human film, deeply felt and plainly presented.