The Straight Story (1999)

Directed by David Lynch. Starring Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, Anastasia Webb, James Cada, Everett McGill, Kevin Farley, John P. Farley, Wiley Harker, Dan Flannery. [G]

After learning his estranged brother has suffered a stroke, elderly Iowa farmer Alvin Straight (Farnsworth) determines to visit him, but since he doesn’t have a motor vehicle or license, he sets off on the 240-mile journey on his riding lawnmower! Gentle, genial story putters along at a steady-but-relaxed pace; could have easily gotten lost in “homespun wisdom” and rural community clichés, but Farnsworth’s performance is so assured—stubborn and unsophisticated, but also patient and generous—he could inspire affection from anyone with a heart. The sweetest and least aberrant film of director Lynch’s career (and also his best in over a decade), it possesses at least one similar trait (in an inverse fashion) to his darker, dreamier pictures: hypnotic allure. Photographer Freddie Francis does a fine job capturing the warm, rustic splendors and vast lonely spaces of the American Midwest. Based on a true story. Harry Dean Stanton cameos as the “other” Straight.

82/100