One of David Lynch’s Best Movies Is Also the Most Un-Lynchian Film Possible

The big picture

• 1999 film by David Lynch
  The straight story
  tackles similar themes and aesthetics to his other works, despite being a G-rated Disney film.
• The film is a heartfelt love letter to the often overlooked blue-collar regions of America, but which constitute the heart and soul of the country.
• The straight story
  is a standout film for Lynch as it is more mature, introspective and toned down in style, but still manages to tell a compelling story about family love and the need for peace in life.

On the surface, David Lynch1999's underrated masterpiece The straight story it couldn't be further from the director's typical style and subject matter. However, the road movie tackles many of the same themes and even has a lot of aesthetic similarity to Lynch films such as Blue velvetand especially his television show Twin Peaks. This may be hard to fathom considering this is a G-rated Disney film that has a big beating heart and deep empathy for its characters, but none of these things are foreign to Lynch.

Same as with Blue velvet i Twin Peaks, David Lynch has repeatedly shown an interest in the often overlooked blue-collar regions of America that are in many ways the heart, soul, and backbone of the country. It says a lot about Lynch that his most horrifying films, lost road, Mulholland Drivei Inland Empirethey're about the soul-sucking black hole that is Los Angeles, specifically Hollywood, all of which become increasingly nightmarish and surreal between 1997 and 2006. The straight storywhich ironically came out between lost road i Mulholland Drive it is perhaps his simplest love letter to parts of the United States where he finds the most comfort and the best that human beings can offer.

What is 'The Straight Story' about?

The straight story tells the real-life story of Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth), a kind-hearted old World War II veteran who travels across Iowa and Wisconsin in a riding lawnmower to visit his brother, Lyle.Harry Dean Stanton) who recently suffered a stroke. Although the plot is peculiar, the film is really an existential exercise in finding and restoring peace in life, and in accepting the things you cannot change.

Alvin goes on what can only be described as a spiritual odyssey across the beautiful plains of the Midwest during which he stops for help from kind strangers and reminisces about his time as a soldier. He has cathartic conversations with other elderly veterans in which he confronts his guilt and demons, including alcoholism. Her transformation into a more content and peaceful person is exhibited through subtle character changes which is best experienced simply by watching the film. The straight story it does an extraordinary job of capturing the negative space of life where deep realizations are made. Alvin allows the tranquility of the journey to come to him, opening himself up to all possibilities and ideas. The film puts the viewer in a meditative state, using David Lynch's signature slow-motion style to great effect.

'The Straight Story' offers fantastic melodrama

While on the surface it seems odd that David Lynch would direct a Disney film, what becomes immediately apparent upon viewing The straight story it's that little or none of his signature style was abandoned to appease the Mouse House. Behind and in front of the camera, fans of his work will recognize a host of familiar names and faces, including editor Mary Sweeney, his longtime editor to whom he owes much of the credit for his entire career. The magnificent score is composed by Angelo BadalamentiLynch's long-time composer and musical collaborator (see 2018 music project think tank). And of course, the revelation at the end of the film that Lyle Straight is played by Harry Dean Stanton almost feels like a fan-service moment for an actor who has brought so much of his own unique charisma to the career of David Lynch.

The film is full of dreamy, lingering shots of the plains of the Midwest aided rather romantically by Badalamenti's score, doing for the Midwest what Twin Peaks made for the Pacific Northwest. The film ensures that the landscapes are as much a character as Alvin Straight himself. Every scene is filled with deep warmth and tenderness, the types who always acted as the underpinnings of his more esoteric and tonally complex films. When Lynch leans deep into the emotions Blue velvet i Twin Peaksplayed as tongue-in-cheek and sincere, as if he were mocking and showing his love for the melodrama of American entertainment.

In The straight story, you get a much more sentimental but not schmaltzy version of the melodrama we've come to love and expect from a David Lynch project. The film also makes sure to include the oddball loving character moments that its fans have come to expect. The supporting characters provide some of the best comic relief in the entire film, and yet they are played extremely naturalistically. The characters a The straight story retain the same whimsy as the characters Twin Peaks they exhibit frequently but are not so capricious as to take you out of the world and the story. They really feel like real people, not exaggerated caricatures of real people.

What makes 'The Straight Story' a standout David Lynch film?

The straight story it's much more mature and introspective than the average Disney film, and much more toned down in style and experimentation than Lynch's previous films. However, the filmmakers and actors involved embrace minimalism to tell a complete and compelling story that reaches deep into the human heart to tell a wholesome story about love and family reconnection. The straight story is easily David Lynch's most heartfelt and human film, as well as a timeless piece of Americana. It romanticizes the Midwest in a way that shows a genuine love for the land and the people without seeming nationalistic or a cheap advertisement for the states represented. It's not the kind of Disney movie that would appeal to children, as it deals with very real and complex ideas about aging, mortality, trauma, addiction, and the need to find peace in life.

David Lynch's The straight story it's a film by a true auteur that can be loved and appreciated equally by fans of his other work and those who don't know it or just don't like his usual surrealist style. Instead of highlighting the darkness behind our collective Norman Rockwell-esque vision of the suburbs or Hollywood, decided to highlight the luminosity that exists in places where you least expect it, and it really paid off.

The straight story is currently available to stream on Disney+ in the US

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