The Straight Story is What It Is
The filmography of David Lynch has had its day in the sun. Lynch’s movies are not just for cinema freaks anymore, they are practically a cultural currency all their own. And unlike before, it’s not just Twin Peaks that most people cut their teeth on. Due to the prevalence of streaming, casual and serious film fans have been able to explore the deeper recesses of his catalog. Blue Velvet, Eraserhead, and Mulholland Drive make regular appearances in the Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netflix video catalogs while his short films have found permanent homes on Criterion Channel, Netflix, and YouTube. And while it is still difficult to find some of his works on subscription services; Wild at Heart and Inland Empire remain inaccessible — nearly all of the rest of his movies can be found at the click of a button. And there’s one Lynch film that has flown under many a casual fan’s radar and it’s on the streaming service you would least suspect — Disney+.
Now, far be it from me to cape for the House of Mouse but the story of how The Straight Story ended up on their newly minted service makes sense. The Straight Story was distributed by Disney in 1999. They own the movie. That’s a straight story on its own. Before this, the film had only seen a home release once in 2000 and while it was briefly featured on Showtime’s streaming service, it remained among the most difficult of Lynch’s films to find. The DVD copy I took out of my local library had been scratched so the film’s recent Disney+ release is welcome.
Based on the true story of Alvin Straight, who rode his riding mower from Laurens, Iowa to Blue River, Wisconsin to visit his estranged brother who had fallen ill, the premise of the story has a feel-good nature to it that is untypical of Lynch’s earned reputation. Lynch stories, at least those that people often think of, are sordid tales involving copious amounts of dreams, death, sex, and electricity. The Straight Story grapples with death in its own meditative way but the rest of the film is about as far removed from the public’s usual conceptualization of what a Lynch movie can be. Because of this, it is a fresh and exciting watch.
Part of the reason for this change in tone is because Lynch did not write The Straight Story. Instead credited to his friend and regular collaborator, Mary Sweeney and John E. Roach, the film does not play with the usual Lynch-isms; electricity, video recordings, lounge singers, etc. It doesn’t exist in the highly paranoid, betrayed suburban world typical of Lynch — a world marred by the trauma of having been exposed to the urban realities of America. Instead, The Straight Story exists in an America touched not by the horrors of inner-city poverty and metropolitan anonymity, but in an America where mistakes and trespasses are made by neighbors and kin. A time and a place where a stranger can do you no wrong because there are no strangers, only neighbors.
True to its name, The Straight Story is the most digestible of Lynch’s films. Anyone who is turned off by his ephemeral, dreamlike narratives or sudden acts of horrific violence will be pleased to hear that none of that is present. Always the contrarian, Lynch calls this film “his most experimental film” due in part to the fact that it was shot in chronological order down the exact same route that Alvin Straight took in 1994. He may also consider it his most experimental because it is so measured and so intensely focused on the quiet human moments between its characters. It has more in common with the Wim Wenders classic, Paris, Texas than it does with any of Lynch’s other works.
But that is not to say that it is entirely dissimilar to Lynch’s work. David Lynch has always had a very specific humanity in his movies; it’s part of the reason they are so divisive. It is why some laugh at Eraserhead while others cry. It’s why some fall in love with Laura Palmer and the tiny town of Twin Peaks (pop. 51,201?) while others can’t see past its art-school trappings. And of course, there is always The Elephant Man. The Straight Story is about an All-American man; a man who possesses a resolve of steel and lungs of tar who sets out to make amends with his brother. Lynch sees the story for what it is; a person trying to make a connection, a common trait in nearly all his stories.
The Straight Story is great in its smallest conversations. The story never asks for anything grandiose so the moments that carry the most weight are the ones in which Alvin talks to the folks he meets along the way. Sometimes, the exchange is absurd and funny, like when he meets the woman who has hit thirteen deer in two weeks. Other exchanges, like his overnight talk with the runaway teen are careful, considered, and poignant. Among the most touching conversations in the film is the one he has with a fellow war veteran. Here we learn about the traumas that affected an entire generation of men, men who silently shouldered their burden and whether because of pride, vanity, or foolishness, let it eat away at them and destroy them.
There is a simpleness to The Straight Story that is not present in Lynch’s other movies. The film has a quiet empathy for these old Heartland towns and the residents within that many other Hollywood productions lack. Whereas many films use these settings for kitschy aesthetic or parody, there is an attention to the unique iconography of Heartland America that suggests an admiration to the lives built up among the fields of grain. Unlike many of Lynch’s films that obscure their hearts behind affected acting, maudlin music cues, or head-spinnng editing, The Straight Story is what it seems. It serves up no curveballs, it is just good, old-fashioned American filmmaking set deep in the Heartland. It’s a film for the entire family unit and is not to be missed if you’ve exhausted your other options in the Lynch filmography or on Disney+.
