Current Events > About to watch The Straight Story (1999)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Im hoping to have watched every David Lynch movie by the time summer comes around. So far Ive seen the following:
-The Elephant Man
-Blue Velvet
-Wild at Heart
-Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
-Lost Highway
-Mulholland Drive

I also have Eraserhead on Blu-Ray coming in the mail. Im saving Inland Empire for last because its his last & (from what Ive heard) most unhinged movie. Certainly interested in seeing the direction he takes with making a G-rated Disney movie.
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Enjoy
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Boring.
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The Straight Story, while fairly normal, still has that Lynchian quirkiness. Good movie.

Phantom_Nook posted...

Boring.

It's not a cartoon, so of course you'd think that.
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BlueScum posted...

Phantom_Nook posted...

Boring.

It's not a cartoon, so of course you'd think that.

Hoo boy, you've got me pegged.
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I had to write a screenplay for a course in college. For some reason the professor recommended I watch this movie. I had never heard of it. I thought it was a good movie.
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Finished it; very good movie. Will post extended thoughts tomorrow after Ive gotten some sleep/contemplated the movie some more.
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Welp, its been about a day, so here goes...

Right off the bat, The Straight Story is unmistakably a Lynch film, despite its consistently calm, gentle tone and lack of surrealism; many trademark aspects of his films are here, such as long, eerily quiet takes, unique, creative scene transitions, occasional quirky, humanly-awkward exchanges in dialogue between characters, and even a few recurring actors from previous/later Lynch projects.

The Straight Story did an excellent job finding beauty in the oft-overlooked country parts of the United States midwest region. The old-fashioned, country hospitality of the films colorful characters is the heart & soul of the film, and the cinematography does an effective job warming the viewers perception of what could easily be perceived as everyday mundane country scenery (the scene where Alvin Straight goes to shelter during a rainfall was, for me, the strongest example of this); this is all reinforced by the films relaxed, comforting soundtrack.

The emotions prevalent in The Straight Story could generally be described as slow burn. Besides the very ending of the movie, all of the films most emotional scenes occur minutes into conversations between the movies protagonist and the kind folks he meets along his journey. One of the best examples of this - and one that hit me by total surprise - was a scene where Alvin disputes the cost of a bill given to him by a bickering pair of twin repair men. I expected the scene to simply end with the two repair men grumpily and reluctantly accepting his bargain, but Alvins final words to the twins hit home harder than almost anything else in the movie. Another particularly heartbreaking scene for me was the revelation of what happened with Alvins daughter and her children.

Though its not a film for everyone, I absolutely recommend The Straight Story to any patient movie watcher craving a nice feel-good film that doesnt come off as too manipulative or syrupy-sweet. Theres probably more I could say here, but I dont want to get too carried away with this review; I am writing it on a message board on a video game website, after all.

Overall Rating: 9/10

Current ranking of David Lynch movies:
7. Wild at Heart
6. Lost Highway
5. The Elephant Man
4. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
3. Blue Velvet
2. The Straight Story
1. Mulholland Drive
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I saw it for the first time this year. It's outstanding. I almost wish that Lynch would choose to make more conventional films like this more often. (But I guess these days it is hard to see him make a film at all.)

Bump
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Up
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Last bump. My Eraserhead Blu-Ray arrived in the mail today; will watch tomorrow night.






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Gafemage posted...

Last bump. My Eraserhead Blu-Ray arrived in the mail today; will watch tomorrow night.

Best movie I've ever seen. No exaggeration

Have you watched any Twin Peaks besides Fire Walk With Me? Definitely watch that if you havent.

The last season of Twin Peaks is the most Lynchian thing hes ever produced and may be my favorite thing hes ever done.

His early short films are extremely worthwhile as well.
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The Straight Story is a pretty fun and adventurous movie.
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@wah_wah_wah posted...

Gafemage posted...

My Eraserhead Blu-Ray arrived in the mail today; will watch tomorrow night.

Best movie I've ever seen. No exaggeration

I thought the movie was decent when I watched it, but my appreciation for it has been increasing gradually since I watched it; absolutely a movie I can see myself rewatching, probably even a couple of times. The lady in the radiator singing is one of a handful of scenes that sticks out as particularly memorable/haunting.

I also wish I watched it earlier on when I was exploring Lynch's filmography; there's so many "Lynchian" tropes established here that are prevalent in his later works - I was still able to note its influence on scenes from multiple later Lynch projects right away, but I feel like if I'd seen it prior to said scenes it would've made them even more enjoyable.
@KronoCloud posted...

Have you watched any Twin Peaks besides Fire Walk With Me? Definitely watch that if you havent.

The last season of Twin Peaks is the most Lynchian thing hes ever produced and may be my favorite thing hes ever done.

Excluding things like interviews/documentaries/novels/etc., I've seen everything related to the Twin Peaks canon; I watched the original show for the first time in summer 2014, I watched Fire Walk with Me, rewatched the original run, then watched The Return all during fall of last year, and I just watched The Missing Pieces a couple days before I watched The Straight Story.

Idk if I'd agree with S3 being the most "Lynchian" thing he's made to date (I think Eraserhead was more so - even including Part 8 - and Inland Empire even seems like it could take that title from Eraserhead), but you're right about it being an amazing season of television.
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Gafemage posted...

I thought the movie was decent when I watched it, but my appreciation for it has been increasing gradually since I watched it; absolutely a movie I can see myself rewatching, probably even a couple of times. The lady in the radiator singing is one of a handful of scenes that sticks out as particularly memorable/haunting.

I think everyone has that first movie that really shows them what film can do as a mode of expression. As a kid you're mostly exposed to films that are commercialized and out to make a buck, so you don't get a sense of how meaningful cinema can be. You know what I mean? Ebert's film like that was probably La Dolce Vita. Eraserhead was that film for me. I saw it at 16 and it was so unlike anything I had ever seen before that it reoriented my brain to not simply enjoy films, but to respect the ways they can be made.

I can go into all the ways I enjoy the film... it's more than simple scene to scene stuff. I appreciate the ethic that made it, years and years as a labor of self-expression. I appreciate how it can have way different impacts on you depending on where you're coming from. Some friends I show it to view it as genuinely terrifying. Whereas I found it funny the first time and gradually developed to become genuinely moved by it with subsequent rewatchings.

I can say that the film isn't revolutionary to the craft of cinema, but it was revolutionary for me.

Necro'ing this topic
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