The Straight Story (1999)
Directed by David Lynch
Retired farmer and widower Alvin Straight learns one day that his estranged brother Lyle has suffered a severe stroke. Alvin is determined to make things right with Lyle while he still can, but his brother lives in Wisconsin, while Alvin is stuck in Iowa with no car and no driver's license. He then has the idea of making the trip on his old lawnmower, thus beginning a picturesque and at times deeply spiritual odyssey.
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What critics compared The Straight Story to
On the other hand, its gentle survey of humanity reminds me of another unlikely Disney production, David Lynch's The Straight Story , which is no small compliment.
It's calm rural power reminded me a bit of David Lynch's G-rated The Straight Story (1999) actually.
Rodriguez isn’t the first director of tough content to have a successful go at more wholesome fare: A couple of years ago surrealist David Lynch (Blue Velvet) made the gently uplifting The Straight Story (rated G), and cinematic con man David Mamet (House of Games) made the sweet The Winslow Boy (also rated G).
A lo largo del camino se encuentran con varios extraños (Michael Stuhlbarg y David Gordon Green hacen una divertida demostración como un par de siniestros amantes que se encuentran con la joven pareja en un claro aislado) de una manera que recuerda a The Straight Story de David Lynch, como si Guadagnino estuviera rindiendo homenaje al canon cinematográfico establecido de esta historia tan americana.
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The thought of Martin Scorsese fashioning a family-friendly film released into the thick of the overstuffed Thanksgiving movie season is just as odd as David Lynch making a movie for Disney -- but The Straight Story turned out pretty well for the Eraserhead auteur and the Mouse House.
For at least one film, Scorsese has left behind much of his baggage and accomplished what David Lynch did with The Straight Story and David Mamet did with The Winslow Boy - use his considerable behind-the-screen prowess and apply it to a different kind of story.
Despite the grayish shades that invade Michael McDonough‘s cinematography, “Leave No Trace” is a lovely film to behold, unspooling very much in the tradition of David Lynch‘s humane, good-hearted Americana masterpiece “The Straight Story.”
To see an example of what I’m suggesting, revisit David Lynch’s film The Straight Story: Notice how the film’s most disturbing moment comes when a Vietnam veteran (played so beautifully by Richard Farnsworth) suffers a flashback, and all we see is a haunted man staring into a void that only he can see.
Strayed’s long walk up the scenic Pacific Crest Trail (which runs from the Mexican border up to Canada) force her into dialogue with herself, though like Alvin Straight in 1999’s Oscar-nominated The Straight Story , she gleans lessons from other folks she meets along the way (call this “The Strayed Story”).
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So sure of his space-traveling plan as to toss a brick at anybody who questions its sanity, he springs his children from school and makes them his crew, since there's a difference between "how to read history and how to make it" -- another film might see the character for the arrogant prick that he is, but filmmakers Mark and Michael Polish want to keep ripping off David Lynch (this time it's The Straight Story) so Thornton is supposed to be a kind of homegrown Daedalus, supposedly a stand-in for the stubborn dreamer in all of us.
Or it could be just a coincidence that Brian De Palma should make Mission to Mars, an optimistic outer-space adventure, at roughly the same time David Lynch treated us to the inspired (and G-rated) simplicity of The Straight Story.