THE STRAIGHT STORY
Reviewed by Harvey Karten Walt Disney Pictures Director: David Lynch Writer: David Lynch, John Roach, Mary Sweeney Cast: Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, Jane Heitz, Everett McGill, Jennifer Edwards, Barbara E. Robertson, John Farley, John Lordan, Harry Dean Stanton
The first lesson you learn in literature class is that every story must have conflict: Man against man, man against his fellow man, man against nature. "The Straight Story" challenges this assumption, unless you want to discuss a new type of friction in literature, man against lawnmower. There isn't a single rotten apple in this 111- minute drama, and aside from a brief if heavy downpour, nature is not the enemy. The principal character, Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth), does not even have a confrontation with himself. He is determined to visit his ailing brother and at no point expresses a single doubt about the journey he is to undertake.
There are, however, a couple of unorthodox departures aside from this paucity of strife. One is that the majority of people in the tale are old--over 70, or presumed to be. The other is that the director and co-scripter of this sweet, linear, and orderly narrative is David Lynch, the very person who confounded the moviegoing public two years ago with "Lost Highway"--a story so bizarre it made "Twin Peaks" look like a walk in the woods, and whose audacious "Blue Velvet" back in '86 penetrated the surface of a picture-postcard town in a more cryptic way than Sam Mendes had in mind when he dissected suburbia with this year's "American Beauty." Why would a master of the surreal and the bizarre veer off into what's just about the straightest story of the year--a G-rated movie targeted to adults? Never mind what Lynch might tell the interviewers: I'd speculate that someone made a wager that he couldn't turn out a normal, everyday piece--just as the great contemporary composer Sergei Profkoviev was once challenged to devise a major piece of music in the 18th Century style (and succeeded with his "Classical Symphony"). Other than that, I'd say that since Lynch is also a serious photographer, he may have wanted to conceive a pictorial essay on the real America. His camerawork (especially the long shots) on the seemingly infinite corn fields of Iowa look like the backdrop to Kate Smith's singing "God Bless America."
The picture belongs to the charismatic Richard Farnsworth, who at the age of 79 plays a 73-year-old who is made up to look like 83. As Alvin Straight, Farnsworth performs in the role of a widower whose wife had produced 14 kids (7 of whom survived) and who now lives with his speech-impaired daughter, Rose (Sissy Spacek), whose defect makes some people believe that she is retarded. When the codger hears that his estranged brother Lyle (Harry Dean Stanton) has had a serious stroke, he is determined to visit the ailing fellow, but lacking money and a driver's license, and determined not to hand over his sovereignty to a bus driver, he sets out by lawnmower from his run-down abode in Laurens, Iowa for the Wisconsin border town where his brother lives in a shanty. A lawnmower? Yep. The 1966 John Deere turns out to be a conversation piece on the road just like Charlie, John Steinbeck's dog, who accompanied that author on a trip in search of America.
We expect the septuagenarian combat veteran of World War 2 to dispense words of wisdom to those he meets: to the pregnant runaway teen with whom he shares his hot dogs; to the young people vigorous pedaling their racing bikes across the empty highway; to the old fella tending bar near the Mississippi River border between Iowa and Wisconsin. Instead, we hear only platitudes: how old age hasn't a single redeeming feature, how it's tough to be on the outs with your brother, how fighting in a major war and accidentally killing one of your own can lead to a drinking problem.
If advice is not the movie's strong point, then the picture of rural, MidWest America as an unspoiled land of selfless people surely is. A guy who needs two canes to walk and whose only transportation is a 33-year-old lawnmower is going to depend on the kindness of strangers. Not a single person laughs at him or makes fun of the eccentric guy and his unusual wheels. When his machinery gives out on him just as his own body is losing its elasticity, the folks invite him into their homes and even fix up his vehicle at a cut rate. The bartender who gives Alvin his first beer in years, the lawnmower repair twins who give him a nice discount, even the pregnant teen who'd expect to want little to do with the older generation--all have good hearts, are great listeners, and seem fascinated by Alvin despite the meagerness of his actual words. What's bewitches them all is obviously his determination to do things his way, the lack of a single misgiving in his craggy expressive face or deliberate speech.
Since the film is too slow-paced to interest the little ones and since adults might be turned off by the G rating, you'd not expect a huge audience for this Disney relaxer. There are some quiet gems to be found, and perhaps the movie will restore your faith in humanity and make you somewhat ashamed to live in a large, impersonal city. As for me, I'll take the softness of "Blue Velvet" over the tranquil landscape depicted herein, the large edge of "The Elephant Man" over the vastness of the American countryside, and the abstract enigmas of "Lost Highway" over the rudimentary concrete of the Iowa roads.
Rated G. Running Time: 111 minutes. (C) 1999 Harvey Karten
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