Get your own Free Home Page
If it turns up anywhere nearby during pre-Oscar hype, David Lynch's surreally wholesome true story of a guy who rode a lawnmower across 350 rolling miles of Iowa and Wisconsin is a definite must. And not just for the novelty of seeing a G-rated Disney movie from the guy who did Blue Velvet and Lost Highway. Semi-retired former stuntman Richard Farnsworth has already won some preliminary awards and nominations for the role of Alvin Straight, a nearly disabled but single-minded codger who refuses to acknowledge any obstacle while trying to set right an old family quarrel.
Spectacularly photographed by Oscar-winning cinematographer (and former Hammer horror director) Freddie Francis, with dialogue that conveys in five words and a look what most filmmakers waste pages trying to get right, it's nothing but Alvin riding. And stopping. And meeting people. And talking a little. Then riding some more. But in the process we learn about his life, his family, and those of everybody he runs into along the way.
The Straight Story will hopefully go on to be studied in film classes as a stunning example of less-is-more. Why it didn't get a wider release when movies like Next Friday show on 5,000 screens is one of the great mysteries of life. It may not be the absolute best movie of 1999, but Richard Farnsworth puts in what is hands-down the best actor's performance of the year. A+
Get your own Free Home Page