Film Forum

(1999, David Lynch) “Lynch gets humanist - and produces a gem. The title has multiple resonance: based on fact, it charts the journey through the empty Midwestern plains embarked on by elderly Iowan Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth), who to see his ailing brother attempts to cover 350 miles on a motorised lawnmower. Atypically for the director, it's also told straight, in naturalistic, linear fashion, but for all that the elegant, faintly formal compositions and camera movements (courtesy Freddie Francis), the expert and subtle use of sound and music, and the wry, gently humorous take on the absurdities of small town life make the film recognizably Lynchian. Farnsworth's easy, twinkle eyed charm is a winner all the way, but it's finally the film's deceptive simplicity and unabashed warmth that make it one of Lynch's most artistically and emotionally satisfying movies.” – Geoff Andrew, Time Out. 35mm. Approx. 112 min.

Reviews

 “The movie isn't just about the old Alvin Straight's odyssey through the sleepy towns and rural districts of the Midwest, but about the people he finds to listen and care for him. You'd think it was a fantasy, this kindness of strangers, if the movie weren't based on a true story.”
– Roger Ebert