Love the heart and soul in this movie, and ever since have wanted to visit the area and people. Has a similar gentle human vibe to Detectorists, from my own part of the world.
When The Straight Story was initially released it was hard to get my mind around the idea that not only was this going to a G rated David Lynch film but was being produced by the Walt Disney company. My expectations were mixed, but it didn't take long before the charm began to work and Alvin Straight became one of Lynch's most unique characters, even if he was inspired by a true story. I imagine there were embellishments. It's a celebration of slowness and we're along on this snail's pace journey with him to see his brother. The cinematography is stunning. I've seen the film several times and the one scene that never fails to move me is when Alvin is in a bar sharing their experiences of World War 2 and how he believes he killed one of his own troop member accidentally. What a horrible thing to carry around for the rest of your life but I imagine this is sadly very common for all soldiers who have been in combat. He even mourns the idea of having to shoot "enemies" who were oftentimes younger than himself, "moonfaced boys" he describes them. It's one of Lynch's most emotional scenes and its played totally straight and allows the characters to bare their souls. The end might frustrate some people and expect a more conventional moment when the brothers reunite, but Lynch was wise enough to allow us the audience to fill in that moment. This is a very special film. I rank it among my top five favourite David Lynch films. Just a simple story about a man and his mower.
Given your assertion that "nothing lies beneath the surface" of this film and that it is a "celebration of good values", I have a number of questions for you: 1. Alvin meets the young woman and tells her the story of how he taught his own children the value of family using the bundle of sticks. And he tells us of his own family - he had 14 children, 7 of which died, and his daughter Rose had four children of her own. If his moral of the bundles is true and a "good value", why is he living alone with Rose, and there is nobody who will drive him the 5h it takes to get from Laurens, Iowa to Blue River, Wisconsin, turning a two day trip back and forth into a six week ordeal? What happened to his other 6 surviving children, and their children? Why are they never mentioned in all of this? 2. Speaking of Rose. Alvin also describes how much she pines for her children (indeed, we are shown this with wonderful simplicity and intensity in the brief earlier scene when she watches the boy with the ball at night), but his description of how she lost them is woefully incomplete: "There was a fire" - Why? How? "Someone was supposed to be watching them" - Who? Why didn't they? What happened? 3. When asked by the cyclists about the worst part of growing old, what does Alvin mean when he answers: "remembering when you were young"? Is it envy? Is it regret? What is he thinking of then? 4. The deer lady doesn't just provide Alvin with a free dinner. Why did David Lynch place Alvin in front of a "No Passing" sign, when the lady passes him just before hitting the deer? When she enumerates all the ways she tries to avoid hitting deer ("I drive with my lights on, I sound my horn, I scream out of the window, I bang at the door and play Public Enemy real loud!") why does Lynch have a her skip the most obvious safety feature - driving slow and carefully? Especially given that this is the 13th deer in 7 weeeks. 5. Why does Alvin mount the deer antlers on his trailer after this encounter? 6. When he roasts the deer meat over the campfire, why does he turn away from the concrete deer statues? Indeed, why did Lynch place those statues there? What do they signify? 7. What is the meaning of the burning barn Alvin sees when he loses control over his lawnmower? There are several intense cross-cuts between Alvin's clearly panicked face and the burning barn during his descent into the valley. Coincidence? What fires might Alvin be thinking of, as his breaks fails? 8. Why does Alvin utterly refuse to enter the home of the man on whose property he camps, even for a phone call? 9. While Alvin talks to the other veteran at the bar, we hear Bob Crosby singing "Happy Times" on the radio - a song about how "wishing on the moon" and "looking for gold at the end of the rainbow" leads to happy times, just as a rainbow can only happen when there's been rain. However, the song fades out into the superimposed sound effect of an explosion, as the other veteran tells us the story of how he lost all of his comrades in an air attack. This is the only time we have a soundeffect of something that is not actually happening in the scene. Why did Lynch chose this song and why did he break his otherwise completely natural style for this film in this single instance by ending the song in an explosion? 10. Why do you think Lynch brings up burning again, here? Is it a coincidence that we now have the tale of "boys" burning in an incendiary bomb attack, the burning barn when Alvin loses control on the hill, and the memory of the fire in which one of Rose's boys was burned badly or is there more to it? (continued...)
(... continued) 11. Alvin confesses that he came back from the war "a mean drunk", "not worth a stick of stove wood" (fire again). It seems he overcame his addiction and possibly his temper with the help of a priest, but we later learn that alcohol was involved in the fight with his brother, and he hasn't spoken to him in 10 years. If this story takes place in 1994 (when the real Alvin Straight made his journey), he must have stayed a mean drunk for at least 4 decades - over half his life. Does this information change your view on the story about family he told the pregnant woman earlier? Or any of the other things he has said? 12. Alvin also tells us that he was a sniper in WW2, and he confesses to have accidentally shot a "little fella" in friendly fire - a deed that clearly weighed heavily on him all these years. However, does this information change the somewhat humorous scene earlier, where Alvin executes his first lawnmower? Given that Lynch would have known that this dark secret was in Alvin's past, why did he include the lawnmower execution in the first place? (Also, he may have kicked his addiction, but that temper seems to still be in him.) 13. When Alvin passes some hard earned wisdom to the two bickering mechanics regarding brotherly strife in the face of the shortness of life, he says that a brother "knows who you are and what you are better than anyone on earth". Just moments later he mentions that "my brother and I said some unforgivable things, the last time we spoke". Do you think it was only Alvin who knew Lyle better than just about anyone and told him some unforgivable truth, or was it Lyle who said unforgivable things to Alvin? And what would Lyle know about Alvin that he couldn't bear or forgive to hear? 14. When asked by the priest in the graveyard about the argument with his brother, Alvin once again is very vague, but he compares it to Cain and Abel. Why would Lynch pick that particular phrase, given that this is a story about murder? About kinslaying, to be specific. 15. Why does Alvin drink the one beer? What has changed for him that he no longer considers the dangers of drink to him? There is nothing ominous about the scene, and he makes it very clear that "this one will do me fine" - he is not about to relapse. By why not? Why risk it? Why spend an entire scene on just this one beer? 16. How do you interpret the last scene? Farnsworth and Stanton give an absolutely stellar performance, and we sense that they are both deeply moved. However, the only conversation is about whether Alvin came all the way on the Lawnmower, which Alvin affirms. Why would this be important to Lyle? What is the significance of the lawnmower in this moment? And when the upward pan fades into the stars, we are actively reminded of what Alvin told the priest not long ago, how he and Lyle used to watch the stars during their hard childhood and talk about so much, plans, the future, ideas, fantasy. Their silence now is all the louder for the contrast. Have they forgiven each other? Has Alvin found what he was looking for on this trip? What was he looking for? And lastly let me return to the bundle of branches from the first encounter with the pregnant girl. That image, of a bundle tied together being stronger than each individual one is not an invention of David Lynch, or the screenwriter or of Alvin Straight. This bundle is called a "fascio" in Italian and is the origin of our word "fascism", though it predates fascism by millennia: The "fascio" or latin "fasces" was a bundle of sticks around the handle of axe and during the Roman Empire represented the both the power of a state magistrate with his loyal subjects around him, and how the state was more powerful than any individual could be on their own - under the protection and guidance of the government (the axe in the centre), as well as the power of the the family with the family members gathered around the protective and guiding patriarch. Alvin tellingly leaves out the central piece of wood in his simile, though given that he calls himself "not worth a stick of stove wood". Of course a bundle of sticks is also known in British English as a "faggot" (which might also be etymologically connected to "fasces") and is used to start a fire. 17. Why did Lynch chose to have Alvin use this symbol to describe a family, and what does it tell us about the many aspects not explicitly spoken about in this "Straight Story"? I love this movie. I think it is full of great performances, Badalamenti's soundtrack is amongst my favourites, and I also see the deep love Lynch has for the beauty of this region of America. The people Alvin meets are lovely and genuine and helpful. The tranquillity and slow pace of life in the places we meet is not a "mere" façade. However, I think we do Lynch and the film a disservice if we rest on this lighter side. Lynch said: "We all have at least two sides. The world we live in is a world of opposites. And the trick is to reconcile those opposing things. I've always liked both sides. In order to appreciate one, you have to know the other. The more darkness you can gather up, the more light you can see too." I think, with Lynch, something always lies beneath the surface, and good values have to be earned and often come at a high price.
IMO what makes The Straight Story experimental is that it's the only movie I've ever seen that lacks an antagonist. As the video points out, there is conflict, but it comes from within the characters, not between them. Perhaps Lynch was intrigued by the possibility of making a movie without a bad guy.
I like that years later recently lynch said he feels exactly the same about straight story as he said in that interview
Love the heart and soul in this movie, and ever since have wanted to visit the area and people. Has a similar gentle human vibe to Detectorists, from my own part of the world.
When The Straight Story was initially released it was hard to get my mind around the idea that not only was this going to a G rated David Lynch film but was being produced by the Walt Disney company. My expectations were mixed, but it didn't take long before the charm began to work and Alvin Straight became one of Lynch's most unique characters, even if he was inspired by a true story. I imagine there were embellishments. It's a celebration of slowness and we're along on this snail's pace journey with him to see his brother. The cinematography is stunning. I've seen the film several times and the one scene that never fails to move me is when Alvin is in a bar sharing their experiences of World War 2 and how he believes he killed one of his own troop member accidentally. What a horrible thing to carry around for the rest of your life but I imagine this is sadly very common for all soldiers who have been in combat. He even mourns the idea of having to shoot "enemies" who were oftentimes younger than himself, "moonfaced boys" he describes them. It's one of Lynch's most emotional scenes and its played totally straight and allows the characters to bare their souls. The end might frustrate some people and expect a more conventional moment when the brothers reunite, but Lynch was wise enough to allow us the audience to fill in that moment. This is a very special film. I rank it among my top five favourite David Lynch films. Just a simple story about a man and his mower.
this is my favorite lynch movie. While I love his other movies, they are masterpieces. but this film Is his most powerful and strongest work.
2024 still one my favs
Good video, good eyebrows.
My favorite Lynch film. Just so so beautiful.
Given your assertion that "nothing lies beneath the surface" of this film and that it is a "celebration of good values", I have a number of questions for you:
1. Alvin meets the young woman and tells her the story of how he taught his own children the value of family using the bundle of sticks. And he tells us of his own family - he had 14 children, 7 of which died, and his daughter Rose had four children of her own. If his moral of the bundles is true and a "good value", why is he living alone with Rose, and there is nobody who will drive him the 5h it takes to get from Laurens, Iowa to Blue River, Wisconsin, turning a two day trip back and forth into a six week ordeal? What happened to his other 6 surviving children, and their children? Why are they never mentioned in all of this?
2. Speaking of Rose. Alvin also describes how much she pines for her children (indeed, we are shown this with wonderful simplicity and intensity in the brief earlier scene when she watches the boy with the ball at night), but his description of how she lost them is woefully incomplete: "There was a fire" - Why? How? "Someone was supposed to be watching them" - Who? Why didn't they? What happened?
3. When asked by the cyclists about the worst part of growing old, what does Alvin mean when he answers: "remembering when you were young"? Is it envy? Is it regret? What is he thinking of then?
4. The deer lady doesn't just provide Alvin with a free dinner. Why did David Lynch place Alvin in front of a "No Passing" sign, when the lady passes him just before hitting the deer? When she enumerates all the ways she tries to avoid hitting deer ("I drive with my lights on, I sound my horn, I scream out of the window, I bang at the door and play Public Enemy real loud!") why does Lynch have a her skip the most obvious safety feature - driving slow and carefully? Especially given that this is the 13th deer in 7 weeeks.
5. Why does Alvin mount the deer antlers on his trailer after this encounter?
6. When he roasts the deer meat over the campfire, why does he turn away from the concrete deer statues? Indeed, why did Lynch place those statues there? What do they signify?
7. What is the meaning of the burning barn Alvin sees when he loses control over his lawnmower? There are several intense cross-cuts between Alvin's clearly panicked face and the burning barn during his descent into the valley. Coincidence? What fires might Alvin be thinking of, as his breaks fails?
8. Why does Alvin utterly refuse to enter the home of the man on whose property he camps, even for a phone call?
9. While Alvin talks to the other veteran at the bar, we hear Bob Crosby singing "Happy Times" on the radio - a song about how "wishing on the moon" and "looking for gold at the end of the rainbow" leads to happy times, just as a rainbow can only happen when there's been rain. However, the song fades out into the superimposed sound effect of an explosion, as the other veteran tells us the story of how he lost all of his comrades in an air attack. This is the only time we have a soundeffect of something that is not actually happening in the scene. Why did Lynch chose this song and why did he break his otherwise completely natural style for this film in this single instance by ending the song in an explosion?
10. Why do you think Lynch brings up burning again, here? Is it a coincidence that we now have the tale of "boys" burning in an incendiary bomb attack, the burning barn when Alvin loses control on the hill, and the memory of the fire in which one of Rose's boys was burned badly or is there more to it?
(continued...)
(... continued)
11. Alvin confesses that he came back from the war "a mean drunk", "not worth a stick of stove wood" (fire again). It seems he overcame his addiction and possibly his temper with the help of a priest, but we later learn that alcohol was involved in the fight with his brother, and he hasn't spoken to him in 10 years. If this story takes place in 1994 (when the real Alvin Straight made his journey), he must have stayed a mean drunk for at least 4 decades - over half his life. Does this information change your view on the story about family he told the pregnant woman earlier? Or any of the other things he has said?
12. Alvin also tells us that he was a sniper in WW2, and he confesses to have accidentally shot a "little fella" in friendly fire - a deed that clearly weighed heavily on him all these years. However, does this information change the somewhat humorous scene earlier, where Alvin executes his first lawnmower? Given that Lynch would have known that this dark secret was in Alvin's past, why did he include the lawnmower execution in the first place? (Also, he may have kicked his addiction, but that temper seems to still be in him.)
13. When Alvin passes some hard earned wisdom to the two bickering mechanics regarding brotherly strife in the face of the shortness of life, he says that a brother "knows who you are and what you are better than anyone on earth". Just moments later he mentions that "my brother and I said some unforgivable things, the last time we spoke". Do you think it was only Alvin who knew Lyle better than just about anyone and told him some unforgivable truth, or was it Lyle who said unforgivable things to Alvin? And what would Lyle know about Alvin that he couldn't bear or forgive to hear?
14. When asked by the priest in the graveyard about the argument with his brother, Alvin once again is very vague, but he compares it to Cain and Abel. Why would Lynch pick that particular phrase, given that this is a story about murder? About kinslaying, to be specific.
15. Why does Alvin drink the one beer? What has changed for him that he no longer considers the dangers of drink to him? There is nothing ominous about the scene, and he makes it very clear that "this one will do me fine" - he is not about to relapse. By why not? Why risk it? Why spend an entire scene on just this one beer?
16. How do you interpret the last scene? Farnsworth and Stanton give an absolutely stellar performance, and we sense that they are both deeply moved. However, the only conversation is about whether Alvin came all the way on the Lawnmower, which Alvin affirms. Why would this be important to Lyle? What is the significance of the lawnmower in this moment? And when the upward pan fades into the stars, we are actively reminded of what Alvin told the priest not long ago, how he and Lyle used to watch the stars during their hard childhood and talk about so much, plans, the future, ideas, fantasy. Their silence now is all the louder for the contrast. Have they forgiven each other? Has Alvin found what he was looking for on this trip? What was he looking for?
And lastly let me return to the bundle of branches from the first encounter with the pregnant girl. That image, of a bundle tied together being stronger than each individual one is not an invention of David Lynch, or the screenwriter or of Alvin Straight. This bundle is called a "fascio" in Italian and is the origin of our word "fascism", though it predates fascism by millennia: The "fascio" or latin "fasces" was a bundle of sticks around the handle of axe and during the Roman Empire represented the both the power of a state magistrate with his loyal subjects around him, and how the state was more powerful than any individual could be on their own - under the protection and guidance of the government (the axe in the centre), as well as the power of the the family with the family members gathered around the protective and guiding patriarch. Alvin tellingly leaves out the central piece of wood in his simile, though given that he calls himself "not worth a stick of stove wood". Of course a bundle of sticks is also known in British English as a "faggot" (which might also be etymologically connected to "fasces") and is used to start a fire.
17. Why did Lynch chose to have Alvin use this symbol to describe a family, and what does it tell us about the many aspects not explicitly spoken about in this "Straight Story"?
I love this movie. I think it is full of great performances, Badalamenti's soundtrack is amongst my favourites, and I also see the deep love Lynch has for the beauty of this region of America. The people Alvin meets are lovely and genuine and helpful. The tranquillity and slow pace of life in the places we meet is not a "mere" façade. However, I think we do Lynch and the film a disservice if we rest on this lighter side. Lynch said: "We all have at least two sides. The world we live in is a world of opposites. And the trick is to reconcile those opposing things. I've always liked both sides. In order to appreciate one, you have to know the other. The more darkness you can gather up, the more light you can see too." I think, with Lynch, something always lies beneath the surface, and good values have to be earned and often come at a high price.
You’ll get your answers when you get old😅
@@orvilpym good comments man. i really appreciated pondering them
Beautifully said.
IMO what makes The Straight Story experimental is that it's the only movie I've ever seen that lacks an antagonist. As the video points out, there is conflict, but it comes from within the characters, not between them. Perhaps Lynch was intrigued by the possibility of making a movie without a bad guy.
At worst it is Alvin as he is just so stubborn. It is his way or no way.
A Walt Disney film, directed by David Lynch. Just by that combination alone, you know it's exceptional.
❤🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤🤍
Thank you dude. 🙂