The Straight Story is considered an oddball in Lynch’s filmography precisely because it’s his least strange film. The film, based on true events and produced by Disney – more known for enchanted magic forests – tells the story of Alvin Straight’s journey from Iowa to Wisconsin on a lawnmower that travels at 8 km/h to visit his sick brother Lyle.
The soul of the film is Richard Farnsworth (1920–2000), who plays Alvin. Farnsworth, a veteran supporting actor, stuntman and a true Hollywood legend, started his career in the Marx Brothers’ A Day at the Races (1937). Though Fansworth had been directed by great auteurs such as Ford, Hawks, Walsh, Huston, Hathaway, DeMille, Eastwood, and Peckinpah, he claimed in his later years that he was most proud of the fact that he never swore on the screen. In his swan song film, he gives his most sensitive performance to the camera – interpreting the physical trauma caused by the lawn mower running uncontrollably downhill, the pain of war memories, the love felt for his disabled daughter, the sip of cold beer for an alcoholic, and the shy empathy offered to settle a brotherly argument. This transparent and serene journey towards death could be considered Lynch’s Wild Strawberries (1957), or even his Harry and Tonto (1974), if only the constantly breaking down lawnmower would just start purring…
Lauri Timonen