The Straight Story

We can hide from the most essential and innermost connections for as long as we want, but they will eventually catch up with us. David Lynch attacks exactly these bonds – and successfully. He captivatingly unfolds the story of one man with interesting supporting characters around him, allows the viewer to relax, lets the story flow, and even makes fun of himself (the crawling yellow lines). The only passage where the story loses its charge is the lawnmower repair with "kind strangers", where Alvin struggles not with family disagreement, but with a distant trauma, which didn't fit well with the rest of the story. Even so, The Straight Story emotionally affected me a lot and deserves praise for this surprise. (17/02/2007)

Excellent. Like Lynch’s films, it relies on feelings, you have to live the events together with the protagonist. There are sad moments and happy moments, but most of the time it’s pleasantly sentimental. Another thing worth pointing out is the music score, which improves wonderfully what would otherwise be long and boring scenes, making them a lot more than just bearable. One reliable indicator of how much I’ve enjoyed a given film is how willing I am to let the final credits roll, and here I happily watched the whole lot of it… (15/04/2009)

A beautiful story about an elderly gentleman deciding, in his old age, to embark on a journey to visit his brother who had a stroke. Both brothers don't have the best relationship and haven't seen each other in a long time, so Alvin's journey is a personal catharsis. This really isn't your classic David Lynch movie, but thanks to how easy it is to understand, and how it presents human destinies with strength but without sentimentality, you can watch a unique film that, within an hour and three-quarters, shows how beautiful and terrible life can be. Whether we want to deal with it or not, old age is out there waiting for us. But old age doesn't mean we stop living; it just means it might hurt more. (17/03/2014)

Quite atypical Lynch, at least in terms of surface touch... A captivating story about a stubborn grandfather who one fine day grabs a tractor and takes a long ride through the world to reconcile with his brother. The typical road movie form in Lynch's hands is not boring at all, the sequence of poetic and funny stories has enormous inner strength, and the cheerful wisdom of an old and gnarled man, played brilliantly by Richard Farnsworth. But there are also traditional "Lynch" hallmarks (the deer scene) in the film. Pleasant, smooth, poetic. A beautiful film. (27/07/2004)

It's not often that a director like David Lynch can move an audience to tears (except for Elephant Man, of course). The Straight Story is such a sensitively and, above all, civilly told story with beautiful music that not one of my eyes remained dry. An excellent Richard Farnsworth in his final role. (20/05/2009)